christmas blues

is it bad that i am still listening to christmas music 5 days into the new year (and even as i type this)? it isn't the first time christmas music has snuck into the new year for me. in fact, i think it's safe to say that it happens every year. i honestly don't know how to cut myself off. we listen to it 24 hours a day for two months and then i am just supposed to stop listening to it cold turkey? i think someone needs to invent new years music so the transition after christmas is easier for us lovers of the christmas music.

having said all that and exposing my cheesy-christmas-music-obsession-side, i want to be clear that i am not stuck in 2008. i am excited for what 2009 is bringing and that is really what this post is all about.

every time i thought about the new year prior to new years eve i got emotional. i am always excited to celebrate new years, but this year i felt especially excited. this is going to be a good year. a great year. god is going to do a lot (he always does, but again, i am especially excited to see what he does this year). for a while now, prior to each new year i have prayed and asked god for a word for the coming year....something he was going to grow me in and teach me. some times it's hope, prayer, faith, etc...as i was talking to god about the coming year, i heard him say that 2009 is the year of completion. while it seems so obvious that this is the year of completion because i am graduating college, i was still taken back and emotional because it means so much more than what is on the surface level.

there is something amazing that happens when god closes doors (seasons of life) and opens new ones. this past year has been interesting for james and i. it has been trying and tiring, hard and good, long and short, happy and sad, hard to explain to others but easily understood by ourselves. to hear that 2009 is the year of completion means that it is "the act of finishing something or of bringing it to an end." THAT IS EXCITING. because we know at the end of one season is the beginning of another. and THAT is why i am excited for 2009. we are closing the door to a hard yet good season of learning and growth and stepping into a new season that looks different.

here is to NEW things, NEW seasons, and NEW growth. happy NEW year and NEW seasons to you.

some things i am looking forward to in 2009:

• graduating college (7 months to go)
• james graduating the fire academy
• james becoming a fireman :)
  
• going to hawaii with james and my family
  
• spending more time on the business