The first day of 2016 makes me reflect back on 2015. It's hard to sum up in a few paragraphs what the past 365 days held and I am not even going to try to capture the highs and lows in great detail. For me, it is more of a journal entry so I can look back in 2017, 2027 and maybe even 2067 and remember a little of 2015. I didn't do Christmas cards this year or a Christmas letter and my blogging all year has been hit-and-miss so if I don't sum it up now, the memories will dim, fade and curl up at the edges.
Last January 1st, my oldest girl was getting ready to jump into her last semester at college, my son and his wife were continuing to settle into married life and my middle girl was soon to be headed back to Ohio for Winter term at Rosedale Bible College. My baby girl was anticipating getting her driver's license and my baby boy was just starting his first musical theatre workshop class. I was working for a home-based pediatric nursing agency along with another home-based nursing job on the side. Leo was working on building the beef herd while still working at Pillar Innovations.
My kids? Adrienne is loading her car this evening and she moves tomorrow to a new city, a new job and I couldn't be more proud. This girl has worked so hard! I kind of wish I was in preschool and she could read me a story.
Aaron and Lisa-Anna celebrated two years of marriage this past September and I think they still have the newlywed thing going on. I love their thoughtfulness about the future and their intentional planning as they keep God in the center of what their future holds.
Amy is on the other side of the world. Literally. She's already celebrated New Year's Day and is on January 2nd. She survived Rosedale and came home vibrant and alive for God! She worked hard all summer and in August left for Columbus for a few months of intense training before flying over the North Pole to Thailand. I am very thankful for social media as it allows us to keep connected. If you see a brightness coming from that part of the world, it may just be her shining her light and not hiding it under a bushel.
Ryan loved the first session of Mountain City Center for the Arts and performing with his troupe in the Spring. Then, this fall he enrolled again and his solo line of two words: "Beautiful food......" was the best part of the performance for his mama. He turned 12 this year and I have heard the words "preteen" come out of his mouth a few times. Nope. Not happening. But maybe, just maybe it's just because he is enrolled back in the Preteen Musical Theater Workshop for Spring 2016.
Then I think life sped up. Like in a movie where everything was going along at a regular pace and then someone hits the fast-forward button and in the jerky movements accompanied by high-pitched squeaky voices we find ourselves in another year.
I have a new job and instead of working in other people's homes, I am blessed to be able to work in my local community, primarily out of my home. Leo had eight baby calves this past week and our herd has grown in leaps and bounds in 365 days. When I think back to the time, about 10 years ago, that he brought home four beef calves, I never dreamt they would grow to a herd like I see out my window today.
My kids? Adrienne is loading her car this evening and she moves tomorrow to a new city, a new job and I couldn't be more proud. This girl has worked so hard! I kind of wish I was in preschool and she could read me a story.  |
| Taken by Higher Focus Studios |
Amy is on the other side of the world. Literally. She's already celebrated New Year's Day and is on January 2nd. She survived Rosedale and came home vibrant and alive for God! She worked hard all summer and in August left for Columbus for a few months of intense training before flying over the North Pole to Thailand. I am very thankful for social media as it allows us to keep connected. If you see a brightness coming from that part of the world, it may just be her shining her light and not hiding it under a bushel.
Heather turned 16 and did not pass her driver's permit test the first time. To have to be the one to take her and then have that horribly sad drive home was definitely not on my parenting to-do list. But she did pass the second time and now, since November, has her official driver's license. Most of the time I am okay seeing her drive out the driveway alone, but sometimes I want her to be 6 again, not 16.
Ryan loved the first session of Mountain City Center for the Arts and performing with his troupe in the Spring. Then, this fall he enrolled again and his solo line of two words: "Beautiful food......" was the best part of the performance for his mama. He turned 12 this year and I have heard the words "preteen" come out of his mouth a few times. Nope. Not happening. But maybe, just maybe it's just because he is enrolled back in the Preteen Musical Theater Workshop for Spring 2016.
Oh, who am i kidding? My baby will be a teenager in 2016. This life that I live just has a way of happening despite what I do. And I've been reminded this year, not just in my life, but in the lives of others, that nothing we do or expect is set in stone. Life can take a detour or make a sudden stop or even pull ahead full throttle before I am ready.
What can I be secure in? I know that God loves me. Period. A chapter in the Bible that speaks to me today is John 10. Jesus is the Shepherd and I am one of his sheep. Verse 4 strikes a chord because it says that "...he goes on ahead of them (sheep)...." I don't know where 2016 will take me, but I do know that He goes ahead of me. I won't pretend that I know exactly what that means but I will take it as a promise. I like what Amy posted back in September:
New beginnings. New friendships. New perspectives. New cultures. New challenges. New love. I never had any intentions of stretching myself this way, this soon... but God is well-known for throwing surprises at me in my life. And I can't tell you how thankful I am for that. I don't know what to expect in this next year, but I know that God is going to walk with me through all of the highs and lows and I can move forward confidently in that.
Love,
Dianne
must be a wonderful year ahead for you
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