The Obligatory Reflection Post

We say the same thing of every year: that it went by faster than the last.
I have come to accept that if it goes by quickly every year, this is just the way time goes.

In 2012 I have:

begun teaching, which is finally something that gives structure and meaning to my weeks, and keeps me sociable and sane~

developed my friendship with A to the point where she will use her rare days off to go out with me, and where we can talk about prayer and God and purpose in life~

decided that I will study for the next one and a half years, and get an exhibition at the end of it~

finally completed Paperscapes, an intensive labor of love and essentially a pocketbook of my illustrations~

cried and said goodbye to ET when she was sick, only to see her nursed back to double her strength (killing cockroaches and gobbling biscuits five times a day)--and now seeing her losing her appetite again. It is discouraging, but this time I have a strange peace knowing that her life is a miracle from God to begin with~

seen my mother befriend k's mother, to wonderful effect~

struggled with my feelings for kids' camp, for the children who I missed so terribly, and for my own dissolving role in their lives. But I came back and did Activity Centre, and met a little girl who cried for twelve hours straight and then turned into a joyful terror~

visited Hongkong and Sydney, without once going to the shopping gems of either. In Hongkong I went to isolated beaches and a misty cliff; in Sydney I played Mother and Baby with a three-year-old and had harbour picnics~

gotten engaged. By surprise, on Christmas Day, in k's house, the last thing I would ever expect. I was reluctantly led into his house, where I found a room filled with the things I'd given him and a Christmas tree clipped with all our photographs. Still I thought it was perfectly Christmassy for him to give me something like that, until he pulled out a beautiful ring and asked four immense words. I had always known we were headed in this direction. There was no doubt about it. But still, hearing the proposal was every bit as large~

had the perfect birthday on hammocks, with banana cognac pie, surrounded by friends who have been lonely and struggling but finally found their other halves.

God is good.