Oh, readers, does anyone else have the lifelong issue of always thinking they can accomplish more in one day than womanly possible? I like to throw the word “just” in front of my many to-dos:

I’ll just run to the grocery store and grab that…

I’ll just fold the laundry before I meet you….

I’ll just finish these emails…

I’ll just have a quick playdate for my kids…coach my daughter’s cheerleading squad…bring snack for the basketball game…plan a bridal shower...

They are all fun but darn it if I don’t know how to manage how much time they take! So let me get to the point (as you are thinking, I’ll just read a quick blog post….)

1. I am so excited to be teaching a four-week series on Proverbs 3 at Hope Church beginning next Thursday (January 26). Thrive meets at 10am and 7pm at Hope. Come one, come all–this is an open invitation regardless of whether you attend Hope. It might help if you live in Richmond, though. If  you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I know what I believe in my head but sometimes my heart and soul aren’t living it,” then this series on trusting God will be perfect for you. I cannot wait to share what God is teaching me through this study!

2. We are starting a podcast that begins on Feb. 1st called Becoming. The podcast is based on this quote by Martin Luther: “this life, therefore, is not being…but becoming” and it’s on all things about figuring out our lives and our faith. I’m the host and my senior pastor David Dwight is the main character. (He actually is kind of a character.) You can download the free podcast series on itunes and decide for yourself if I’m as funny as I apparently think I am, based on the amount of guffawing I do.

3. I’ll be reviewing Jen Hatmaker’s book Seven next week on the blog. Short review: this book is incredible. Not only will I give you a longer review than that (AND give away a couple of books), I’m also going to be hosting a seven-week blog series as I travel through the book with a small group of friends. Why don’t you join us as we examine the areas of excess in our own lives, from food to clothing to media….you’ll hear more in the upcoming weeks but I promise you: you want to be part of this!

4. I had a weird God-ish moment yesterday regarding this article. Not sure what will happen next, but read it to see if you can figure out why it freaked me out (in a good way).

Off to a weekend of celebrating my hub’s birthday. Hard to believe I was celebrating with him when he turned 18. He didn’t like me so much then, but hey, I won that battle. Here’s to 19 years of birthdays and decades more to come! I’m so thankful this morning for the craziest things: a blog where I can connect with you from all over the place, twitter where I can read articles about women named Nikole and Eunice, coffee (always coffee), great friends to laugh with, and a God who takes delight in me just because he made me, not because of anything I can do. Amazing.