Good morning 2024,

Thanks for meeting with me. I am both grateful and terrified to see you. Please don’t take it personally, it’s just that your friends have not been so kind. 2020-2023 had their share of making me laugh until I cried and also cry until I’m numb. So, hopefully you can understand my hesitancy to invite you into my life though we both know I do not have a choice. I have so many questions for you, but I’ll start with telling you a little about myself. Sound good?

As of right now, I am 30 years old. Somedays I still don’t feel “adult enough” to own my own home, be married or raising children. Will there every come a day where I do feel like I’ve made it to adulthood? I’ve grown a lot in my faith in 2023 and learned to lean on Jesus a little harder. Still not perfectly, of course. But I am proud of how far I’ve come.

This past year we celebrated the kids turning 12, 5 and 2 years old. How on earth is that possible? I am not sure, but I am grateful, nonetheless. Being a mom has been the hardest and yet, the most rewarding role I have ever taken on. Postpartum anxiety and overwhelm are both still very present in my daily life, but they don’t feel as suffocating as they once did. I am slowly finding my rhythm as a mom again and you just might be the year that I fully enjoy all the motherhood has to offer.

Chase and I celebrated 6 years of marriage in June! The longer we have been married, the sweeter it has become. There were disagreements and misunderstandings and frustrations, but I have laughed harder, fallen deeper in love and felt more at home with him than any other year. I am hopeful for what my marriage will look like this time next year.

I started my second year as MDO director (surprise, I still don’t know what I’m doing) and it has been good, albeit crazy stressful with so many issues with keeping a baby teacher on staff, but good. This little program is my ministry and I don’t take that role lightly. I love my teachers, the children we have been entrusted with and their parents. I don’t want to forget the joy of working somewhere that makes you feel alive with purpose.

That is but a snippet of who I am walking into this year. It would take entirely too long to write it all down and I’m not even sure I could put most of it into words. Miracles and heartaches are hard to articulate sometimes.

I want to ask you so many questions… What do you have in store for me? For my family? Will there be any more heartache, and if so, how much? What adventures are on the horizon? How will my faith grow and how will that growth stretch me? Will I finally be brave enough to learn how to can?

My questions could take up a couple hundred pages, I’m afraid. I have learned that asking questions and seeking answers is a way I try and control things when I’m feeling out of control. Knowing this about myself, I don’t think I want any of the answers. I’m ready to lean into the un-comfortability and uncertainty and trust in the God that brought me this far. I’m ready to embrace all that you have to offer, 2024. The good and bad, hard and holy, mundane and adventurous. After all, I know that I do not walk through this life alone. My God is with me through every step. I know this to be true, deep into my bones, because He has been with me this far. I don’t need a promise of good luck or dreams-come-true to know that this is going to be the best year yet.

So, hello, 2024. It is so very good to finally meet you.

**This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series “Hello”.