It is 2018. IT IS 2018!
Surprisingly, it feels right to say that. I’m usually amazed that the next year has come so fast, and I sort of am this year as well, but it doesn’t feel as weird as usual. 2018 doesn’t seem that strange to type or write, it feels good.
But before I delve into this new year, I wanted to recap the last. So here you go! 2017 in review.
Guys this has been quite the year…
~ Highlights of 2017 ~
- We bought a new farm.
- I started a new Etsy shop.
- I reached over 3,000 followers on my blog.
- I started my last year of school!
- I took hundreds (probably over a thousand) photos, and better learned how to use my DSLR. You can find a lot of my favorite pictures from this year here, here, and here.)
- I made so much art.
- I (and my friends, of course) deepened friendships both in real life and through blogging. ♥ I especially enjoyed getting to know my blogging friends better – you guys are the BEST, and I love emailing/commenting/writing to you and reading your amazing posts!
- My siblings and I raised and sold adorable baby bunnies.
- My family went on trips to Assateague, Chincoteague, and Amelia Island. 😀
- I played piano for church!
- We went camping with family.
- We creamed 150 quarts of corn. O.o
- We watched the solar eclipse!
- And so many more memories. ♥
I learned a lot this year, and I feel like God grew me as well (although not in size – I think I’m about done growing now XD). More and more often I found myself stepping back from the moment and seeing the big picture and the small blessings, and realizing that almost every worry loses its urgency and importance in light of eternity.
Ahem. Anyway, before we move on to the goals/resolutions, we must have the obligatory stats, right? XD
~ 2017 Stats ~
- Views: 50,174
- Visitors: 16,171
- Likes: 10,656
- Comments: 8,958
- Total Posts (over all years): 456
~ Popular Posts from 2017 ~
- Thoughts on… {Beauty} – I was blown away by how popular this got! (At least popular for my blog.) I’m hoping to do more “Thoughts on…” posts next year. 🙂
- Books, Blooms, and Bales {Portrait Photography} – Oh yes, I love this post too! That was a great photoshoot. 🙂
- Poems – I started writing some poetry this year, and I’m amazed at what kind comments you left me and how much you seem to like it. 😛
- Drawings and Such + Why It’s Okay to Make Bad Art – I love this post, so I’m glad you guys do too!
So those are some of you guys’ favorite posts… here are some of my favorite posts. Actually these are just the posts with some of my favorite photos from 2017 in them. 😉
~ Best Photography Posts of 2017 ~
- Summer 2017: basically summer memories + a selection of summer’s best pictures.
- Bunnies in Autumn: One of my very favorite photoshoots of the entire year! EEEE THEY’RE SO CUTE!
- My County Fair Entries for 2017: The end of this post has some of my favorite pictures from 2017 and maybe a few from 2016 too.
- Pink Flowers and Little Sisters: This photoshoot with my youngest sister was SO fun and the pictures turned out great!
- Golden Hour Sisters Photoshoot: A similar photoshoot, but with Megan and I. I adore the lighting. ♥
~ Resolutions ~
And now for last year’s goals… Let’s see how I did.
- Meet at least one more of my blogger friends. Sort of not really? I got to video chat with one of my friends, which was SO fun, and I saw pictures/videos of many others, but sadly I did not meet any in real life.
Oh well, there’s always next year!
- Grow my Etsy shop. If I was talking about my clay Etsy shop… not exactly. If you’re talking about my new art Etsy shop, yes! (Since I have two sales compared to zero when I started. XD) I think this year was sort of a practice run and I’m looking forward to digging deeper into this business in the coming year.
- Start a Bible journal and keep it going throughout the year. Check! So far I’m in 1 Samuel, and I’ve hand lettered my favorite verse from all the chapters I’ve read so far. I cannot WAIT to see all the journals when I’m done, and I’m definitely going to continue this goal into 2018.
So what is my New Year’s resolution for 2018? Well, it ties in to one of the most important things I’ve learned this year: I can’t do it.
You know on Disney movies how they’re always like, “Believe in yourself”? That’s true, to a point… but only to a point. I’m not saying self-doubt is good or you should hate yourself – not at all! That’s way too far in the other direction.
BUT. The thing is, I’m a pretty poor thing to believe in. I’m broken and fallen and weak, and so are we all. But even though I know that, sometimes I forget, and think that I know best instead of God.
Considering moving and selling the farm and other things that are out of my control has shown me that I just can’t do this on my own. I’m not big enough, not strong enough to change the weather or the timing of plans or… well, anything.
But see, this is not depressing or sad for me – it’s a relief. Because even though I can’t do it, God can – and he will. Why would I want to believe in myself and my weakness, when I can believe in God and his strength? I wouldn’t. I don’t.
So one of my “New Year’s resolutions” is to believe less in myself and more in God. I’ll have to put it into practice to even complete it, because I certainly can’t do that on my own!
So yeah. Those are my thoughts (and some pictures) from this past year.
I can’t wait to see what God will do next year. Eeep, it’s so exciting just thinking about it! Happy New Year’s, guys. I hope it’s the best one so far.
Bring it on, 2018. I can’t do this… but God can.
***Allison***