Plans Derailed with a Heart On Track.

Well I'm thinking its official. I don't know about where you guys live friends, but we have winter well and truly on our hands here as of this past weekend. About 4-5 inches of snow accumulated but that didn't stop us from still going on with our weekend plans.
Whats a little snow right? Well if you know me at all, you know I am more of a summer flip-flops year round kind of girl, so I struggle with these Midwest winters a little. Well, at least once January/February time comes around. December still finds me enjoying the powder and finding it just whimsical and beautiful with all the Christmas decorations. Like today for instance, I wanted to turn into a road that was seemingly inaccessible with several inches of snow that the plows must have conveniently forgot about.
I just gave it a little extra gas and committed to that road friend! Just like driving on sand I tell ya, with the rule of commit and don't second guess or that car is going to sink right in leaving you with wheels spinning all the brown slush underneath several feet into the air while you turn shades of roses.

But weather aside, I totally apologize for being distant on this little space here.
Thing is that I have been praying big prayers, watching big answers and dreaming some big dreams. All the while having the Holy Spirit work on some deep dark corners of my heart and clean out some junk. So its been a ride I tell ya.

I finally deposited my last check into my bank account today before being able to purchase my flights to Hope Spoken! Friends, this is huge! I went into planning on attending in total faith that somehow I would be able to raise the money through my little not-so-heard-of store (see here). And He provided!
Of course now I have a familiar nudge about another event happening in June which I am praying about attending, more details on that in future. But it would be a dream come true to be able to set foot in that part of the world and meet a woman who has inspired me for years, ever since I was a young girl trusting the Lord to write a romance story in my own life someday. All the while watching my photography take off (another dream in the making), contemplating re branding this little space here and dreaming of a bigger online project that will take a bunch of planning before launching. So its a wild crazy but beautiful ride over here friends!

Even though December can be one of those crazy busy seasons, I am glad that this year we have just decided to keep things simple. We have totally decorated minimally in our cute but small apartment. Kept the gifts to a minimum this year (I also started at the end of summer so we wouldn't be in panic mode with finding things for our loved ones and stretching our budget beyond reason), and decided that Christmas morning is just going to be us, in our little home as our own little family. And I like that. A whole lot.


This will be our fourth Christmas together as a married couple, but our first without going to spend it with family for the entire day. And friends, I'm excited! We had other plans which were totally derailed this year, but I'm seeing how better my focus is now I don't have to worry about travelling. The hubby and I have been reading through the She Reads Truth Advent plan every night and my heart is just bursting in the best possible way at the excitement of the upcoming celebration of the arrival of our Savior.

So even if your plans aren't what you pictured for this year, remember that often times the Lord has different plans for us and that's totally ok. He always has our best interests in mind, and this year I am glad He made us slow down and really just focus on Him. Because isn't that the whole point. It really doesn't matter how pretty the house looks, how perfect the gifts are or how amazing the food tastes (although those are all great things). Its about that little baby and all He stands for.

With all the love of this girl with a bursting heart in awe of grace.

The day I finally get all my finances in place, this little piece of mail arrives. Lord, your fingerprints are ALL over this!