In the New Year of our Lord 2016

I hope you're all having a most lovely New Year's! Right at the moment, I'm sitting in my blue room enjoying my sparkly white twinkle lights after coming in from enjoying the outside sparkle lights while doing chores. We don't have any snow at the moment, but we got lots and lots of rain last weekend and now there's plenty of that certain, thick, brown, squelchy substance in places. And after milking, I got to go up and help (most) of the herd find their new round hay bale. (Apparently, they got so excited about it that they completely forgot where the fence opening is to get round and to it. Quite ridiculous behavior. Really. ;)) 

And earlier this afternoon, I got to watch a movie with my family while sipping coffee from my new French blue coffee cup and smiling over my 2016 tropical water/places calendar (both Christmas gifts from my brother ;)).

:)

This isn't a new year's resolution post, but a lot of things have been wrapping up in the last few weeks and I've been thinking through some new things I'm hoping to do soon -- and as all of it delightfully coincided with the beginning of the new year -- some sort of post just seemed fitting. 

2015 was an incredibly full and really most blessed year. It had its share of tough and difficult days at times, but throughout every moment of them God was utterly faithful.

I read a lot more last year than I had for several years previous, which pattern I'm looking forward to keeping up! (And at the moment I'm feeling inspired to do book reviews, too, so we shall see...)

Along with and included in it, I discovered some MARVELOUS new stories -- both books and movies. I've been updating my top favorite films list here over the last month or so. (There are several more that might be making an appearance soon, but I'd like to rewatch them again at least once first. ;))

I was also blessed to go on some fairly epic travel adventures this year. In April, I got to go with two of my siblings for a fast road trip east and really and truly got to meet a dear friend face-to-face (whom I first met through blogging) AND attend her beautiful wedding!! In October, I was blessed to take a two week trip to stay with a very old and very dear friend (and her lovely young family) across the country, which was absolutely splendiferous. And in November, I was blessed to go road tripping across the country west for yet another dear friend's wedding (in which I was honored to be a bridesmaid, and which was altogether perfectly thrilling and wonderful). As I said, it was all quite epic. :) (And YES, I am still very much hoping to share some pictures!)

And.... some most exciting things have also been/are happening on the writing front lately. ;D

There are so many things that (Lord willing!) I'm eager about and praying for in this next year -- and here are just a few of them I'm planning to do on a daily level:

~ I really like the new Bible reading approach I tried during part of last year: reading from Genesis-Revelation in 10 chapter increments (or an entire book, depending on the length) + a psalm or a proverb, so I'm planning to do that again.

~ With my next sister in the house there are plenty of different exercise options floating around and she found a new walking routine recently that looks interesting. There's also my favorite Ballet Beautiful waiting to be picked up and I think they might compliment each other well, so I'm thinking of alternating between the two and seeing what happens.

~ Picking up my fiddle again would be excellent.

~ And (we'll see what happens with this one), but I've wanted to learn Spanish for quite a while. So now just to make a start.... :)

So there you have it! My (very) quick overview for this January 1st. Now I'm off to do some kitchen tidying and finish testing out a new spelt flour pretzel recipe I've got in progress. ;)

A Very Merry 8th Day of Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all!!

Tell me! What's one adventure you'd love to take on in this Year of Our Lord 2016?