Sometimes the magic is in the mess.

Decorating Christmas cookies is something that I grew up doing with my grandma whenever we were in Wisconsin for Christmas, or they were visiting us. In more recent years it is something that our kids have done with her and I absolutely love that. I used her sugar cookie recipe and for the first time ever I did not over bake them! In a weird way it made me feel like an adult. Thirty-two years old and I have finally mastered sugar cookies! Lol. I am not going to lie, it made me ridiculously happy.

So yesterday afternoon we invited a few friends over to decorate those Christmas cookies. The kids lasted for about 15 minutes and then they ran off to play and left the adults to decorate. Every so often one of them would return to decorate another cookie or two and then run off to play again. Then as soon as it was time to get ready to go they flooded the table again to speed decorate as many as they could in those final moments. It was loud, messy, chaotic, and absolutely perfect. My table looked like a whirlwind had swept through. There were sprinkles, chocolate chips and mini m&ms strewn about gobs of icing. I am so glad I took before and after shots, because I find the contrast incredibly delightful.

I looked around in the middle of it all and came to a realization that I am struggling to accurately put into words. One of my friends asked me yesterday if I felt like this was home, and without hesitation I responded yes. Truth be told Kansas felt like home to me pretty much from the day we moved. We could not love where we live more and I feel like as a family we settled in quickly and well. But there was something about yesterday. Something about seeing my kids laughing with their friends. Something about friends chatting over coffee, tea and cookies. It was more than having a home here. We have a life here.



I think at times the steps that God asks us to take seem so risky. Are they really? They seem risky because we aren't God. We can't see ahead. We can only see the now, and do we really want to risk what we know on something unknown? That is what I usually ask myself, but if we truly believe that God has good plans for us and that He is always at work in our lives, doesn't it make sense that the things He asks us to do are solid? Secure? What He asks is secure not because of anything we do or see, but because God himself is secure. God is solid, unchanging. I think the question I should be asking myself is "Do I trust that God's hold on me is secure?". If I can answer yes to that one question, everything else fades away. I don't have to see ahead, because the One who holds me does. I don't have to worry about what I do or don't know because I know the One who knows it all.

Out of the many things I am thankful for this season community is definitely towards the top of the list.

Keep Dreaming!