Goodbye 2017

2017 really was a good year for us. When I contemplated sending out holiday cards I couldn’t come up with enough interesting details to enclose a note, it was a sort of mundane year with just a few blips of excitement.
A few of my favorite memories are:

Having my kitchen floor tiled, an outlet added, and the cabinets and counters leveled and anchored. That is something I still appreciate each and every day and will until we move on to a different home.

Celebrating Jerusha’s 2nd birthday. She was so excited and adorable both on her actual birthday and a couple days later when her daddy was home to celebrate.

Our 3rd anniversary. Wesley was on the road for work but still managed to make me feel loved and cared for. We had a fun fun get away to Indy which fulfilled what my expectations for our honeymoon had been; he surprised me with a cruise so no complaints. ;)

Finding out I was pregnant with our third child. I was so longing for another baby and was extra thrilled that I found out on Wesley's birthday and could share the news with him on a special day :)

The week we spent with my family exploring the Upper Peninsula.

Our grand adventure out to Colorado. Looking back it seems like that was such a huge endeavor but I'm sure that's just because of my incredibly pregnant state as I don't remember it being too overwhelming at the time. It did take a lot of planning and work but we had such a fun time! I also loved doing my review of it for the blog :)

My birthday was so full this year and I certainly count that as a highlight of the year.

In September of this past year one of my oldest closest friends got married and I was honored to share in that day with her as a bridesmaid. It was her heart's desire to join the wife-club so I was very happy for her and rank those wedding prep and wedding day memories on this list.

Thanksgiving season will each and every year make this list. It doesn't even matter how many things might go wrong or how hectic and stressful the week of Thanksgiving may end up, dedicating so much time to loving family, rejoicing and reminiscing over God's blessings will always be the best.

As I've tried compiling this post I've had to narrow down the memories.. I'm such a nostalgic person and loved the whole year! I am just loving this life I am living, most of all because I love the Leader of my life and the one's He has given me to love and care for (or be cared for by!) along the way.

The day after Thanksgiving my brother Daniel took some family pictures for us so I'll share a few of them here.

 Happy 2018! I hope this year is filled with blessings, the grace to overcome the trials you'll face, and the strength to trust God during those times. ~Haley

Local Blessings

Tonight I'm in a particularly pregnancy-hormone-induced thankful and reflectively mindset. The frame of mind where I find myself crying about the good little things of life, not the pregnancy-hormone-induced-sister-version that has me lonely, sad, and depressed crying.
Today I'm most thankful that I live close to family and not only that but close to family who will, at the drop of a hat, interrupt their schedule to take care of me and mine.

It was -4 with a -18 windchill and I had a plan. I was going to bundle the girls up, run over to the post office, have a quick shopping trip to the Dollar General here in town, then head to my mom's. She broke her arm Monday and I was going to 'baby-sit' and decorate my baby brother's birthday cake while she went to see the surgeon and schedule surgery.

I got the first part of my plan locked in; kids were bundled, then buckled into their seats. I started scraping my windshield before I realized it'd be more effective if I started the car first to make use of the defroster.. And that's when my house of cards fell. My car, beloved Ford Expedition, wouldn't start. The kids were already in it, what a pain to undo and take them back inside. What to do? I climbed in with them and called my mom. She was able to tell me I didn't need to undo the girls yet because she'd send my brother Daniel to try and start my car. He was at my house in well under five minutes. Not being sure how much effort it would take to get my car going and because he discovered his jumper cables weren't in his truck, he just transferred the girls to his toasty cab and drove us to mommy's, plus that would save me the effort of taking them out for our little shopping trip and post office visit. The girls stayed there to play and we went back. He jumped my car and it started right up. I guess it just doesn't like the cold, or is going to need a new battery..
I went my way and he went his. I left the car running during my errands hoping to charge the battery some.

This evening when I was ready to leave my family's I went to start the car before I loaded the girls up and it wouldn't even turn over. Instead of going through the effort of standing out in the cold to jump it Daniel, once again, just loaded us up in his truck and dropped us off at home. He said he would try to charge my battery in the morning and see if it is the problem.

So there you have the story of my day.

Sometimes I would struggle to see good on a day like today; I would just focus on the nasty miserable cold, the hopelessness of a future without my car reliably starting, the time shift in my plans, and etc. but today, I am just thankful and blessed.
And I am so very blessed by family, specifically Daniel, today.

I hope you are given the grace to see the little blessings and find reasons to rejoice, even in this nearly unbearable cold midwest weather, or wherever you are and whatever sort of weather you've got ;) ~Haley

The only pictures I have of the day are from Silas' "party".

Silas is very into all things with motors so this is the cake I made him

Wyn hopped right on the back of his new toy :)

Eowyn having fun with an over sized bow