Mommy Mondays: What A Year

On Saturday as I took down

the Christmas tree,

the pile of kids books

and the intricate and breakable decor,

my mind wandered to what 

would be next Christmas.

Next December,

(okay I admit it, November)

what will life hold for us?

What will have changed?

What will remain the same?

Will I look back on 2016

and feel proud of the changes we made?

The goals set be accomplished,

the ways of being I am promising to myself

hold true?

Next year,

as I unpack those boxes

I so carefully put away,

how will our family look?

Jane will be two

and Claire 5.

We will be in a new routine of 

all day Kindergarten

and how knows what else.

There are so many things

about 2015 I am ready to leave behind.

I am ready for the new year,

new change and 

a new way of being for our family.

The new year also brings a new year for me in another way.

It is my birthday today,

which causes me to pause and reflect even more.

A new calendar year, a new birth year

and another chance for a new beginning.

2016,

I am so ready for you! 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you.

The same as every other year in the past,

I have so much to be thankful for.

Words cannot begin to describe

the overwhelming feeling that bubbles up

inside of me when I mentally list all the things that I am thankful for.

It moves me to tears when I reflect on this past year,

and all of the amazing events and people that have been apart of it.

New babies,

new friends,

new family members,

engagements,

anniversaries,

family vacations,

health,

warmth of a loved one.

And I can list the frivolous things too!

Netflix, soft couch throws,

the discovery of a new favourite salad,

our pool,

tea dates,

Amtrak,

and a new season of Parenthood.

This past week I was fortunate enough

to celebrate Thanksgiving a week early with my side of the family,

sans Spencer who had to return to Portland

(insert whiney-wife-missing-husband laments here).

My mom cooked a turkey in a little cabin on a lake, 

surrounded by trees in the most amazing autumn colours

and spectacular wildlife in Northern B.C. 

If Spencer had been there with us, I could say it was absolutely perfect.

First and foremost,

above all of these people and things I love,

including my husband and daughter

(and I will admit to the daily struggle of keeping this priority straight)

I am most thankful for the 

love, grace and patience of my Heavenly Father.

He has given me the gift of eternal life after death,

the enemy has been defeated,

and I can live in the knowledge that He has paid my ransom

and I can live in the freedom of His love.

 “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”

1 Timothy 1:15-16

My home for the last week.

(photo via Northern BC Trade Connections)