Merry Christmas!

photo credit: Kelsey Sliger

Some highlights from 2011:

Welcoming Julian Arthur Storms into our family. Kerry and I became parents on May 5th, 2011 and are loving learning how to care for, love and teach this little life the Lord has entrusted to us.
Finishing school, at least for this season. I finished up my undergrad requirements a week after Julian was born. I will get to walk in graduation at Moody in May of 2012. Kerry finished up his post-undergraduate work at Bradley just a few weeks ago. We will enjoy this semester off from school before jumping back into it (at least for Kerry) with medical school in the fall.
Moving to a new apartment. We moved to our new apartment in June and are SO happy with the place. We have two bedrooms, space for a kitchen table and outlets all over the place! We are living by a beautiful nature center where Julian and I spent many hours throughout the summer and fall. We will always remember our first apartment together, but are definitely happy to be out of there.
Learning more about trusting the Lord. Our life is pretty up in the air right now. Kerry has three interviews for medical school scheduled for January. We have absolutely no idea where we will be 6 months from now. That is a scary thought, especially for a micro-managing planner like myself, but I know that the Lord knows where we will be and that is enough for me. This passage has been and will continue to be our anthem as we move forward, placing our worries at the foot of the cross and sitting back to enjoy the wild ride the Lord has planned for us.

Matthew 6:25-34

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of your by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.

Have a blessed Christmas in the Lord!