We get one story, you and I, and one story alone.

“And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”

Hi friends of mine...near & far. This morning's blog post is simple but it's often those seemingly simple tasks that are the most difficult to do. I would encourage everyone...TELL YOUR STORY. let people get to know you...cry a little. be vulnerable. be real. make a connection. i have a big story to tell and today I am sitting down to tell it...not because it makes me comfortable but because it's the right thing to do. Many of you know that my "story" is all over social media...BUT that is the filtered story of Steph. I have spent years, countless hours and tears writing in these brown journals. Sure, I've kept this blog mostly for those things I am comfortable sharing with you. But who knows...maybe words on these beat up pages will stick to someones heart and make a small difference in how a person is treated. Nothing is more real to someone until it hits home. This is my story. This is my song. Stay tuned.

And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. -Donald Miller | Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road

2011 from Steph's iPhone.

I appreciate everyone who made 2011 a great year. Ready for 2012♥