Reflections of 2013

I know it’s already March, but I wanted to go back and reflect back on 2013. We had so many big things happen during this past year!

In January we transitioned Tucker to a big boy bed and his new room upstairs, in February Tucker turned two, Jace arrived in March, Tucker potty trained in April, We took a family trip with the Golding’s in May, put up garden produce for the year in June, went on a family trip with the Gilland’s in July, Katherine and Scott got engaged in August, we had our annual labor day trip with the Golding’s, Clarks, and Byrds in September, David and Bethany got engaged in October, as well as Jonathan getting saved! In November, Jonathan was baptized and Jace was dedicated (on the same day), Katherine and Scott were married, and Tucker was saved from drowning in the Clark’s lake.

This was a crazy, busy year, but I’m finding that it keeps getting busier with each child added to our family. I feel like it goes so very quickly!

I’m so thankful for…
1. Our family – especially Godly grandparents who reflect Christ to my children
2. Our Life group at church – love living life with each of these sweet families
3. The boys – they delight in each other’s company!
4. Family Time – We do not take this for granted – really trying to cherish our time together
5. Date Nights – I love my hubby! We went fishing and hunting for a few dates this past year and had such a fun time
6. Being a wife and mom – this is the scariest and hardest job I’ve ever done, but I wouldn’t change it for anything!
7. Learning to really pray, study, and rely on the Lord through His Word.

What I have learned throughout this year –
1 Being a mom is hard! I knew this already, but I need Christ’s forgiveness for my failures and shortcomings daily, as well as direction on how to parent each of my sweet boys.
2 My Children are SO forgiving and loving. – I’m so thankful or the forgiveness and love of a child. I fail them daily, yet they still snuggle up, forgive, and love me! What a wonderful reminder of how Jesus loves us!
3. A spiritual head of the family changes the dynamics of a family. I’ve seen so much more scripture being breathed into our home in the last few months, and it’s so cool to see Jonathan get home and read his Bible to Tucker, and we discuss what was read. Tucker loves being read to, so it’s such a great way to teach him The Word.
4. The joy that the Lord gives in this life is such a wonderful and amazing blessing – I just want to soak it all in.
5. Our boys are growing up so fast – it makes me realize how much I need to (and I am) cherish this and every stage. This is taking so much more meaning to me.
6. The most important thing I can do for my boys is love Christ first and their daddy second – I’m loving getting true dates with Jonathan. We haven’t had very many since the boys came along, and we need to have dates – and often!                                                                                                                                                                  7. Scripture is something that I have always worked at memorizing but never something that I’ve been very good at doing. I’m working with Tucker to memorize scriptures together. Obviously these verses are short, but it’s so impactful in our every day lives. Quoting scripture in our home is something I want to be second nature.

 

The Lord has blessed our family in 2013 and I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in store for 2014!