What is your most cherished memory of this (past) year?...

...when I sought God's guidance and saw His work in my life!

There are lots of great memories from 2011, so let's count them down:

#10. Finally getting an iPhone - can you say, Words With Friends?! I love having all my music and podcasts available in one device...and I haven't carried my real camera since getting the iPhone!

#9. Flying to Alabama last minute to surprise my dad for his birthday.

#8. Spending time with the "Yia Yias" when Debbie, Missy and Sarah came to Chicago for a weekend of shopping and dining in September.

Our standard "couch picture" when we stopped for cocktails at RL


#7. Reading Laura Hillenbrand's recount of Louis Zamperini's amazing story in "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption." It sparked a lot of great conversations between me and my mom's dad, Papa (who served in the Army in the late 50's, where he learned electronics that led him to a wonderful career at NASA) and my stepmom's dad, PawPaw (who retired from the Navy and traveled the world for 20+ years, including a tour in the Korean war).

#6. At a church women's retreat, being convicted to give up sugar/chocolate and successfully completing a 40-day fast of giving up the 5 C's: Chocolate (even my sugar-free chocolate pudding and my chocolate protein shake), Candy Bars, Coke, Cake, Cookies.

#5. Celebrating my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary in June (and celebrating the 50th anniversary of when they met on New Year's Eve 1960...technically not a 2011 memory, but close enough).

#4. Remy Bumppo's production of The goat, or Who Is Sylvia? by Edward Albee. There were two moments in the play that just really struck a chord with me and stirred up some deep emotions. It was fabulous! I would love to see it again, but I would have to make sure the theater company producing it handled it with the same care as Remy Bumppo.

#3. Becoming debt free (well, except for my underwater mortgage) and being able to, as Dave Ramsey says, "give like no one else!"

#2. Traveling to NYC twice in one week to watch the Shockers play in the NIT Semifinals and then win the NIT Championship!

#1. Seeing God's plan for my life worked out in ways I never thought it would! I can point to many examples of looking back on life and seeing how all things have worked out for the best, but the most evident example I can think of in 2011 is job-related. In January, I had spent some time praying about what the next step in my career should be and felt led to apply for a job that - when it had been posted three months earlier - I thought, "Who would ever want to do that job?" The next day, I applied for the job...the next week, I interviewed for the job...and the next month, I was offered the job (on my birthday, no less)!! Of course, I accepted :)