One Year into the Next - 2015 into 2016

New Year's Eve over the past few years hasn't really looked like the typical night... Mr. Kuda travels often during this week, which has led to home-cooked meals from neighbors, surprise visits from friends, and always falling asleep far before the ball drops in Times Square.

This year would be different... He sits just feet from me as I type, but this year is anything but typical. And as I scrolled my FB feed between folding loads of laundry, this little ditty came up and it just made me smile. And reflect. And only start to grasp the enormity of this past year. The year of 2015.

I've prayed more than I ever have. I've poured tears over my journal seeking my own purpose, asking God for a blinking neon sign to what I'm supposed to be doing with this little life. I've prayed for my husband, for my children, for my friends, for my family. I've prayed for strangers and acquaintances. For this world that seems just so far from God's glory.

I've potty-trained my second child. And as Mr. Kuda and I did the victory dance of no more children in diapers, God laughed and blessed us with the surprise of our lives: a third kiddo on the way.

We celebrate the second year in our brand new forever home. The walls and the floors are becoming second nature to us. We've celebrated two Christmases, two Easters, two kiddos' birthdays twice.

I've read the Bible in a year. The whole kit and caboodle.

I've been prayed over by the hands and hearts of strangers more than once. I've felt healing in ways I didn't know I needed. I've found my purpose, as well as my calling this year. And discovered they weren't the same thing.

So tonight? We painted Miss E's new bedroom closet. We've gotta make room for the new little Kuda, and this is the first step. We ate pizza and I drank a glass of egg nog and some sort of cranberry-lime-fizzy concoction (not necessarily in that order. Or consecutively). My sausage toes were propped up by 8 pm, and Mr. Kuda and I snuggled in for the remainder of the night. If you had told me 365 days ago that this is where we'd be, I'd laugh at you. But isn't that the point? To make grand goals, set up expectations, and watch it all unfold as each year progresses? Two-thousand fourteen was such a year of transition, while this was a year of settling in, deepening our roots, and digging in for the long haul.

So 2016, we're coming at you. A little wiser, and a lot more blessed than we were last year. We welcome you with open arms, and can't wait to see what you have in store.

xoxo, k.