Happy New Year!! I’ve been thinking about this past year a lot, lately. Because we lost our beloved Grandpa in October, it would be easy to think, what a horrible year, glad it’s over, and hoping for a better one, but that would be kind of ridiculous. That would discount the entire rest of the year, which was really, really…. good. There are some photos of my little family that Grandpa took, just before we all went to church together on the day he was killed, and it’s hard for me to look at them. I haven’t posted any of them, yet, because I’m just not quite ready. But those photos make me think about that day, and they kind of represent my feelings about the year. The day Grandpa died was a really, really…. good one. Right up to the very minute that the car he was driving veered off the road. He spent the morning with his grandkids – our two youngest sat on the kitchen counter and “helped” him make his coffee. He sat and gently chatted with barely-awake Georgie on the couch (she’s not a morning person), while the boys choo-chooed around him in their Thomas tent. He took photos of our family on our front porch, to chronicle our last day together as a family at our home, before we moved to Germany. We all went to church together, worshiped our Heavenly Father together, and were each well fed by God’s Word during a very good sermon. We had pizza, and watched “Our Story,” which is just a dvd of photos I put to music, chronicling our lives from the time my husband and I met, to being pregnant with our third baby (I really need to update it…). It was my oldest’s idea to watch it, and I just think, now…. how fitting and special it was, to be able to look back at the most important events in our lives (dating, wedding, war, deployments, moving, moving, moving, and babies, babies, babies) with our Grandpa. What a sweet gift. He then worked in the garage with his oldest son on something they both deeply loved: my husband’s 1969, cherry-red Corvette. I remember the smile on my husband’s face, as we both listened to Grandpa rev the engine, as he drove it away for the very last time. He was happy. We were all happy. It was a really, really good day. Grandpa was killed two hours later, but that doesn’t erase all God’s Merciful Good that happened before, and after that. And that’s how I feel about the year – and life – in general. Yes, awful, painful, frustrating, hard, heart-wrenching things happen in life, but they are only moments in time, and for a lot of us, there is soooo much more time that surround those moments, and fill our lives, and hence, impact others’ lives (especially if you have children). How that time is filled, is pretty much up to us. We can choose to fill that time by dwelling, brooding, fuming. Or we can choose to look for, and see the good (it’s there, I promise), and cherish it. I try, not always immediately, but I do always try to make the conscious choice to look for the good – and by that, I mean to seek to look at things from God’s perspective. His lens is always perfect. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33. He never disappoints.
When I sat down to write this morning, I had no idea I’d go into all that – a little heavy for a silly style post! But I hope you see the joy in it, because there is so much Joy here! And there is also a lot of joy on my tee – a very Mrs. Darcy kind of joy. 😉 It is 10 degrees out this morning, so I am into cozy like ya read about…. I shopped some of my favorite cozy cardis for you, below, today – including the one I’m wearing. I’ve decided to just live in it – it’s all about choosing the good, right?? And this cardi is so good. 😉
Mrs. Darcy Tee: Shop & Apparel | Cozy Cardi: Banana Republic | Skinnies: Banana Republic | Necklace: Nashelle | Square Ring: Nashelle | Hat: Target | Socks: J.Crew | Boots: Frye | Lips: Albeit x Anthropologie in “Bare Rose”
Cherish the good! There is just so, so much of it, always.
Blessings,
Carrie
Stylist + Mama x 4
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