life. faithful.

I have this trait that anybody who knows me is very familiar with: I don't like to fail. For the most part, this trait has served me well. It has kept me pushing forward striving for something better working hard accomplishing things I never thought possible Lately, though, it seems this trait has developed a dark side...an evil twin, if you will. See, I look at all the things that are unfinished right now: ~laundry ~dishes ~thread crochet I've been working on for my mom for somewhere around...3 years now ~multiple scarves ~a wedding present ~a story ~query letters ~oh yeah--homework... (I took some pictures to put here, but for some reason blogger won't let me upload them...gonna have to try and update this when that will work...) I see all those things and that evil twin starts saying, "Look at all the ways you're failing right now...there's not even one thing you're getting finished! You're in way over your head." That...

I came across a verse the other day. ...funny how that happens when I take the time to pull out my Bible and get quiet for a minute, even if that "quite" is while the kids are right beside me watching a cartoon... It's a verse I've read many times, one I've heard preached all my life, one that's quoted any time people talk about the day Christ will return to call us to eternity: "[Jesus] said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:7 & 8) So like I said, I've read those verses a hundred times. This time, though, one part struck me a little differently: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority." Huh. Obviously that pertains to the second coming...

I had every intention of getting back into the swing of things here on the blog in 2013 after letting it drift almost into oblivion towards the end of 2012... Best laid plans of mice and men, i suppose... Well, that aside, I've done some thinking about my word, follow. It seems rules/plans/goals fit nicely into groups of 3 for some reason, so I've come up with the 3 ways I need to focus on following this year. 1) Follow my Savior "When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" (John 8:12) ~We are told many times to follow Christ. That needs to be my number one focus this year, because even though I know to the very core of my being that that should be my first priority and that everything else will fall into place so much easier if I put that goal first              so many times it falls by the wayside      ...

**First, congratulations to (drumroll, please)... Sabrina ! Thanks to random.org, your comment was selected as the winner :0) Shoot me an email at ajkilbourn(at)hotmail(dot)com...you know all the usual tricks here to keep the bots from spamming me nonstop! We'll connect and figure out just how I can make your word "intentional" into something you can look at as a reminder this year.** And now, the rest of the story... My word last year was faithful, and if you look back at my introduction to that word a year ago you'll see that one of the first stories that popped into my head was Peter stepping out of the boat in faith, amidst the crashing waves. It seemed Peter kept popping up after that, too...I guess maybe I'm drawn to those hard-headed, passionate, stubborn guys...but I digress. This year I struggled to find a word for 2013. I read other "One Word" posts, hoping maybe somebody else's word would jump out at me. When that didn't...

How many times growing up were you told to be a leader? Our society seems focused on being the leader, the one out in front all the time. We are taught to develop our leadership skills we pick team captains from childhood we strive for promotions we work hard to be at the front of the pack. I'm definitely no exception--I worked hard to become captain of my cheer squad from middle school on through my senior year, I studied to be at the head of my class and then get into the Honors Program at Tech when I started college (the first time around , anyways!), I developed the skills that would get me into grad school. I was taught to lead instead of just going along with the crowd. What if there's something else being asked of me, though? Hang with me here--if you're like me, this concept is a bit of a hard pill to swallow. What if, instead of being pushed to become a leader, I'm being asked to simply... Follow. That is my word for 2013. It found me unexpect...

2012 was a year of big changes for our little family. Come to think of it, so was 2011...and 2010...and 2009...yeah, pretty much every year since Nathan and I got married in 2004 has been a year of big changes for us. That said, I imagine 2013 will be as well! And you know what? I wouldn't know what to do if it wasn't, and I wouldn't have it any other way :0)  Last year about this time, this blog got started as a result of something that has become pretty popular: one word. The idea is pretty simple. Instead of coming up with a list of resolutions for the new year, you pick out one word that is going to shape your year. Last year my word was faithful, and i can tell you now that looking back it definitely paints a pretty good picture of 2012. I'm planning on doing the same thing this year and I had this big plan of making my first post of the new year on January 1 with a big reveal of my word for 2013. The thing is, now it's January 2 and I still don...