My One Word Summary...

My word for 2012 was completely. My mission statement concerning this word is as follows:

As I go through 2012, there are bound to be storms and times of stress. When that happens I want to turn to Jesus to calm my storm. I want to completely trust Him, completely surrender to Him, be completely sold out for Him. I need to stop living for me and live completely for Him!

So much happened in 2012, I had plenty of opportunity to completely rely on Him! Following are some of the blogs I wrote throughout the course of the year that will show the ways God worked and how we trusted.

In January I learned wrote a blog titled This is the Stuff.... I learned to trust God and to truly see how blessed I am!!


In February, I was thinking ahead to a wedding in March and wrote this blog for my daughter. Then March came and with it the first major change...THE WEDDING! It was A Day Unlike Any Other...

In April, I was beginning to feel sentimental about my job as homeschool mom wrapping up and I wrote Jeremiah 29:11 and the Goliath Academy.

May brought about Goliath Academy's Final Graduation and with that maybe a few tears. May was also the month that God brought us to a big decision; to move to Roseau, MN! It was then I blogged More on Jeremiah 29:11.

June found us trying to sell our home and preparing to move. This when we need to completely rely on God the most. We had expected our house to sell quickly, after all God called us to move so we figured everything would just fall into place. So this Five Minute Friday post was helpful for me.

July brought our 24th anniversary, our move and our son turned 18. It was a big month for us. We have emotions we didn't know were possible to have at the same time; joy and sorrow. After living in Roseau for a few months I was able to say it was home sweet home.

The fall brought us finding a routine and adjusting to the empty nest. Leaning completely on Him became even more important to us. We did have some fun times, such as our Covert Op to meet with a certain boy who was interested in our daughter. They are still together and doing great together.


And finally we come to the Christmas season, it was a different one for us. Our first Christmas in our new town and church, our first Christmas with a married daughter and our first Christmas learning to share our kids with their significant others as well. One of my last blogs on 2012 was about being A bit homesick this Christmas. 

Now, I look forward to 2013 and wonder what will it be like? I don't know the answer to that, but I am excited to discover all the God has in store for me and my family. My word for 2013 should challenge me and help me figure out God's plans.

Don't forget why we celebrate....

Isaiah 9:6

Happy Birthday to my joyful one!

Our Abby kept us waiting and anticipating her birth. She was due to enter the world on December 16th, but that day came and went without so much as a single contraction. Every day after that felt like 10 days, would this baby ever come?? Thankfully, she came at the exact time she was supposed to! Abigail Nicole was born in the wee morning hours of December 24th, a Christmas Eve baby! We were thrilled and at that moment those 8 long days of being overdue were long forgotten.

Abigail means source of joy, which is so appropriate her. Joy radiates from this girl; it always has. Even when she was being naughty, she still had that gleam in her eye. She grew up loving sharing her birthday with Jesus; they even shared a birthday cake.  She loves everything about Christmas, her birthday, the lights, the songs; but most importantly she loves Jesus. Jesus is her source of joy!

Happy 21st birthday Abby! What a joy it has been watching you become the woman you are today. I love having a front row seat to your life. I am excited to see what God has in store for you next! The first 21 years have been filled with amazing things...and I truly believe the best is yet to come!!

Below is a video I took of her singing in church a few weeks ago. Abby wrote this song, it is called Humbly I Come. This song is exactly who Abby is. She simply is in love with her Savior and His joy fills her life! (forgive the quality...I was taping and worshiping at the same time...not an easy task!)

A bit homesick this Christmas...

Amidst all the excitement of the Christmas season I find myself feeling two contrasting emotions...homesickness and excitement.

I am not actually homesick for a place, but for a time. I miss having little ones running around with eyes full of wonder, excited to open the day's advent window, excited to have on more Christmas story read to them, excited to sing Christmas songs around the tree, little ones to wake up on Christmas morning and run to the Nativity to see that Baby Jesus has indeed arrived. Those days are long past and I miss them.

A few weeks ago, both Brian and I were feeling a bit sad about this empty nest of ours and we were missing the traditions we had established over the years with the kids. I told a dear friend that I was struggling and she gave me some great advice. "A word of wisdom. Traditions are great for families, helping build a legacy, BUT they are not commandments from God nor are they sacred so ask the Lord for ability to flex, to start new traditions and to be able to enjoy the season remembering memories of the past, but making new memories!" What wise words! I am thinking on these words often this year as many traditions are just not practical anymore.

The emotion of excitement is mixed right in there. This is our first Christmas in this house, this town and with this church family. I am excited to experience all those firsts, for Brian and I to develop some new traditions, and to decorate a new house for Christmas. It will be fun to open my Christmas decorations and see which ones I kept and where their home will be in this house. As always I am excited because its Christmas! I love the wonder and beauty of this season!

Our tree is up, it is still bare, but even bare it is beautiful. You see there is one tradition we were able to go back to this year. That is picking a tree out in the wild, a totally non-groomed, non-perfect tree. We did that for years when the kids were little; but in Iowa we didn't have forests, so we went to a tree farm. Those are nice trees, but we were always looking for that one tree that didn't look like it grew up on a tree farm. This year, Brian and I joined an amazing family on their land and picked a wild tree. Looking at that tree takes the edge off my homesickness and makes me smile.

Ah to be out in the woods hunting a tree!!! We love the one we found!!

In the midst of these conflicting emotions is peace...sweet contentment...joy; Brian and I are right where God wants us to be!