Hello New Year!

2014 feels like it has gotten off to a slow start for me. When the holidays hit it was non stop with projects and deadlines which make it feel like everything "holiday" came to and abrupt ending without even being ready it. And now here we are into the new year and my first blog post of 2014 (you can see I'm way past due too.) So far this year has brought our household a lot of lazy days trying to recover from seasonal sickness going around. Raleigh is going on day 4 with a runny nose and tiny cough and its heartbreaking watching such a tiny human being go through something like this. I get super out of it when my head gets stuffed up so I can only imagine what a little baby must be feeling. yuck! Kelli Murray's post  got me thinking about this new year and what I hope it looks like for me when I look back on it in 2015.

As I think about this new year and all that's ahead for us I think its important to reflect on where I've been. Each year at Christmas its a tradition with Shane's family that we sit down and write out a gift to Jesus, meaning that we give him areas of our lives that we want to trust him more with. Last year my gift was my dreams and family, trusting God with the risk of moving forward with my passions and growing our family even if it felt scary to do so.

2013 brought a lot of great things for us. The beginning of the year started with the news that we were expecting our first child! Shane joined with a new company that has given him more freedom to do what he loves and was made for in coaching basketball and leading players and teams overseas. I dove in head first in being a freelance artist…and that was probably the scariest thing of all for me. We took trips and made memories and welcomed Raleigh in early September which was the greatest thing that happened to us all year. By the end of the year I felt more confident in pursuing my passion for art as people have continued to encourage me along the way. And the second greatest thing that happened to us this year was finding out in December that we'll be welcoming baby #2 next summer! (And if you do the math, yes, that means our kiddos will be less than a year a part! EEK!!)

For this year, the thing that keeps coming to mind is "growth" and trusting Jesus more than ever with what that looks like. I want to grow my business by making new connections. I want to grow my sphere of influence by being more intentional with where I'm at. I want to grow my family (thats obvious). I want to grow as a person learning how to love others better and deeper by thinking of myself less and others more. All of that seems so daunting to me too. I guess the part that always scares me is the risk that it does take to get there and the risk that if I don't do anything about it I'll never, well, grow. So I guess writing it down and putting it our there for everyone to see puts a little bit more motivation behind it for me. I think there's something about saying it out loud that tells me "ok, Coley, now you gotta do it."

So here's to 2014! A year that I know will cause us to grow in more ways than I can even imagine right now. Thanks for following along and being a part of this journey with me!