2016 Review Part 1 of 8

"You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine"
-Lyrics to Oceans by Hillsong United

My word of 2015 was Embrace, and that Oceans song was my anthem.
Magic was the word that claimed me for 2016. 

"Magic isn't just an accidental 'abracadabra,' rather it happens when you stay committed, focused and follow through on your promises." -Lyndelle Palmer Clark

My commitment to making magic in 2016 was to build a creation out of LEGO® bricks every day, inspired by a random quote on creativity, and post the creation and quote to my Instagram. 

I could not have done it without the muse of the creativity quotes, which were a gifted to me in a mason jar from my dear artist friend Kathy Ericksen, who continues to support and gift me in so many ways. I am also so thankful to each and every person who thought of me and sent me articles or let me know about events related to LEGO®, or gave me something LEGO® related. Also, for better or worse, my spouse has started a tradition of bringing home meaningful LEGO® kits to help celebrate small milestones or encourage me on hard days.  

Since not everyone was on Instagram, I also decided to blog every week about the experience and share the pictures there too. That turned out to be very serendipitous because it helped me make sense of and remember what I was learning, and I will be using a lot of that information in my online course that will come out next year. That's right. You heard it here first, get ready for "Unblocking Your Creative Magic" in 2017!

Creating daily with bricks led me to discover so much more than I could have expected to and connect with kids and adults in new ways. I even attended BrickFiesta in July where I learned and played and also displayed some of my creations in a public exhibition.

The quote and creation above were from Day 6, and it reminded me of the Hillsong Oceans song lyrics written. It was just the serendipitous message I needed, as I was also starting another adventure, and needed reassurance as waters were rising....

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!

*If you want to know more about why I'm doing an annual review and especially why I'm SHARING it read my recent blog post about it thanks to Cynthia Morris. 

Days 309-315