2011...how's that for life changing?

Looking back at 2011, it might be an understatement to say that "a lot happened". I mean, really, a LOT happened. I suppose you could say God gave me the biggest blessing of my life...my sweet husband Kevin. I never realized how much I could love someone until I met this man. So before I digress and ramble on about K-dawg (which happens frequently...) here are my favorite events of 2011:

We got engaged! ok, ok, technically Kev proposed on NYE of 2010, but to me it seems like 2011! Kev's proposal was so personal and creative, and he included my whole family and his whole family and my best friend Michelle and her husband. They prayed over us, affirmed us, and even wrote a song for us! That man is too much and I don't deserve his sweetness!

We traveled in Indonesia and the Philippines! Kevin had been living in Indonesia as a basketball coach at a university on the island of Sulawesi. I went to visit him on the tail end of his time there, and we traveled through Bali and Kevin's hometown of Makassar. We snorkeled, rode scooters, and the best part is I got to meet all his friends and watch his team win the end of the year tournament. It was such a beautiful time.

We got married!! (This one takes the cake for the best!) It was a beautiful day!

We went to the Riviera Maya for our honeymoon. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Can I take another one?

And lastly (which is a combination), we moved into our new home and learned that Kev's mom was cancer free! Praise the Lord!

I'm excited for a new year. I love new beginnings, starting fresh. There is something truly lovely in taking intentional time to really think about how I want to live my life, and what I want my life to reflect and be about. I heard a quote recently by William Law that said "If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, in will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead." I'm looking forward to processing what this truth means for me, and what things I want to "resolve towards" this coming year:)

love Katie

becoming ready

And so I begin. A blog that is:) In the last few years I've had no desire or intention of reducing my life to space on a computer screen. However, it's the stories that compel me. The desire to connect, grow and learn with others. More recently i've been so inspired by friends who have shared their deepest and sometimes silliest thoughts, memories and stories. Oh the stories! Food for the soul. Stories of joy, laughter, travel...but mostly stories of God's great love for us. And so I begin.

This blog is called Hope Engaged. It is no surprise that I thought of this title while I was physically engaged to be married to my beloved husband! But the title has so much more to do with how I began to view my engagement and that of it's reflection on life. I began to really ponder and think about what engagement meant. At it's core, it was a season of preparing for an event that would mark a milestone in my life, and it was a season of learning to become a wife. There were extremely wonderful aspects to being engaged, but there were also truly difficult periods as well. We took measures to learn more about marriage by going through marriage counseling, reading books, etc. Even though we loved each other as best we could, we anticipated something greater to come. There were so many details to the actual event (some fun, some not so fun) and many times it all seemed overwhelming. But when I centered myself time and time again, I realized the beauty of what this celebration symbolized and those small details faded into the background. And in the end, when August 13th came, all the planning (good and hard) was SO worth it. I was my beloved's and he was mine!

In the same way, I began to realize how life is like engagement. It IS engagement. We are the bride of Christ, preparing to spend eternity with our lover Jesus. On this earth, we are preparing ourselves in becoming Christ's bride. We take measures to know him more, to know him deeper. Life brings fun days, and some dark days. And in those dark days when we center ourselves, we again are reminded that the ultimate joys are so incredibly worth it! There is an anticipation of something greater to come. In Revelation 19:7 it says "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready."

And so I desire to make the most of this engagement of life. I want to go deeper with the Lord, and I want to prepare and make myself ready....

And then comes the beauty of HOPE. Many of you that know me, know that I love the image, thought, and reality of Hope. That no matter what happens, we live with the beautiful truth that God is with us and that redemption is possible, even in the midst of darkness. Because that is our God.

And so I want to live so abandoned to the HOPE Christ offers:) I hope you'll join me in this adventure of preparing and living with Joy in our hearts, fully engaged in the hope of Christ!

with hope,

katie