It's Been A Year

Today marks one year since I have started blogging. It was the first Sunday of Advent and I was hopeful yet hesitant. I have always been a private and reserved person but I still wanted to share and connect. I also wasn't sure exactly who or what my demographic would be, I live in a country made up of two islands in the Caribbean that not many people has every heard of (show of hands all who have ever heard of Trinidad and Tobago before).

My very first post was part of a link-up although that was not part of my original plan but I discovered the little holy days link-up and it just fit my post. My very first comment was Molly of Molly Makes Do who was one of the three blogs hosting the link-up.

I've had lulls as I discovered what I wanted my voice to be and to say. Even though I had been blogging and knew that my Catholic Faith had to part of that voice I wasn't sure what else. I am a single, Catholic woman discerning my vocation so I was very happy to discover the Not Alone Series. It is a really great weekly link-up that was perfect for me. I didn't realise there were so many single, Catholic bloggers before, I knew there were a few and I read some of their blogs but many were new to me and I loved discovering them.

I have made connections and friends. I have discovered a few things about myself and have really grown in many areas of my life. This first year of blogging has been about learning, discovering and growing. I have learnt to balance blogging with other areas of my life which I didn't think would have been so hard but life gets hard, busy and overwhelming, blogging doesn't just get put on the back burner it get completely taken off the stove. Just to be put back on when the time was right.

It has been a great first year of blogging and I am looking for the next year to come.

Another Year

Today is my birthday, the start of another year of life.

Thanks be to God that I have made it to yet another year of life and for all the blessings that I have been showered with over the last twelve months.

This is my second birthday within the Year of Faith and I can definitely say I have been blessed to grow in my Faith. I have grown in my understanding and deepened my love of being Catholic and all that it means. I have grown in confidence in speaking about my Faith (although I still have my moments when I want to hide in a corner and be invisible).

This my first birthday with a blog. Usually I'll just jot down some reflections in my journal after I've stuffed myself with cake and ice-cream as well as whatever was on the menu for my birthday meal (and I'll still do that). With a blog I can sit here the night before type up some thoughts to share with the world at large (or at least whoever reads this).

So I'm going to share my plans for the day......

Mass in the morning, start the day right. Hopefully I'll get a birthday blessing from one of my favourite priests. Then I get to spend some time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, some quiet time, some prayer time, some gratitude time. Later in the evening confession, what better gift to give myself.

I really want the new Kindle HDX which is being released on my birthday, it's just begging me to get it which I will soon but my birthday gift to myself is actually my tickets for my vacation to Florida. Ten beautiful, just because days away, no big plans just rest, relaxation and reflection.

And for the celebration portion of the day....

This year my cake is a home-made pumpkin cheesecake, the baker in me doesn't like ordinary, last year I did a lemon meringue marble cheesecake, this year I'm going through a pumpkin phase.

I'll be adding some whipped cream before serving because my sister thinks it needs a little something. I guess it does and I was originally thinking caramel but whipped cream with cinnamon sprinkled over sounds more fitting.

I have big bucket of kemps for the family and friends but just for me I got

I was minding my own business trolling the freezer isle when what do I see Champagne Truffle ice-cream it seemed like just the perfect celebration treat, the salted caramel is just an added bonus, it is my birthday after all.

I'm going to be enjoying some TGI Fridays as my meal of choice. I originally wanted Ruby Tuesday but TGI won out, even over an Italian place that I really love.

Well of to have a Happy and Blessed birthday!!!!!

Not Alone Series: I am

"We are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life." Eph 2:10. This week in the Not Alone Series we are looking at the topic of Who we are right now as single young women. Not who we are as other's see us but who we are in God's eyes

This topic required a lot of prayer and procrastination, meeting yourself can be hard and awkward. You wonder do you really want to know you, will you like you, can you get along. Are you worth even getting to know, I'm sure you've heard the rumours and everything else everyone has already had to say. Do you really want to go down that road, are you special enough?

There is someone who thinks I am special and He tells me so. Isa 43:4 "Since I regard you as precious, since you are honoured and I love you," If God thinks that I'm special, precious then I must be worth getting to know.

I am full of grace. I am not Mary, not even close though I believe I strive to imitate her, to become more like her. However, God's Grace is all over my life, full and abundant. I may not always accept, recognize or cherish it all as I should but it is there and at work in me. God's grace keeps me from doing anything stupid in my impatience. It keeps me looking to Him, seeking Him and His Will for me.

I am a servant. I like doing things for people, it is one of my primary love languages. I look forward to the day that I can serve my husband and family but until then and to an extent after then I can serve others. This is was definitely something I did not know about myself until a couple years ago. I have always hated housework, and I still dislike it to a certain extent so I have never seen this in myself. Someone actually mentioned to me that I have a servant's heart after we had been involved in a number of different events together. I am an introvert and don't really like just standing around talking so put me to work and I love it.

I am content. I am for the most part over this season of my life and am really, really looking forward to marriage and kids but I am still content with where I am in my life. I have always gotten the impression that being content and wanting something else are mutual exclusive (inclusive??), do not go together. I would argue that just because I desire something different from what I have now does not make me malcontent to what I do have now. I can cherish the time I spend with the little cousins and the god-nephew while desiring these experiences with my own kids.

I am strong. Definitely not physically strong, my arms are like two match-sticks but I am strong in so many different ways. I am spiritually strong, God is the one doing all the heavy lifting but my strength is found in Him. He carries my and I am strong enough to know I need Him to carry me. I am emotionally strong, life has not always gone my way and I have had way more than my share of downs but I don't stay down. Getting up takes strength whether you jump right back up or struggle to find your footing.

I am me. My mother's father has eight siblings and her mother has even more, in such a large extended family even in a small gathering you will find out how much you look, walk or act like that relative you have never met. I may talk like Aunty M or have eyes like Uncle C but I am so uniquely me. Every quirk, creative expression and past experience is all me, not easily duplicated or replicated.


Head on over to Morgan's to linkup and to read everyone else.

Not Alone Series: Introduction

I'm a little late to the party but I am joining in with the Not Alone Series. It will be nice to blog along with other fellow singles, there are so many married and mommy bloggers (which I love) but it will be great to read blogs of other singles on their journey.

I am Nikki, my name is actually Nekeisha but nobody has ever called me that except for in Secondary School (High School), in fact a lady at church got confused after she pulled my name for our annual Christmas gift exchange last year. I totally knew who got my name because she came to me to ask who "that" person was.

I live in Trinidad and Tobago, the Trinidad half, which is in the Caribbean. I work in Accounting, I love to read, I crochet and bake. I am learning (teaching myself, same difference) to sew and quilt. My favourite colour is purple. I have one sister who at anytime can be my closest friend or worst enemy.

For the most part I am content being single, I really like hanging out with my friends (although are starting to get married in droves) and I can do many things at the drop of a hat, like winning and going on a cruise (yes that actually happened). I am also using this time to improve my relationship with God and myself. I am trying to learn patience and I am getting better at managing my home, I am not holding out at perfecting that before I get married, I may not hate cleaning anymore but we aren't besties either.

I am looking forward to getting to know the other bloggers and finding some new blogs to read.