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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

The Best of 2013

January 6, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey Leave a Comment

Annnnd… we’re back!

While most of you are one week into your New Year, I feel like mine has just begun. We had a wonderful 2nd half of Christmas celebrating with family and I definitely could have stayed a few more days– but sadly, reality dawned and it had to come to an end. So, Lance is back at work. Lucy’s back at school and Abby and I are making the effort to try to get our house back in one, post-Christmas piece. Well, I’m making an effort… Abby is helping by “un-doing” everything I do. Ha! Toddlers. Speaking of, she is going to be TWO in one month. WHOA.

So, here are my favorite highlights of 2013—

JANUARY:

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Three things stand out to me– Abby is so tiny!!! And barefoot. And Lucy is so little looking! You can see the thousands of other visitors to the Happiest Place on Earth behind us!

We took a little two day trip to Disney– thinking it would be a good time to go, but we were dead wrong! Apparently everyone else was NOT back in school like we thought! But, we still had an AMAZING time. Next time we hope to go in a less busy season. Lesson learned. 44028830003

In late January, Lance and I also had the chance to take a quick weekend trip to one of our favorite places and former home: Raleigh, NC! Some of our dearest friends were moving away so the girls got some Nana & Papa time and we zipped up there for a couple days.

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One of our favorite visits was a coffee shop that opened after we left– Jubala Coffee! If you happen to live in the Raleigh area and you have not been there yet- Go! right now!
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A Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Latte and a homemade Liege Waffle! Fabulous!

February:

Scanned Pictures 150

Abby’s 1st birthday!!!

March:

Our favorite March event was Lucy’s first Ballet Performance in the Roar of Love. She did so great and we loved seeing our little almost 4-year old dance in such a wonderful performance.

_MG_5299_MG_5306_MG_5312

April:

Our beach vacation was certainly the highlight of April! We stayed at a great little condo in St. Simons Island and enjoyed a relaxing week together.

Our little Beach Bums
Our little Beach Bums
Our sandy shoes at the condo where we stayed
Our sandy shoes at the condo

May:

Lucy’s 4th Birthday!

Cupcakes for the Birthday girl!
Cupcakes for the Birthday girl!

_MG_5970

Tea-Time Treats
Tea-Time Treats
She was having so much fun, she rarely looked at the camera! Sweet little 4 yr. old!
She was having so much fun, she rarely looked at the camera! Sweet little 4 yr. old!

June:

After a pretty busy spring and early summer, in June– we just RELAXED!!!

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WE RELAXED!!!!
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Sister Hugs

July:

Fourth of July fun!!!
Fourth of July fun!!!
Quite possibly my favorite part of July-- was that Amy and I began our morning walks! So refreshing and so good for us!
Quite possibly my favorite part of July– was that Amy and I began our morning walks! So refreshing and so good for us! Lance's 34th Birthday!Lance’s 34th Birthday!!!

August:

!st Day of Pre-K!
!st Day of Pre-K!
_MG_6052
My baby. Sigh.

September:

My favorite part of September was the DotMom Conference! The fantastic weekend in Chattanooga with a couple close friends from church was just what this tired mama needed! IMG_1749

Honorable Mention: Painting the Fireplace!!!! This was a project I had considered for a long time and I’m so glad we finally did it! IMG_1413

And as much as I liked it in September, I was blown away by how it looked when dressed up for Christmas! I should have done it sooner. IMG_2969

October:

ALLUME was certainly a memorable part of October. I learned so much, was stretched beyond myself and found the freedom to keep writing. IMG_2350

November:

Definitely, without a doubt, Lance’s new job which God provided, started in November. We are still a bit awestruck at this blessing.

YAY!
YAY!

 

 

December:

It’s hard to put a finger on one particular event in December, the whole month was full of blessings and love. It was so nice to be able to spend a lot of time at HOME this year. For that I am very thankful!

_MG_6371 _MG_6380

Still Christmasing….
Courage & Perfection

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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happygostuckey

Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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