I never thought I would start a blog. Ever. I always wondered who had the time and discipline to sit in front of a computer to chronicle the events of the day to an unknown and unseen audience. I've always preferred face-to-face communication. (Just ask my husband or anyone who attempts to get in touch with me by phone...they clock in more minutes talking to my voicemail than to me.)

Here's the honest truth about how I stepped over the cliff into the scary realm of blogging. It all started about a week ago when I watched Breakfast at Tiffanys for the first time. It's one of those movies that supposedly everyone has watched...everyone but me. My curiosity got the better of me that rainy afternoon, and soon I was swirled up in the hum of Moon River and the charm of Audrey Hepburn. Remember the part where Holly Golightly and her fellow (whatever his name is) decide to spend the day doing things they've never done before? That's where the story begins.

Stephen is presently in Australia, suffering for the Lord in the beautiful town of Sydney. He'll be slaving there for 2 and a half weeks while I'm at home, feeling like I'm being devoured by the hungry beast called normality. The day I dropped him off at the airport, I realized how much I wanted to be boarding that plane with him. I was craving a break from familiarity, the sense of adventure that makes you realize how big the world God created is and how much you have to discover. So in an attempt satiate my longing for a new experience, I decided on the car ride home that I was going to take my inspiration from Audrey Hepburn and do something I've never done before every day Stephen was away, right in my own lovely hometown.

It turns out that this was the best decision I've made in a long time. I had no idea how caught up in the cycle of familiar I had become. I had slowly been lulled into the pattern of staying the swing of things, keeping to a schedule, taking the same roads to the same places, eating the same foods, wearing the same pair of shoes over and over and over and over and OVER again. Wow.

My decision to ambush the routine, the familiar, to be proactive in my battle against all that hinders wonder is off to a slow but steady start. So far, the things I've done to break away from my routine haven't really been a big deal (I've eaten dinner at my neighbors' house, taken Evangelyn to a pet store, etc.), but I can already tell that the world is already opening up to me again like a scroll...bigger and wider than I've seen it in a long time. I've realized how little time adults actually give to experience wonder. My precious one-year-old has taught me more about the beauty of wonder than anyone. Everything is new to her; everything is an experience to be savored, a lesson to be learned...whether it's a button to push, an object to bang, a new face to behold, she's full of wonder, awaiting what happens next.

I've decided to extend my experiment and attempt to cultivate wonder in my life by doing something new every day for a year. This blog (which is actually my "new thing" of the day today since I realized it was 9pm, my daughter was asleep in bed, and I had very few other options of getting in a last-minute new experience other than running around outside naked...which I actually did last night) will be about my adventures in breaking out of the rut of the mundane into the wondrous world of wonder...everyday for a year.