We also finally heard back from all of the medical schools and God placed us in Greenville, NC. We were not the happiest about this decision at first because our hearts were in Chapel Hill, NC. But we came to Greenville and quickly fell in love with our first apartment and started to build a community both in the school and in the church. I started a bible study with the medical school wives and we started to build a bond that was surely needed with our husbands studying all the time. I got a new job that fulfilled me and used the talents I believe God gifted me with, it almost seemed too good to be true!

We got to celebrate a lot of firsts this year: We moved in our first home together, we celebrated Joe’s birthday as a married couple, and we had our first married Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Looking ahead to 2018, there are so many exciting things that I am excited about! Here are some of the things that I am hoping and dreaming of for 2018.

Joe and I are going to be starting the new year on Whole 30 and really rededicating our time to taking care of our bodies. We are going to be running our first half marathon in 2018 so I will probably be bringing a lot more fitness and diet related posts to Jadoregrace!

I hope to grow Jadoregrace into a place where I can really explore my creativity. I am excited to branch out and really challenge myself to collaborate with brands and to grow this space and continue to connect with my readers.

I want to make wise financial decisions with Joe this year and make a conscious effort to be more generous and challenge ourselves to contribute for work of the Kingdom.

I want to travel more this year whether it’s to that cute town that’s forty minutes away or if it’s to another country, I want to spend more time saving our money so that we can travel and also plan ahead so that it is feasible.

Joe and I both want to get more involved with the church and take more of our time to volunteer and commit ourselves to really getting to know the members of the church instead of just going to Sunday Service.

I have never been much of a morning person and I want to challenge myself to really take time in the morning to jumpstart my days in the right way. To me, that looks like getting up and setting aside time to have some quiet time with God to pray and to really reflect on the word and the plans that God has for me for that day.

I want to get back into playing the cello especially in the setting of a worship team.

I also want to be intentional with my friendships and with our bible study, I want to be able to contribute my time and energy to really show the heart of the Lord to those that need it.

I want to read more this year. I want to spend more of my evenings dedicating that time to quality time with Joe and to improving myself and learning and I believe the best way to do that is to read!

Finally, one of the things I promised myself was that I would make our home a place where everybody would be welcome. I want to host more people for dinner (that is my favorite way of serving others, cooking for them!) and host more parties at our place and really make it a home filled with happy memories.

It’s amazing to sit and reflect on what 2017 has brought for us. I can’t wait to delve deeper into God’s plan for me for 2018 and am excited and hopeful. We have many things to pray for the new year and I just pray mostly that God would bless 2018 and that we would lift our eyes to Him every day.