2010 - A Pictorial Review

Just thought I'd share our year in a quick pictorial review. And by "quick" I mean "really long." And since it's really not that interesting for anyone but me and maybe my mom, I apologize in advance.

First of all, can you even believe what a little punkin she was?  I'm mourning the loss of my baby right now. How did she get so GROWN in just a year? Lame. She should stop that.

 

We went to Chicago to visit my sister, and to Texas to visit this fun family.

Jayci spent lots of time here, in time out.

And making cute faces that made me melt into a giant puddle on the floor. Because hello? Cutest ever.

We went hiking with a frightening mountain man. Oh wait, that's Adam.

We put our house up for sale. And tried to keep it clean. I could repeat this x 100 for the amount of time it took up this year. Cleaning, yuck.

We went and played at camp with some of our bestest friends.

And took baths. Occasionally.

And played outside.

And spent Easter with these two cuties. Speaking of growing up a lot in a year, these two little boys have seriously turned into young men this past year. Will everyone STOP GROWING ALREADY?!

One of my best friends got married. And in other news, Adam still cant take a normal picture.

We went to Athens to visit Emma, and eat food. Because everyone knows that Athens has the best food.

We spent Spring break in Florida with these great friends. Don't remind me that they moved away this year too.

We went on a picnic with these nuts. And tragically had our watermelon stolen.

And let our kids play naked in the backyard pool. Classy.

We sold (well kinda) our house and moved out. And then the whole family went to Ontario for a family reunion.

And Jayci learned how to eat corn-on-the-cob.

Then we went to camp. And I taught a photography class.

And Jayci got very bossy. Look at her, bossing everyone around. And we knew the terrible two's were getting close . . .

 

And my boys came to camp. See? I told you they keep growing. Stop it already!

After camp, we took the boys and our little family to Florida.

Then we tried to find a house to move downtown. And celebrated Jayci's second birthday.

And then my little sister got married. Twice. Well not really, the first time was the Hindu ceremony.

And then the kiddos got to be a part of the Christian celebration. It was beautiful. And again with all the growing up, I can't believe my baby sister is married!

We went to the pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins with some friends.

We went BACK to the beach (I'm realizing we went to the beach a lot this year) for a wedding.

And Jayci went trick-or-treating with her new BFF. She loves her some Jordan. Not that I blame her, look at him!

And played in the leaves.

And ate Thanksgiving dinner in our new neighborhood with this sweet family.

And finally, we celebrated Christmas. But since I didn't take a single picture of those festivities, you'll have to settle for these. My new favorites, Jayci playing the piano with "her zack."

I can't believe 2010 is almost over. We've finally worked things out with our new house (it only took all year . . . ) and I can't wait to see all that 2011 will hold!

A Year of Waiting

For some reason I'm feeling a little nostalgic today. And because I have the best mother-in-law ever, she took Jayci for the day (and night!) so I have some time to get some work done. Which also includes writing a blog post, of course.

I think that 2010 will forever be seared in my memory as the year of WAITING. And waiting some more. And trying really hard to be patient while I live out of suitcases for more than half the year. . . And then waiting just a LITTLE longer until 2011 when we can actually start working on our new house.

The thing about this "year of waiting" is that I'm just not a very patient person. I hate waiting. In line. For internet pages to load. To get something in the mail. I love instant gratification, and I'm pretty adamant about wanting something and wanting it now. I realize this isn't my most endearing trait, and I also realize that maybe that's part of the reason for this whole year and the things I've been learning while I wait.

One verse that the Lord continues to bring me back to time and time again through this period of waiting expectantly is Isaiah 40:31: "but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Back at the beginning of the year, when I was doing the Beth Moore study on Esther, she spoke briefly about this verse, and her words have stuck with me all year long.

She said that we will ALWAYS grow weary when we wait upon the thing. But if we are waiting for the LORD, then we will renew our strength in mighty ways. And there, I believe, has been the heart of my problem. I keep waiting for the thing. I keep waiting to MOVE DOWNTOWN ALREADY. I mean, we're doing it FOR the Lord, because He has called us. So shouldn't He hurry this process along? But when I stop and wait for the Lord to show up, He does. He always shows up. And He's never late.

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD -Psalm 24:17
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him -Psalm 37:7
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope -Psalm 130:5
Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. -Isaiah 26:8
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. -Romans 8:25
And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised -Hebrews 6:15

And just so you know, I'm pretty positive that 2011 is going to be the year of new beginnings.  And I can't wait to share that journey with y'all!

Pre-Christmas Festivities

As it turns out, I completely neglected to take a single picture on Christmas day. Excuse me while I go cry a little about the fact that we had the first white Christmas in Georgia in 100 years, PLUS Jayci was super-cute and excited to open presents, and she got all sorts of fun stuff that would have been great for pictures of her celebrating the first Christmas where she knew what was going on . . . and I completely FAILED at documenting it. Oops. It's like I dont even know who I am.

I did, however, manage to capture some of the fun stuff we did leading up to Christmas.

For instance, we went with some friends and painted Christmas ornaments. I was slightly stressed by the color mixing on Jayci's, but decided to let her make it however she wanted. Despite my compulsive tendencies to do otherwise.

We also brought some presents to our sweet kiddos. Jayci was dying to see Jordan, who she is slightly obsessed with.

And then we had the boys over. Well actually, not both of our usual "boys" but Zack came and brought his cousin. Who I am sure was surprised that Adam decided for our festivities to build lego houses and then blow them up with some firecrackers he received at a white elephant gift exchange. Good clean fun my friends.
Jayci watched from a safe distance away. She didn't like them blowing up her legos for some reason.

And then Jayci showed Zack how the disco ornaments reflect light everywhere.

Next came gingerbread houses. Jayci and Adam and Jeffery were focused and working hard to build beautiful houses with sour patch kids and marshmellows. Zack preferred to just eat his.

There you have it. Christmas break fun and festivities leading up to Christmas day. Please try and overlook the fact that actual Christmas morning produced no pictures whatsoever. I'm trying to forget.

Look Who Came to Visit . . .

And we were super excited to see them!

 We were waiting to take the kids on a carriage ride, and they were beside themselves with excitement, running around in circles and screaming loudly. We let them, much to the other parents' chagrin.

 Turner is saying "horthes!" here

My best friend Courtney moved to Waco (Texas) a few months ago, and we were so excited to have them in town the week before Christmas for a visit! Jayci was so excited to see her friends, and she kept telling everyone that she was playing with her friends Holden and Turner. I think she's grown a lot too since they left. At one point, Holden came up to his mom with his eyes wide and said: "Jayci has a big girl voice now . . . " My only complaint is that their visit wasn't long enough and that we didn't get to see them enough. So I guess we're just going to have to take a trip out to Texas sometime soon so we can see them again!