Our Past And Future A Year At A Time

Wow!  Is it possible that 2011 is over?  Didn’t it just start?  Weren’t we just expecting a newborn, dealing with Josiah’s terrible GI issues, and hoping for more precious time with Deda?  Well, all of those major things are over.  They are in the past.  How is it that time just moves right on by despite what seems to be big events in our lives?  It will always be a mystery, I think. 

I feel like I can hardly remember the blur, but this year has been good overall.  We are in pretty good health despite the frequent mild illnesses that have repetitively passed through our family.  We started 2011 with Josiah being plagued by one minor illness after another on top of his ever nagging and worsening GI issues.  We were also frantically trying to get Josiah settled in his new room and the nursery ready to welcome our sweet newcomer, Elijah.  Then there was my ailing grandfather who was doing relatively well, but on his way to declining faster than any of us realized.  Those three things seemed to be the biggest on our plate.  Well, since January those three things that we were bracing for and dealing with have come and gone.  Josiah’s health has improved well past the point where we were crying nearly daily, though he still has hints of an issue here and there and there is still some concern.  We have welcomed a handsome and fun little guy into our family and dealt with, or in truth are still dealing with, the adjustments that that brings.  He, along with Josiah, has filled our days with so many smiles.  And, sadly, we have said goodbye to our beloved Deda.  Though we continue to mourn him, we are thankful for so many things about his life and passing. 

Jacob has continued to grow his fledgling bee business and now has 50 hives and gets calls from other beekeepers to “hire” his bees.  We also have a fun stash of honey to draw from.  I say “fun” because it isn’t worth enough to live off of yet, but we sure enjoy it!  He’s still doing some lawn care while the transition continues.  My job is working out well in that I basically share a full time position with another working mom.  We even use the same babysitter so she can always count on one of us being there.  We are able to communicate easily with one another to arrange a schedule that work for both of us.

We were hoping to begin building our house this winter, but with all the rush of the year, we were just too slow in getting that underway.  It is just as well because the last thing we need right now is more chaos.  We will be having professional drawings done after the first of the year and the current hope and plan is to have everything ready to break ground in early fall of 2012.  I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much, but there are SO many reasons why we want and honestly need (or at least I have so convinced myself) this.  We’ll see!

All in all, it has actually been a fabulous year!  Who wouldn’t love spending time with two awesome little boys and a fantastic husband?  And Deda’s death, while sad, was also merciful in many ways.  Besides, he was just what I needed while here on earth, so how could I complain?  Also, in general, our health is good.  We have jobs that fill the need and keep us mostly stimulated.  And greatest of all, God is good!  He has the master plan that makes sense to him and will work for the greater good.  Sometimes I get blinded by the present, but when I take the time to look up, stop being anxious about the future, and just have faith that he will care for me, I get really excited for what he has in store.  It should be interesting, to say the least :)

So, what will 2012 bring?  Well, we’re pretty tired, so some rest would be nice!  We are trying to focus more on quality time together and fine tuning our efficiency to remedy that.  I plan to thoroughly enjoy my boys so that their development doesn’t just pass me by.  And maybe a steady flow of vitamin C is in order to help stop this ridiculous trend of sickness we’ve been on!  Other than that we are just planning to slowly plug away at life while expanding the bee business and planning that house.  I’m pretty hopeful and excited about it all, actually.

I hope you all have had a wonderful 2011 and that 2012 is even better!