this past year was extremely full; it was probably the hardest, best, and busiest year i have ever had. i love to look back and see the goodness of the LORD, to see where he has brought us from, to see the trials that we walked through, and the blessings and gifts that he has given us. its so nice to be able to look back and see his hand. here is my quick recap.
January:: we were looking forward to celebrating our 1 wedding anniversary, praying about moving into a better place to hopefully start adding to our family.
February:: the shortest month, but it was so full! we moved into a beautiful apartment, (and our 3rd move in a year) we got to see john piper speak at mars hill in ballard, i decided to step down from my supervisor postion at starbucks and transfered as a barista to a store accross the street from our new apartment, and on the last day of the month, we found out that i was pregnant!
March:: we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary with a trip to portland and cannon beach. we stayed at the coolest hotel in downtown portland and went to the saturday market, powells bookstore, and the rouge brewery. after that we went to cannon beach and explored the tide pools, seaside, and hug point. it was really fun, despite all my morning sickness!
April:: i started working across the street, and learned that being less stressed at work meant that i could spend more quality time with my husband.. and my morning sickness was virtually gone. (thank you Jesus!)
May:: this month i went to the doctor and they couldnt find the heartbeat for our sweet angel baby. the LORD was so gracious and allowed me to feel an overwhelming sense of peace. later that day they did an ultrasound and i not only got to hear our little babes heartbeat, i got to see her too. (such a sweet blessing!) we also spent a weekend camping with my family and some of their church family. it was the most blustery camping trip i have ever been on. in the middle of the night our tent all but collapsed on us. it was so fun!
June:: this month we got to find out if our sweet little baby that we had been dreaming and praying about would wear pink or blue. on june 21 we learned that a modest lady baby was growing inside of me. we were overjoyed that Jesus had given us the child that we prayed for. we also found out that miss margaret pearl had a spot on her heart. and after further investigation (and lots of prayer that the will of the LORD be done) the doctors concluded that she was 99% healthy and that it was probably nothing more than a calcium deposit. we also learned alot about being generous as our church began fundraising for a new building in downtown bellevue.
July:: we spent the 4th of July in Moses lake with my family. it was a fun weekend of laying by a pool, soaking up some sun, and enjoying family. we also spent alot of quality time with our ever growing community group, and our church family. who is basically the same to us as our regular family.
August:: was dress rehearsal month. while heading out to work one day, i somehow managed to fall flat on my baby bump. that fall landed us in the labor and delivery room for a night, and a little scare that our tiny girl could be here. we felt so loved and surrounded by family and the LORD that we were not scared, but at peace with whatever happened.
September:: was baby shower month! we celebrated with a cocktail party baby shower, a southern themed baby shower, and a shower filled with pearls. it is so obvious that maggie has so many people who love her and we were greatly blessed by them all! ( the thank you cards are coming... i promise!)
October:: i worked my last shift at starbucks (until this march), we celebrated the birth of miss siena joy, our sweet friends daughter... so fun walking through our entire pregnancy with them! dressed up for halloween (even though i really didnt want to at 38 weeks pregnant.) and went trick or treating with some really dear friends. (it was my first time trick or treating...)
November:: i struggled as i was 7 days overdue with our little lady, but because God is so good, we celebrated the birth of Margaret Pearl on the 14. nick got to stay home with us for 2 weeks (HUGE blessing!) and we celebrated thanksgiving with both sets of our family.... and i even got to go out shopping on black friday with my mama, while my sweet husband watched our little girl. it was awesome!
December:: nick turned 27, i turned 23 and maggie turned 1 month old pretty much in the same week. we had lots of family celebrations for birthdays and Christmas. it was a great month filled with family and friends, and many many blessings from the LORD.
i love that Jesus has been so good to us. this past year was not the best. it was not my favorite. it had some really hard times, and some really good times. what i love the most was that in 2010 the LORD showered us with his blessings. he kept our baby alive, and us alive and healthy too. he gave to us everything that we needed and at times everything that we wanted as well. sometimes you need to have a hard, stressful, emotional year to really understand the grace and love of the Father. 2010 was that year for us. i am praying for 2011 to be a year full of firsts, a year full of grace, and a year full of growing closer to Jesus, my husband, our daughter and our amazing friends and family.
happiest new year, everyone!
