Full of Joy

Congratulations to JULIA! I will be contacting you via email. Kristi's awesome new book is yours! THANK YOU to all who shared. Your comments were a great encouragement.

The tree keeps falling over. The dinner burns. The baby spits up on your new sweater. Finances are too tight to buy presents. Family can’t make it for the holiday. The neighbor you invited to church didn’t come. You miss the celebration due to sickness. The flight is canceled. That special present didn’t arrive in time. The weather isn’t cooperating. You’re stressed and yell at someone you love. Another car hits yours in the mall parking lot. There’s no bonus this year. That one person’s attitude is ruining Christmas (again). Memories of past holidays are painful. A loved one passes away. You’re spending another New Year’s Eve alone. Yet another year of unanswered prayer goes by. Life is disappointing. Hurt is real. It may be no big deal, but it is at the time, and it is to you. Most of the above list has happened to me. Disappointment is often my reality because my expectations are high. My self-appointments don’t materialize in the timing or way I imagined. I naïve...

Allow me to introduce you to my long-time friend, Kristi! I've known her since I was 10 years old, if you can believe that. When I first met her, my family had just moved half way across the country from Iowa- which we all loved. We hated moving to Pennsylvania. Kristi, on the other hand, was ecstatic to have us living in PA. She said to me, "Now the college (where my Dad got a new job) has the best speakers in the country!" (Also referring to her own Dad.) That actually sums Kristi up well- very positive, see's the bright side, extremely loyal, and is very passionate for the people and places she loves. In the pictures bellow Kristi is the one behind me, and Mandi is to the right. (Hi Mandi!) For the past couple of years Mandi, Kristi, and I have been able to hang out several times together even though we live very far apart. They both frequently visit their missions agency which is only about 30 minutes away from us. A very sweet thing for me. It's always a ...