HOLD ONTO HOPE.

Advent is a time of waiting in the darkness, of preparing quietly and prayerfully in the tension of what is hoped for and what may be. Oftentimes, we don't even know what we are really hoping and waiting for, and even if we do, we are unsure as to whether it will come to be. For most of 2013, we lived in a consistent season of Advent, all of which was preparing for an even brighter celebration at the very end of the year.

- Via Relevant's "13 Lessons I Learned in 2013"

We have come through the darkest.  We nurtured our internal light throughout Advent.  Epiphany is upon us and it can only get lighter from here.

Cheers to 2014!

23.

"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling twenty-two..."*


Not anymore, Taylor. But thanks anyway.

So my birthday was already 2 weeks ago. Wow!

And yes, I'm just now getting to the post about it. But you can blame that on the fact that my family has 5 birthdays to celebrate in 11 days. So I was kind of busy eating cake.


[having my cake and eating it too]



I've had quite a few people as me lately, "How old are you?? ...Oh! You're so young!" Yes. Yes I am. But I don't feel "young." Not in the "you're young" sense of YOLO/you should do whatever you want/you can make totally irresponsible decisions because you're "young." No thank you.



[Lunch date - isn't she stunning? :P]



But I've always tried to be/act older than I actually am. A lot of my "peers" are actually older than me. I spend a lot of time with the 26-27 year olds... so each birthday feels more like a "finally!" than an "already?" I knew it was bad this year when in November, I had to intentionally remind myself that I was 22, not 23. I've even threatened to jump a year when nobody's looking. Just start tell everyone that I'm a year older than I am and then reclaim that year when I'm 39 ;) So I feel older... at least in comparison to contemporary 22/23-year-olds. But...I still get carded at the movies :/ Seriously? And when people find out I was born in 1990 - they cringe. As if a great cavern exists between 1989 and 1990 - a whole decade's worth of change between those two years.



[Truth.  Oh, and Mumford is ringing in 23 later this month]



All my life, I've had the overwhelming sense that "there's not enough time." There's not enough time to waste. There's not enough to read all the books - I actually teared up in a bookstore the other day realizing I would die with a long, long "to-read" list. Trying to decide what shouldn't be left on that list? "I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the heavens." But isn't that tragic when you think about it?  Anyway........



[10 years I've had this ring.  Oh... and there's my favorite freckle.]

I'm ready for 23.  Ready to see all sorts of adventures it possesses.  I've been enjoying 23's books already.  And 23's new car :D  But there's so much about 23 I can't see yet... and I'm eager to discover.

23, it's a pleasure to meet ya.

"This year is a sealed envelope;

With apprehensive hope

We brace for anything.

I swear, I understand that nothing changes that,

The past will be the past,

But the future is brighter than any flashback."

- January White

Tonight I was getting something out from my under bed storage when I came across the autumnal half of my scarf collection and a bunch of pull-over sweaters.

They make me smile.

Just a little bit longer, buddies. =)