Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (NIV)

Psalm 46:10, “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’” (NIV)

Honestly, I think we are all feeling the same way and truly kind of feeling a little scared to be who we are here lately.

It’s as if we are who we say we are then what if we lose readers or what if we lose followers because they don’t like who we actually are?

Or what if we change our opinion? Do we lose credibility?

What if we {GASP} admit a mistake?

And why does it even matter?

It has to be more than that here in this little space….

…so as January somehow comes roaring in instead of the slow month I anticipated I may take a step back.

I’ve only made enough money here for about two grocery store visits (Hey! Better than nothing, right?)… (…although I’ve gotten a great set of bar stools, a beautiful rug, and awesome tools!)

BUT I do make money taking pictures and that’s what allows me to stay home with my babies.

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BUT, I love it here.

I love that you celebrate with us.

You mourn with us and pray with us.

And as I make the shift from 31 to 32 today (wasn’t I just 21?!?), I’m slowing things down but not in the cliche way that’s becoming ever popular…I mean in the way that’s intentional and requires full authenticity.

“What ‘Amazon’ was I missing, practically living on top of, merely because the ‘harvest field,’ as Jesus referred to it, had blended into the background of my everyday life, just like the river people had disappeared into Manaus’s landscape?” -Kelly Minter, Wherever the River Runs

We want to slow down in a way that there’s less of me {us} and more of HIM.

“I might have never put it like this, but in some ways I’d been living on an island with those who looked like me, pretty much voted like me, shared my same interests, ate at the same restaurants, sang similar worship songs, and made comparable incomes…We’d genuinely serve and love these communities of sufferers and societal outcasts, but soon we’d be back in our homes, snuggled into our comforts, going on with our lives.” –Kelly Minter, Wherever the River Runs

We want off the island, friends. (I’m scared to even put that into words.)

31 was a big year for us. God called me to resign from my teaching job and stay home, and although I absolutely LOVED my job and my school (and oh, how I miss my school friends and those babies!), the best thing about 31 was obviously our best surprise ever!

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So, thank you!

Thank you for being here and for your always kind words and your uplifting spirits.

“Because we loved you so much,

we were delighted to share with you

not only the gospel of God

but our lives as well.”

1 Thess. 2:8

Amber