BUILD in 2017 - Best 9 + Recap

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” -1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:10-11‬ ‭

This is a little overdue but wanted to share my #bestnine2017 (from my personal & blog/business page) along with a little blog post. 2017 was so, so good! I’m praising God and slowly transitioning into 2018, trying to savor every bit of it. Our word for 2017 was BUILD, and  build we did... a marriage, our home, our businesses, our community, and our life on Jesus. Here are some highlights from my: 

• On March 4, 2017, I got Married to my love & best friend! We have loved celebrating our first few months (almost year!) of marriage. After 6 months we were engaged and 4 months later we were married. We had a beautiful wedding with 300 of our friends and family in Downtown Cleveland at the Old Courthouse. God was at the center from the beginning and was so present during our wedding day, to him be all the Praise & Glory. We love because He first loved us.
• I launched my new website, blog & business, Refined Heart Living. I have *slowly* watched it grow beyond my expectation, God always knows best and has a plan greater than we do.
• I spent a lot of time in the Word, reading the Bible, letting God speak, drawing near. Knowing that His word does not return void, it has eternal value & no word from God will ever fail.
• Sharing truth, encouragement & the refining of my own heart through writing both on my blog and through social media. Including the merging of my life & business and the story behind it.
• Sipping coffee with sweet friends, some new and some old, sharing hearts
• I loved getting to share engagement photos, scripture and truth about marriage the 10 days leading up to our wedding (many pictured above).
• A photo that is one of my favorites from our charming honeymoon in lovely Charleston, SC (a post where I shared about the highs and lows of our first 2 weeks of marriage, including losing my sweet Grandma a week after my wedding, praise God she was able to be there smiling & even walking down the aisle) 
• Building our home, making our little 1920s house more of a home in Lima. We remodeled our bathroom & many other remodels/updates with more to come in 2018.

Not pictured are the beautiful in between moments of building our first year of marriage. Sweet moments with family and friends, including a whole lot of celebrating of "firsts" such as our birthdays, the holidays, and so on as newlyweds. Leaving the corporate world, finding freedom and grace in that beyond what I could've imagined. A short few weeks of nannying for a sweet little boy and family that is so dear to our hearts. Seeing God slowly lead me to building a blog and a business- all the conversations, leaps of faith, prayers, tears, excitement and everything in between. Greater healing in my body and my mind with "slowing down" in Lima, love in my heart, rest in my body, self care in nourishing food and moving my body, didn't realize the toll stress and the corporate world had on me.  Planting my first garden and realizing that I was not that great at it but the Lord taught me a lot through it and I'm determined to try again this year! Watching two of my sweet friends (one was my cousin) get married as I got to stand next to them as a bridesmaid on their special day. All the joy and laughter, tears, prayers, long talks, snuggles, netflix watching, cooking, reading and  even just emotions of marriage, moving, at times loneliness (as we build community) and what felt like starting to build my life in a lot of new ways, together with my sweet husband and with Jesus our cornerstone at the center & our foundation.