Happy New Year, friends.

We rang it in by… Okay, we didn’t ring it in at all. We were sound asleep. I’m still recovering from a nasty stomach bug and Jon worked until 3 a.m. the night before and was toast. Party animals we were not.

I love the start of a new year, that sense of a fresh start and the expectation of things to come. A new year makes me feel optimistic, with its wide open possibilities.

Our family has some big decisions ahead of us in the next few months. There’s a lot of unknown in our 2014. Uncertainty is typically not my favorite thing, but I am learning in these situations to take it one step at a time and trust the One who knows the future. And whatever this new year holds, I know exactly how blessed I am. I look at my tired, overworked husband and my perpetually snotty-nosed kids, and I know that this life – this messy, imperfect, uncertain life – is more than I could have asked.

So for all of us, here’s to 2014, with its inevitable highs and lows, disappointments and joys. May we know God better and be a little more like Him, may we find His strength when we need it, and may we find the beauty He has for us here in the nitty-gritty everyday.