I did a lousy job documenting our family in 2023- except for pictures. I always took pictures but because I had an old laptop, and I could never find time to wait for it to load each time I wanted to write, I resolved to just uploading all the pictures I took on my phone to the blog and published it asap.
Since Matt got me a new computer for Christmas, I'm going to do better at documenting stuff. Not that I think everyone wants to read what I have to say but because it's good to look back and remember - especially to remember where we have seen goodness from God in our lives. I can't help but look back and see all the ways the Lord has provided for us.
So some things that happened last year that will probably affect this year include...
As a family; after attending 3 churches in the past 2 years, we found a church that is really good for us. It's called Valley Life Community Church. The kids are learning and not just playing games. They have established ministries that are thriving and a pastor that is friendly and knowledgeable. The Gospel is being preached and lived out. It's encouraging.
We got into a bad habit of eating out a lot in 2023 so we are going to focus more on eating at home. We are also working through a really great Bible workbook for families that we will read every single night at dinner to attempt to read through the main parts of the Bible in 52 weeks. It's so exciting!
I'm hopeful that Matt and I can keep a more disciplined approach to our schedules. In the past we have been flighty and dodgy to the things we need to do over the things we want to do. I'd like to focus on the fruits of the Spirit more - especially the Sprit of Self Control.
I got a job cleaning AirBnb's in 2022 and continued to work heavily through all of 2023. I've relinquished my opportunity to substitute teach since the money for cleaning was greater than substitute teaching. I coached both softball at Centennial High School (1year) and volleyball at The Ambrose school (3years) but I have decided to no longer coach high school sports. Arrowlyn started softball last year and she really enjoyed it. I felt conflicted in my obligations to coach versus watching my daughter play during a weekend tournament last September. When I told her I was going to skip the tournament to watch her play, she replied, "Oh! So you're actually going to come watch your daughter instead of someone else's kid?" She was a little bratty about it but I understood. My mom never missed one of my games in high school even when she was in debilitating pain and I haven't forgotten how much that meant to me.
My heath has been a concern though. I lost 30 pounds but gained about 20 of it back. Last spring I was peeing blood. I saw a urologist, received a CT scan and x-rays to determine that I had kidney stones but apparently I passed them without knowing. I have also had a lot of pain during my heavy cycles so my doctor preformed a saline ultrasound and determined I have cysts and fibroids causing my issues. I got an IUD to stop the flow but the pain is still pretty persistent. A hysterectomy is in my near, near future. It will be my 12th surgery. I'm afraid. My mom had one when I was about 8 years old for the same reason.
Speaking of my mom, she was diagnosed with dementia. I'm not handling it well. I'm angry, disappointed and sad. There were little signs that I missed like when she attempted to babysit for my kids & forgot how to cook Mac-n-Cheese. Or when she would show up at my house and then immediately leave. She became paranoid at work and repeated herself often. My sister, Jessica, is the one who really went to work with figuring out what was happening to our mom. It took many months of really paying attention to my mom's changes before my head agreed with the diagnosis. My struggle was because I would have conversations with her and she seemed completely coherent. But over time, when she wasn't, it was obvious. She will start to giggle and laugh uncontrollably when she is confused. It annoyed me a lot before she was diagnosed but my children love it. They've always had a good relationship with my mom. We had her over for Christmas this year and from the moment we picked her up Christmas Eve to the day of when my dad came to get her, she was confused and child-like. She just sat in our living room with the kids and giggled or danced. We love her so very much and it's hard seeing her this way. I look forward to spending more time with her this year since I'm not coaching.
Matt is gearing up to head back to the office in March. He has been home since June 2020 when we lost our 8th baby via Ectopic Pregnancy surgery. I'm excited to have him go back to the office but I will miss him too. His new position at work has been very difficult and demanding so it's my goal to have home be a safe place for him to be at when work is done versus work/home being the exact same place.
Zeplin is finishing his final year of elementary school and we are actively pursuing different options for middle school. Currently he's in the lottery for Compass Charter School. It'd prefer both my kids at Compass but we trust God's will for him that he will end up where he is intended and the Lord will use us and him. We learned that Zeplin is also a talented runner. We ran the Fit for One race in Sept '23 and he rocked it.
Arrowlyn also tested into Gifted and Talented last year but doesn't start until the 29th of January. I'm so excited for her. I'll do a totally different post for it. She has been practicing the piano using an app called Simply Piano (Zeplin is using Simply Guitar to learn guitar) and she's actually pretty good. She loves to read and is a gifted reader.
I can't think of anything else right now. Our life seems filled with constantly trying to keep up - which is something I desperately want to avoid - but I do want a life of discipline and give my children a future that they can be proud of.
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