2011 in Review

Sometimes life goes at such warp speed that I forget to take time to reflect. But starting a new year is always a great time to look back at where we were last New Year's Day and what has happened since then. Wow. It has been a life-changing year in many ways.

Georgia! At the beginning of this 2011, she was just a baby! She was so little.

February

This year started with her getting a new babysitter, Bekah. And now Bekah is like a member of the family. Georgia loves her to pieces, and the feeling is mutual. Georgia also got her first haircut, even when she didn't have much. This summer she turned 2.

July

Everyone talks about the terrible 2's, and of course she is stubborn and throws tantrums just like any 2 year old. But I honestly love the 2's. Georgia has such a great little personality and talks up a storm and has such cute interests. She's now in her big girl toddler bed.

December

And just this past week---She has potty trained! I'm so proud of the big girl she has become, and I wish I could freeze time so she could be at this stage just a little while longer.

This weekend, with her bff Ellie.

Blake has also had an amazing year. I've never mentioned on this blog that Blake is a recovering alcoholic who essentially stopped drinking shortly after Nate was born. But the last few years have still been a struggle at times. In January this year, he seriously committed to Alcoholics Anonymous, and he recently finished his 12th step. The 12 steps are neverending, but this was a huge accomplishment for him. He also did the Man Challenge at church and is now in a Disciples of Christ class, which is an intensive nearly 2 year class to learn the Bible. Even though his work has been difficult at times, as his company has been bought out twice in the past year, Blake has still done well at work and with balancing work and home. He has quit smoking ... 4 times! But we think this time is the charm. :) He is constantly trying to be a better father--and he is so intentional about playing with the kids. And this is really been the best year of our marriage so far. I'm so proud of him!

Nate. Oh, Nate. At the beginning of the year, he was having major behavior issues, both at home and in preschool. We didn't know what to do about it. Then for the most part, they just stopped. He still cries and fits more than I would like, and more than I think is age appropriate. But most of the time, he is a very sweet and often obedient boy.

February

This summer, he played T-ball and turned 5.

Nate started Kindergarten! He went for 3 weeks, and he hasn't been back since. That's ok. He'll have another first day of Kindergarten next year. :)

In March is when I first noticed Nate's left foot turning out suddenly, but the PT placated me for awhile. In July I called the neurosurgeon to move our appointment up sooner. Then a couple weeks later we realized he had lost major function in his foot. So began the full-on freak out (my and Blake's), and we got in to see the docs in August. Tethered cord surgery was Sept. 7. This was Nate's first surgery since before he was born.

He came through the surgery fine, but two weeks later, he had to have another surgery to close a spinal fluid leak in his back. A couple weeks later, it happened again, and we made the decision to go to Boston for another back surgery and ETV. Nate rode on an airplane for the first time.

He learned how to use a wheelchair.

He laid flat for 7 days.

And he has come through it all with amazing strength. I so admire this little boy.

What about me? I've had a pretty amazing year professionally. One of the highlights was the SBAK Day Conference when Aaron Fotheringham visited Louisville. It was amazing, and I was so proud of my work contributing to that day.

Another highlight was the SBA National Conference in Anaheim, where I got to meet so many of my SB mommy (and daddy) friends. That was an awesome experience, and I am pumped about this summer's conference in Indianapolis.

In September I became Executive Director of SBAK, and with that came much more responsibility, and just a lot of cool things I get to do for my job. I never would have guessed that would happen this year--that was a huge change.

So many things happened in our lives this year. Blake's stepdad, Bob, died way too young. We miss him every day and grieve for the whole family, especially Janie.

My cousin Nicole moved to Louisville to be the kids' nanny over the summer. She has been a HUGE help with Nate as he's been out of school so long this fall, but we've also just enjoyed having her and her son Cade as part of our daily lives.

We traded in our truck for a minvan. Then I wrecked it.

We went on a family vacation to Florida! That was a blast!

We also went on a Labor Day weekend trip with my dad's whole family to Gatlinburg. This was such a fun time right before Nate's first surgery.

And my best friend had twin boys! I got to visit with them this weekend.

Truman

Thomas

Like I said--Wow! It was a life-changing year. It's easy to look back on the year and just see the bad and hard stuff. But so many good things happened too. And even in the hard stuff, we grew closer, learned to lean on God because he was all we could hold on to, and came through it with a better focus on our blessings. If I had known all that would happen, I would have been so scared. But God gently led us through it and gave us everything we needed when we needed it. His love and grace amaze me.

Now we begin another year, and of course we have big plans. I look forward to another eventful year professionally. My goal is to get our family healthier, and Blake is focusing on getting us in better financial health. The truth is, we have no idea what will happen this year, and I'm pretty happy with that. We give 2012 to God, and we'll follow him wherever he leads us. Wherever that is will be something way better than we could have dreamed up.

Happy New Year!