So I have a ton of catching up to do on the blog, but I have some pictures from today, so I'm posting them - even though I haven't gotten around to posting anything from Christmas yet.
Each year, I "publish" this blog as a scrapbook for our family. Since I print it according to the calendar year, I like to make sure I have a New Year's post on January 1st as a way to start off the new year.
I've been reading over and over on Facebook today about how so many friends had an amazing 2013 and can't wait for the exciting things to come. I had to chuckle a little because this is probably the first time in our eight-year marriage that I've been thinking, "Yeeeeaaahh...I could do without repeating this year."
To be fair, there are many wonderful, happy moments that I look back on from this year - Steve started his job at the Federal Reserve and for the first time ever, told me he loves his job, we got to celebrate an awesome, combined (and really PINK!) birthday party for Bella and Evelyn, we spent an incredible week up in Michigan with all of Steve's family for our summer vacation, and Steve and I got to spend an unbelievable week in New York!
However precious those memories are, though, this will always be the year that we lost two babies. The first one was heartbreaking. The second one almost destroyed me to my core. That experience left Steve and I clinging to each other, with no way to answer the why.
With all of that sadness and brokenness, I can say, at the end of the day, without any hesitation, that God proved faithful. It may sound cliche or forced, but He is the only thing that brought us through to the other side. And because of that, I can look at this coming year with anticipation and excitement - knowing that whatever our Father has for us, He will work it for our good.
Here are some of my resolutions for the new year. In no particular order; some are spiritual, some practical. I tend to suck at follow-through, but that's what makes the new year fun - a promise of a fresh beginning!
1. Read through the entire Bible. I have began (begun? began? I don't know) and failed at this so many times I'm actually really a little sick of Genesis. BUT! Steve began his third year this morning, so he has inspired me to start once again! I'm trying a plan through my phone that includes readings from Psalms and Proverbs everyday, so that should help.
2. Pray as a couple every single day. (Or night.) Steve and I were talking a couple of nights ago how we'd like God to be more active in our marriage. We are pretty good at running on "comfortable" instead of "working our tails off" in our marriage, which in a lot of ways, is awesome. Well, maybe not awesome, but it allows us to be lazy and successful at the same time. However, I also know that we could miss out on some incredible things that God has in store for us, so we're starting with prayer.
3. Have a garden. I don't care if it's only one head of lettuce, or that weird strawberry plant that grows upside down, I want to plant something, have it grow, and be able to eat it.
4. Sell our house. This will make more sense when I go back and fill in my previous "Dreaming" post...
5. Make a baby. Our family is not complete. It's frickin' awesome (Have you seen our girls??? They're loud and filthy, but they're awesome.), but it's not done. We really want to have a baby this year.
6. Bring God into our family more. This one is definitely more abstract, but basically, when Steve and I talk to Bella about Jesus, we feel like morons. And if you could eavesdrop, you would probably think we sound like morons. "Jesus...Umm...God is watching you...Sooo...Jesus...Say you're sorry...Yeah ." It's like we're suddenly bumbling idiots who can't put sentences together. We know it takes practice, so whether that's reading the Bible nightly together, or finding a family devotional that we love, we want our girls to feel natural about Jesus being in every aspect of our lives and in our home.
And here's how we spent today! Because of that whole "wanting to sell the house" thing, we have some major projects to work on. Mostly painting, spackling, and more painting. Have I said painting yet? Our house is in total disarray, and everything is covered in silt and dust from sanding the walls. But little by little, we're checking things off our list.
This is our Master bedroom...it has become ground zero for packed boxes, random toys, and paint supplies. Oh, and dirty laundry.
Painting Bella's room...we now have it completely primed, and tomorrow, we'll do a final coat of color. Painting over Bella's owl mural was a little painful for us; our incredibly talented friend, Ben Smallwood, painted it for us as a gift and it's been part of Bella's room forever. She calls it her "flower garden".
Evelyn being all cute and awesome. She does not care for all of the projects; in her mind, it just takes time away from playing with her.
Painting our bathroom cabinets. Our bathroom had maroon tiles all around the garden tub. Maroon tiles, guys. It was bad. But it's going to look so awesome when it's all done!
We started tearing apart Bella's room about a week ago, but didn't get it all done, so Bella's been sleeping in our room. She thinks it's the best thing ever, but Steve's about to start twitching.
So that's our new year! There is a lot going on, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have a patient, funny, godly, sexy man who rocks my world; two precocious, demanding, charming, smart, and hilarious little humans who call me "mommy", and a strong, amazing support system of friends who love us, encourage us, and sharpen us with iron.
"Not to us, O Lord, but to Your name be the glory."
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