Joy & Dreams

2104 was possibly my hardest year of life yet. 

It was marked with my sister fighting cancer,

the deaths of people I dearly love,

and a transition between my two heart homes (Haiti & Nebraska). 

 

And yet...

It was a year that was filled with so much JOY. 

Each year for the past several years I have started out the year with a word that I want to remember, live out, study, and incorporate more into my life. For 2014 the word I felt like God was leading me towards was JOY. It was a year when God taught me how to rejoice (the Old English word for joy) in Him even when life was difficult, grief-filled, and filled with so many evidences of the brokenness in the world we live in. I've learned a lot about choosing joy on hard days and cherishing the moments when the world just feels right.

Here are a few of my moments of joy in 2014:

Getting to be an "extra mom" to these sweet kids...

Spending precious moments with friends...

Getting to be an auntie to these sweet girls...

All the moments living, laughing, and loving with my Haiti roommates who continue to bless me with their love and encouragement no matter where in the world we are all living currently! 

And in 2015....

I choose to DREAM.  To not lose hope.

I have dreams that may go unfulfilled or that may not turn out the way I think they will. But I refuse to give up dreaming and hoping. 

I am going to keep dreaming big dreams of a time when my friends in Haiti don't have to worry about where their food is coming from tomorrow and of a world where people treat each other with kindness & respect.

I am going to be brave enough to speak my dreams outloud to others. Currently my dream is returning to Haiti full-time and opening up a community center with some of my friends where we would have adult and children's literacy classes, enrichment activities, and an safe place for families to do things together.

I'm going to recognize that if all the dreams I had when I was younger had come true I would never have gone to Haiti and this world would be a very different place for me. Therefore, I'm going to keep listening to God's voice even as I dream. 

And why not dream? 

Afterall I am loved by so many, I get to love so many, and I am part of something so much bigger than myself.