Saying Goodbye...

...More like see ya later.

I'll never truly say goodbye to the people in my life. It'll always be "see ya later"! And for that, I am thankful.

Yesterday was my last day to watch my sweet baby Kate! I can never not call her "Baby Kate" anymore. That's what she'll always be to me. I've watched her grow up into a funny, kind, and most of all beautiful little girl! Four and a half years, it's been! Crazy to think about. And I do have to give her the Best Baby Award. Ever. I would put her down and she wouldn't cry. She'd just sit there watching you. Put her down for a nap. No tears. She'd just suck her thumb and go to sleep. Sweet Baby Kate. I've seen her go through all the stages of life. Thus far, anyway. She'll turn 5 in about 2 weeks. WHAT?! How did that even happen. She was about 3 or 4 months old when I met this wonderful family.

These people will forever be in my heart. I can't wait to go see them in their new home!

Charlotte is super lucky. Love you McCalmont's! You're the greatest! <3 p="">Love always,
Miss Katie

P.S. See you in 5.5 weeks!!

New Things

This weekend, I have made the decision to start the road to becoming debt free. I'm finally in a position financially to where I can up my payment and still afford other things, thank The Lord. It's going to be a long road. My hope is for it to take 2 years maximum for me to become debt free. After that, I will SAVE SAVE SAVE! My other hope is that in doing this, I can be more able to fulfill The Lord's calling for my life. 

The last few weeks, I've been seeing this photo being shared around my Facebook news feed. And the first time I saw it, I thought, "Those boys are just adorable!" This feeling of longing came over me and I chalked it up to the fact that I want to be a mommy. Well I saw it again a week later and I thought, "What if they were mine?" And then my thoughts went to, "Can I actually do that? Would they let me?" I started thinking and thinking about it. Honestly, I'm still thinking on it. If this is something that The Lord wants me to do, He will make it so. I hope that it will come to be, but no one can know for sure. 

I am so confident in The Lord right now. I know that he is able to do anything. I'm really interested to see what happens...

Stay tuned...

Birthdays!

Today I turned 26. So hard to believe I'm this old. Not that I think that 26 is old...because I don't. I just can't believe I made it to this age. I figured The Lord would come back or something like that. 

Today I turned 26. I had a relaxing morning of laying in bed...yes, I did. Glorious, it was. So thankful for the opportunity to do that. And so grateful for the ability to do that when in just less than 2 months, I will not be able to do that. Summer...ah. Went to lunch with my mom. That was good. Went to work, that was good. Then it was time for a birthday dinner with the friends! 

Today I turned 26. I have taken stock of my life today. [I do that every once in a while.] And I've come to realize that I am blessed beyond my wildest dreams. So many people texted me and called me and wrote on my Facebook wall. I haven't felt this much love in a while. It feels so wonderful to know that so many people love me enough to send me a little note on my birthday telling me they were thinking about me. Even if Facebook had to remind them. [I'm not bitter.]

I'm just so happy! Best birthday yet! [I say that every year.]

Blessed.

[Also...this post has no point. I LOVE IT!]

You Stay the Same Through the Ages

I'm terrible at making decisions. If someone asks me to choose between two things, I will take a LOT of time debating in my head about which one is going to be best. And even if and when I do make a decision, I will second guess myself until I either succeed, fail, or I freak out right in the middle of it.

I'm a special being.

That's why I'm so glad that God is the same. He is constant. I'm so all over the place sometimes, that I'll go to The Lord in prayer and just sigh in relief that He's always the same. Every time I go to Him, He is the same God that I came to the last time. 

He is the same God that was with Daniel in the lions den...

"As he [the king] came near to the den where Daniel was,

he cried our in a tone of anguish.

The king declared to Daniel, 'O Daniel, servant of the living God,

has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?'"

Come on king...this is God we're talking about...

"Then Daniel said to the king, 'O king, live forever!

My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me,

because I was found blameless before him;

and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.'

...

So Daniel was taken up out of the den,

and no kind of harm was found on him,

because he had trusted in his God."

Daniel 6:19-23 {ESV}

What is amazing to me is that they use the word able. "Has your God, whom you serve continually, been ABLE to deliver you from the lions?" It's such a silly question to me..."Is God able?" Well yeah! He's God, for crying out loud! He can do whatever the heck He wants!

and He is the same God that was with David when he fought Goliath...Go read 1 Samuel 17:32-51.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Hebrews 13:8 {NLT}

"I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;

with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

For I said, 'Steadfast love will be built up forever;

in the heavens you establish your faithfulness.'"

Psalm 89:1-2 {ESV}

This post was all over the place (story of my life) but hopefully, you get the idea. God doesn't change even though I'm nuts. PRAISE THE LORD!

-katie

Life's Not Fair.

Life. Is. Not. Fair.

There's nothing fair about it. Not one thing.

Friends, today, I ask prayer for a sweet sweet girl I know from college. Her name is Kiley. She loves The Lord with all her heart and serves him everyday. She loves people. All kinds. From every walk of life. She has a huge heart. She is a friend to all. She's funny, kind, silly, deep, and Godly. She's just an all around wonderful person.

We were never close in college. We were those acquaintance friends. But, I would still call her a friend. Like I said, she is a friend to all.

I couple of weeks ago, I found out that she had be diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma which is a malignant brain tumor in a hardly operable location. It's partially attached to her brain stem. She is 25 years old.

There is nothing fair about this.

I'm 25 years old.

It's a terrifying thought.

You can follow Kiley's story here if you wish. Even if you don't follow her story, pray for her. Pray for Kiley. Pray for her family and friends. Pray that God will guide the doctors and give them wisdom the entire time they are working with her. Pray for strength through recovery and chemo and radiation that will happen after surgery. Pray for peace and faith in God and His plan and His Healing Hands. And lastly, pray for God's Will and that God will receive ALL of the glory...no matter what happens.

As I started this post, I put on pandora and the first song that came up was Kari Jobe's We Exalt Your Name. The song and lyrics are just incredible, especially for what I was feeling and what I hope comes of this journey for Kiley. I hope that hearts are changed by this and that God is given all the glory.

Life's not fair. But God is. He is just. We don't ever understand why awful things happen to great people, but it's always for someone to learn something. It's a journey for sure, but, worth it, in my opinion.

And as I finish this post, Meredith Andrew's Not For A Moment (After All) came on. What a powerful song! Listen to it. Praise The Lord for those words. God never leaves us. Ever. He's always beside us.

Thanks and love,
-katie

New Year...New Dreams...New Me?

It's a new year friends. And with a new year, comes new everything. New resolutions. New outlooks. New clothes, maybe. New you? Sure. Why not? But don't be surprised if those things get ruined in the first few weeks.

I set NO resolutions this year. None. And I'm happy about it. There's no pressure to change. I'd like there to be change this year, sure. But I'm not going to have a list held over me to basically announce my failures. I've been failing at keeping resolutions for years now. And, honestly, I'm sick of it. And, yes, I realize that actually keeping my resolutions would be the obvious choice, it's hard. So, I decided to ditch the list and live my life as well as I can day to day.

This time of year is always super hard for me. Mid-December until Mid-February.

I've told my story on here before. And I re-live it every year. Some years I handle it better than others. Some years, not so much. This year, I don't know if I will handle it very well. I've been thinking about my dad a lot this year. And I'll tell you why.

This past weekend, we had a youth retreat known as WinterChill. We traveled to OK to New Life Ranch and had a blast! We had 5 girls in our small group come for the weekend. The worship was INCREDIBLE. The fun was amazing! And the messages were exactly what I need to hear. I felt prompted by The Lord to share my story with the girls that were there. So not my plan. I wanted all the girls to be there so that I basically wouldn't have to repeat it and cry all over again. I fought it the first night. But that was God's plan too. He knew exactly when I needed to tell that story. And that was the second night. Part of what we all learned this weekend was to be real with people. To be transparent. So we shared what we struggle with. One of the girls mentioned anger. When I heard that, I had to tell my story because anger was a huge part of my life for a long long time. Still is sometimes. But God is good. All the time.

It's amazing to think about where I was almost 8 years ago. It was around this time of year that my dad went into the hospital. My mind is blown on a daily basis at what God has done in my life. There is no doubt in my mind that he is an active part of my life. No doubt.

This year. I choose joy. I choose to be joyful in all that I do. And when I don't feel like being joyful (because we all know it happens), I will be content. I will find joy in every situation. I will find something good in every situation. I will be thankful.

Thanks for listening...I mean reading.

Choose Joy.

-katie