carpe diem.

i have never been big on the hype of new years eve and new years resolutions. so when a friend of mine began to ask me about my goals and such for 2010, i honestly hadn't thought too much about it. but i found myself able to express some "resolutions" quite easily - not at all typical resolutions such as losing 10 pounds, or stop biting nails, or whatever it may be. as i talked about some of it, the commonly quoted latin phrase came to mind - carpe diem...seize the day.

aside from the crazyness of the holiday season, my life is pretty busy right now. i don't say that out of pride or boastfully - it is not necessarily good or bad. i find that all of the things i am involved in to be good and worthwhile and rewarding things. what i think is dangerous is when i let the busyness control my life, when it seems as though i just let it dictate the direction my life takes. i want to step back and prayerfully evaluate who i am and what i do and why. i want to be intentional and not just let things happen.

our high school youth group has the opportunity to serve on a missions trip to ghana, west africa. i wasn't considering going, even though i love africa and culture. i kept telling myself that i couldn't take off the time from work. a few weeks ago, something began to stir inside of me and i realized that i have absolutely no reason not to go. my excuse of not being able to miss that much work was actually just fear. i was letting busyness decide for me. a job, which i do not even really like, was about to prevent me from a once in a lifetime opportunity. carpe diem - i am going to ghana for 10 days in march.

i have not completely seized the day yet. i haven't taken the step towards quitting my job just yet. but i am fairly confident that its in the near future. i have to take one hurdle at a time - not let fear and busyness take control of my life, but faith in God's plan for me.

random assortment of fall photos.

rain delays at the us open with schuyler.

katelyn, emily, and schuyler at the fall seniors linC retreat.

jacki and drew before cutting down their christmas tree thanksgiving weekend.

jacki attempting to cut down their tree.

katie, jacki, aunt kathy, me, mom, and aunt sue.

my heroes - mom and dad.

the origami christmas tree at the museum of natural history.