As 2023 comes to a close, and we start off into 2024, I wanted to recap our year of memories, lessons, and blessings.

Henry

Henry’s vocabulary has grown like out of control weeds this year and it has been a source of humor for us all. We are constantly laughing at something he’s said- for example, he hasn’t quite figured out that the conjugation of do is does, so he says “doos”. As in, one morning he was combing his hair on a chair in our bathroom and I told him his hair looked nice. His reply was “it doos”. Around the first of the year last year, he was really into Toy Story, and would tell me that he loved me to infinity and beyond. Then that morphed into he loved me “Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bullseye”, as in he loved me as much as, he just leaves that verbiage out. He then started adapting this to fit whatever he is most into at the time. Every night before bed, we say our prayer, and then he wants to talk about 2 animals. He will just name an animal at a time and I’ll say 1-2 sentences about that animal. Frequent flyers are koalas, bears, elephants, and giraffes. We will then end the night saying “I love you”, and my usual is “I love you chocolate bars and French fries” (two of my faves), and he’ll say “I love you T rexes and Triceratopses, etc”, whatever is his favorite at the time.

He’s been working at being fiercely independent over the last year, which has been a bit of a refining fire. We’ve been intentional and prayerful about controlling that fire into something that will hopefully be productive as he gets older but woof, that three year old need for control hits differently. But for every time he’s strong willed and drives me crazy, there is an equal time that he will snuggle, or plant twenty kisses on my cheek, or be just the sweetest. I’m praying to see some calming over the next year, and that he will continue to use his smarts and independence for good (and not mischief, haha!).

Olivia

What a big year for our big girl! She is pretty quiet and pretty curious but I am constantly amazed at her willingness to try new things or new experiences. When I was that age, I wouldn’t have done one thing that I didn’t know absolutely everyone there and exactly what was going to happen. Her summer agenda was every camp possible (horse, art, ballet, and zoo), and then she joined a soccer team with all new friends, moved up a level in ballet with new friends, and started kindergarten, the ultimate time of new people and new experiences. She has thrived in school so far, which has made my mama heart so happy. She is right on the cusp of reading, can count to 100 and do simple math, and comes home telling me about new friends all the time.

While we have butted heads a little on wardrobe (because we almost always have), she is a very empathetic, mindful, considerate little girl. I’m excited to see what she gets into as she gets older because she is so willing to try new things. This is the year she got very girly- she is very into putting on makeup, painting her nails, and putting together outfits. It’s a little weird to see her play around and hang out with her friends because it just really puts into perspective how much of a little person she is becoming, but I have really enjoyed seeing her little personality blossom over the past year and her conquer some fears.

Everything Else

For years through medical training, I had the mindset that if we just got through fill-in-the-blank, things would slow down and be “normal”. I’m less naive than I was back then, and have realized that it never slows down or is “normal”, it’s just changing and different. Steven has a much more consistent schedule than he did back then, but we’ve added in two kids’ worth of activities and ranching, and all kinds of other things, so it’s not going to be slow any time soon. And to be fair, I wouldn’t want it that way or know what to do if it was.

2023 was the first entire year I was consistent and intentional about working out- 2 hours every week of Pilates with a trainer and it has helped my strength, posture, and overall attitude about working out tremendously. With Steven’s encouragement, I stepped back out into blogging and have fallen in love again with writing and sharing our story and life. Henry and I started attending Bible Study Fellowship class with friends, and it has been a huge encouragement to my daily walk with the Lord. In addition to improving that daily walk, I’ve learned a lot over the last year about being surrounded by other believers to spur one another on and keep each other in a kingdom mindset, doing it all for the glory and purpose of the Lord.

We’ve felt more this past year than ever before that we are called to ranching, and have made a big leaps toward making that happen. We are excited about what the future holds there, and are confident we see the Lord working in all things, but particularly in opening some doors for us there. There was some heartbreak this year- we’ll never get over losing Boudreaux, and of course, the normal ups and downs of daily living. We are not promised no trials on this earth, but we are promised that the Lord is working all things out for our good, and His glory. It truly feels like we’ve seen that working in our life this year through some closed doors and some that have very unexpectedly opened at different times. Our prayer is that we are listening intently to His callings and that we use the blessings and lessons He has for us in 2024 for just that- our good and His glory.