Out with 2010, In with 2011.

2010 was such a beautiful year for me.
Not because everything went according to the way I thought it should have, or because there were only fun times to be had and never any troubles. Quite the contrary. It was a wonderful year for me because it was so completely not the way I thought it would be.

 I feel like I aged about 5 years in 2010, but in the best of ways. God proved Himself to be so faithful to me everysingleday.  I felt God loving me so deeply in the midst of  the chaotic parts. I felt Him guarding my heart and protecting me. I felt Him giving me the courage to stand for Him, and I felt Him nudging me over every proverbial cliff in my life. He gave me the courage to jump, and then caught me every time. This year I fell in love with my Jesus so much more. I began to know Him so much better than I ever have before. He held my hand and walked me through the year with such abundant grace that I .just.couldn't. keep from loving Him.

I wouldn't trade 2010 for all the tea in China.

I am so excited to see what God is going to do in 2011. I am so thankful that even though I have no clue what this year holds, I know the One who holds it... and He is trustworthy. He is not held within the boundaries of our dates or plans. He is the same, year, after year, after year, and He is good. I choose to trust Him with 2011. It'll be an adventure, no doubt.



My New Years Resolutions:

Follow Jesus in faith, wherever He leads me. He knows what's up, even when I don't.

Study God's word more diligently.

Love others fully, even when its not easy.

Engage my culture for the plight of the orphan in ways that I haven't before.

Improve my Spanish skills.

Give sacrificially.

Improve Taekwondo skills.

View others as more important than myself.

Share the Gospel more.

Read more.

Run more.

Help Mom finish writing her book by caring for the Littles.

Serve God wholeheartedly wherever He has me.

A brief overview:

At the start of the year, I was a mere junior in high school that was studying the Industrial Revolution and reading Charles Dickens. I started driving myself places, which was so lovely and convenient. Started preparing a group of young people to go to Uganda in the summer for a missions trip.

God called me to speak up for the orphans He's taken me to meet around the world. Surrendered my freaking-out-heart to His will and watched Him move mountains. I am so grateful for the opportunities He's given me to speak up for His glory and for His heart. What a blessing.

I began to love Taekwondo more and more.

Traveled to Uganda where God spoke volumes to my heart about His world, His people, and His plans for my life. God began preparing my heart to move out of state to work with orphan care ministries.


Got a new brother! God performed 10,000 miracles and Solomon had a 24 hour notice that he was coming to live in America.
No way. I'm still in shock and its January.

Solomon and I went to Precept Ministries International's Boot Camp in TN and had a fantastic time.

Spent all of July and August having friends visit, traveling with friends, traveling with family, and staffing at different camps.

Solomon saw the ocean for the first time ever!

One of the boys' many experiments/ grand ideas/ projects this summer was :



They created a butterfly conservatory in our kitchen and we had butterflies flying everywhere. It was pretty impressive. They would spend hours catching, drawing, reading about, and watching them. I was impressed.
I started my last legitimate semester of high school in the fall! Took classes at SEBTS and learned SO much. I'm so thankful for the time I had there.

Mom went out of town and I had the Littles. The Twinnettes saw Tinkerbell's latest movie and were obsessed with the idea of catching a fairy. Well, late night Target runs can make wishes come true for little girls who put little tissue box houses in gardens. :)


Utter joy! :)

Had fun friends come to town for fall break and met "old" friends in person!




Traveled to TN with Mom and the Twinettes for a girls weekend to work through some plans for the future.








Traveled to Hershey, PA with the family for the Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit.

Spent such a fun Thanksgiving and Christmas with my whole family.

 I then headed off to Florida for New Years! My sweet friends, Bradley and Kirk, got hitched! It was a blast of a week and their wedding was beautiful...a wedding deserving of its own post. :)


So thankful for 2010 and the memories, lessons, and friends that came with it!