2013 in Review

As each year wraps up, I like to reflect back on it and consider the milestones and significant events from that year.

I don't have much to say about 2013. It was a blissfully uneventful year - and I'm grateful for that. I lived the year very contently, with no roller coaster of ups and downs of life.

Here are some of the biggest things I can think of:

• At work, we faced a lot of staff changes on my team. This has been good and bad, as we've gained some great people but had to deal with transition after transition. But overall, I think God has used all this to bring together a wonderful team of people.
• I found a new church! I love LifeBridge and have gotten involved in serving there in the children's ministry. I love the kids in my class and am so grateful for the wonderful community I've joined.
• I started volunteering with Alternatives to Violence here in Loveland. It's a great agency and I'm so proud to be a part of it.
• Dunkin Donuts opened in Denver! I went on opening day, and despite the hour plus drive each way, the 45 minute wait in line, and the fact that they don't know how to properly make donuts in Colorado, it was a great experience.
• I developed a love for crafting. I've always thought I was creative with words and the kinds of ideas I come up with at work, but not a craft-making kind of person. But as it turns out, I really enjoy crafting! I'm planning a lot of great crafts for this year.
• One way God has really challenged me, which I've blogged about a few times, is in loving my neighbors. My literal neighbors, not just the broad sense Jesus talked about. Sometimes my neighbors are loud and annoy me. Sometimes they blow smoke right into my window. And this makes me not want to love them. But God continues to help me see them as people he loves and made in his image...and people I need to treat accordingly.
• I bought a lot of stuff in 2013. And while I am immensely thankful to God for the abundance to do so, I've been convicted that I'm growing too materialistic. God is teaching me to be grateful for all that he's given me and to slow down my shopping and appreciate all that I already have.
• I've determined that running may not be the best form of exercise for me. Most of the time when I run, my rib comes out of my spine and $30 later everything is back in place. But $30 per run is not really feasible...so that stinks. Poor Peanut loves going for runs, but it's probably not going to go back to being a daily habit for me.
• I celebrated 5 years at Group. I love working there and I'm super thankful God has put me there! My hope, if it's God's plan for me, is to work there until I retire or die. So if I retire at age 65, I'll have worked there 41 years!
• Mostly, I've just been really happy. Although I passed the recommended wait time after my divorce (wait one year for every four years of marriage, meaning I hit it in 2012), I haven't been on any dates and I've really been loving the independence. And after such a healing year in 2012, in which I cut out some things in my life that needed to go and focused on God to help me recover from my marriage and divorce, 2013 was just a great year. 

I think that's really it. Like I said, not an incredibly eventful year, but an incredibly blessed one. Now, let's hope this year is just as peaceful. I realized that 2005 (graduating college, going through a break-up, starting my first post-college job, feeling very lonely), 2008 (a really rough job change, starting my job at Group), and 2011 (big lay-offs at work, getting Biscuit, Peanut's surgery, losing Buttercup, deciding to get a divorce) were all pretty up-and-down years so I'm hoping I can break the every-three-years-stinks pattern.