Hello 2016

We hope you are enjoying the holidays and are looking forward to a great 2016. I’m definitely enjoying some down time – keeping all the Christmas lights on for a few more days and polishing off a few leftover cookies.

A Year in Reflection

I’ve been thinking a lot about what my 2016 goals/resolutions will be, and I keep coming back to one word: Abundance. I like to choose a theme or word instead of a traditional resolution to focus on throughout the year, and this year I want to embrace the abundance that comes my way. Remembering that there will always be enough time, always be enough money; the things I sometimes feel lacking in. Shifting a scarcity mindset to one of abundance, trusting in myself and God’s provision and plans. This can be hard and scary, but I’m so excited to see where 2016 takes us and the gifts it brings into our lives!

It’s been a great year for us with many firsts, new traditions, new memories, new friends, old friends, family, and lots of love. And of course, challenges too. But I think I really did my word from last year justice: Celebrate. We’re so grateful for the blessings this year has brought. Now, on to a year of abundance.

Fun Stats

These site stats are super interesting to me, and I thought you might like them too. If there’s anything you would like to see more of next year, please let us know! It’s really nice to hear from people and which types of projects are most inspirational/helpful to you. We have a boatload of projects backlogged that I’ll be posting, and some new construction sites in the house as well. It’s hard to keep up with Joe!

 

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,500 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people

Click here to see the complete report.

 

What are you doing for New Year’s? And what are your resolutions?

Vday 2015

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy (Belated) Valentine’s Day

While we’re not huge fans of Hallmark holidays, we do like to celebrate special occasions in our own way. I’m big on spending quality time together, so I figured there was no better time to sign Joe up for some volunteer activities. Hey, that was my Valentine’s Day wish.

Leah and Joe volunteering Cheerful Givers

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Winter Fun 2015

winter st. paul Minnesota

All things considered, I think it’s been a pretty fun and eventful winter so far! I’m 100% happy with being in MN for the season. (I’ll get back to you around March). I’m equally thankful we don’t live on the east coast right now! So Minnesota isn’t really so bad. In fact, MN is the best kept secret in the US. This article pretty much sums up what we already know.

Anyway, we’ve been out and about these last couple weekends exploring MN and WI and have many adventures to share.

Fishing

Joe won an all-inclusive, luxury one night stay at his company fish house on Lake Mille Lacs last Friday, so we figured we better use it or lose it 🙂

ice fishing Minnesota

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Celebrate

Be Nice Header Image

 

Detour Ahead

I think this post is actually my New Year’s Resolution coming together. I like to take my time with these things. 🙂 “Celebrate” is definitely my word for 2015.

Let’s take a step back for a second. We live in such a crazy world at a crazy pace that we rarely celebrate our accomplishments along the way. Who has the time to stop and celebrate? If you’re like me, you’re probably your own biggest critic. I don’t take time to sit back and look at all the things that have gone right. Always looking forward, I find myself cruising right through the good stuff.

My initial thoughts around my New Year’s Resolutions were this: To not be so hard on myself and others. To give myself a little grace. And by extension, others around me. I think that resolution has expanded a little bit…

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