2018: Not For The Faint Of Heart

Well, 2018 came and went.

A few accomplishments to note:
-We spent year number 2 in our new home in White Bear. Brian only talks about burning it to the ground and walking away every other week. It is really starting to feel like home. I love that I can scrub it down, in its entirety, in under an hour, I love how cozy it feels when we come home at night, and I hate how it smells like anything I've cooked for at least three hours after.

-Brian took on a new job. He is now the Comm's Director over at Rockpoint Church and working on a pretty stellar team collaborating with other die-hard communicators. He is finally putting ALLLLLLLLLL those leadership books into practice.

-We took a family vacation of a lifetime to Italy! I'm talkin my folks, my three brothers, their spouses, and even Brian! It was Cacio e Pepe pasta, gelato, and sight seeing like I had died and gone to my own personal foodie heaven.

-Oh and then there was THIS
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We had a kid.

Everything they say about parenting.....it's true.....and also incredibly not true. It's very much a choose your own adventure. But I've learned that you've really got to choose what you're going to root yourself in because if you don't, it will absolutely swallow you whole. Which is where I'm coming out of. You can say "God is your center" but if you don't live that out every single day, there is no way it will stick when you're a parent.

This year I learned that NOTHING is in your control. You can either be mad about this glaring fact and sink into an abyss of despair and depression or you can find absolute blissful freedom in CONSTANTLY reminding yourself of this truth. Here me say this,

"Nothing is WORTH being in your control when there is a God who absolutely delights in everything you are and who would love nothing more than to show you the plans he has for you."

My butt has been schooled in the land of hard knocks in 2018. So here I am. Making the declaration that nothing is in my control and not only do I know that but in 2019 I'm going to live like I understand what that means.

One thing God has been doing is speaking through my spouse, the one who has a rotating wheel of leadership books running through his brain. He gently, aggressively, consistently (sometimes relentlessly) reminds me to grasp hold of God's plans for me. And so, one of the very first things I'm doing with 2019 is starting, "The Poor Foodie's Diary". Because I love food and I love writing. One of these things I've known since I helped my dad spend entire days filling our house with the smells of homemade spaghetti. And one of these things I'm realizing is worth giving more time to explore. I have no idea what this will bring but I can promise there will be some painful and comical honesty, maybe a helpful tip or two, and absolutely good food moments shared in the hopes that you too can grasp hold of the beauty in what breaking bread together, in all its various forms, can do for the heart, the soul, and the stomach.

Cheers 2018, thanks for knockin me down so I could understand there is one greater who desires to pick me back up.

Eat well friends,
Anna