Why is it that January always feels like being a child and pulling out last year’s winter coat, trying to learn how to fit new angles and bones into what, last year, was impossible to fill?

In the lifestyle that I live of staffing schools and internships, helping plant a church, traveling Europe using art to express God’s heart, and living daily life with dozens of other people, it is rare to have many weeks in a row with space to breathe and dig your fingers in deeply. But that is exactly what January provided.

Some of the other girls and I moved into a new flat in Notting Hill (one recently vacated by our guy friends), and it took the first few weeks of little repairs and decorating to make it truly feel like home. It has only been a year and a half since I lived in west London, but it took some time to reacquaint myself with the rhythms of this side of the city. Portobello Road has changed in my time away, and I love walking past the florist and cafes that have popped out on the north end, where I live.

So here are some (iPhone) memories of the month of quiet, going deep, and preparing for the chaos that has already begun to descend.