Twenty Twenty… a year that seemed so far away just 13 years
ago when Jayden started Kindergarten and we realized he’d be graduating in
2020.
One decade ago the kids were just 11, 10, 8 and 3. They were
all just kids, not even in high school yet and now we have 2 in college, one
graduating high school in 4 months and our baby girl is a teenager and in 7th grade. So much has happened these past 10
years. Matter of fact, 10 years ago is
when I started this blog. I only ever intended to write to keep our family
up-to-date on what was happening with us and at first I was so good about
writing often, then life got super busy and I just don’t make the time for it
like I once did. Writing has always been so therapeutic for me and I’ve always
really enjoyed it.
I thought it would be fun to take a little walk down memory
lane…
2010 – It was the year of traveling. We made 3 trips to Iowa
that year. Twice for weddings and then for Christmas. It was Taryn’s first
Christmas in Iowa. We had gone each year up until the year my Dad passed away
and then we stayed home for 5 years. She was only 4 years old at that time and
we’ve only missed one year since then. I traveled to Canada multiple times for
work and of course we hit up the beach a couple of times. We enjoyed going to
the Renaissance Festival and to San Antonio.
2011 – This year started out rough. After the loss of
several friends (we went to 4 funerals in 2 months), I was laid off. Jeff had a
major
health scare with his heart which, thankfully, the ER was able to get under
control and I’m so grateful it happened when it did. It was Jeff’s turn to be
out of town a bunch this year except he didn’t just leave for a week or two
here and there, he was gone for MONTHS at a time. God is always so good though,
it was all perfect timing as I wasn’t working for part of it so I could run the
kids where they needed to go and hold down the home-front. The
kids and I drove to Alabama
and surprised him while he was working and made a mini vacation out of our time
there. I also had a health scare this year which landed me in the hospital and
after spending 12 weeks recovering from that, I was finally well again. We went
on a family
vacation with my Mom, brothers and their families to Florida which was
awesome. We also spent time in New Orleans with Jeff's parents.
2012 – This year was a little tough. From kids injuries and
surgeries (Kiarra and Jayden) to my own knee injury and surgery, it was just
rough! On a happy note, we bought a new house that year and the kids all
changed schools. They really enjoyed their new schools and having friends to
play with again. I, on the other hand hated the house and was plotting to sell
it 😊. Taryn started Kindergarten this year! Tamia
started high school, Kiarra was in 8th and Jayden in 5th
grade. The only time Jayden and Taryn would be in the same school was the 12/13
school year. We purchased the house thinking Tamia would be living with us but
the court system took too long and she ended up changing her mind (which is
totally understandable). I was on a project at work and was extremely busy.
Jeff was still managing his crew and thankfully didn’t have to be out of town
like the previous year. The best thing that happened this year was that Jeffs brother and his wife had their very first baby girl. We had a sweet new niece to love on!
2013 – Jeff worked out of town quite a bit again this year
so I was on my own to hold down the fort. Thankfully, the kids were a bit older
and could help out. My oldest nephew graduated high school and we were able to
be in Iowa and be present for that. Jeff’s grandmother passed away towards the
end of the year which was super sad. It was the only blood grandparent he
really knew, and he was close with her. We sold our house in Firethorne (that I
hated) and moved into a tiny apartment while they finished building our new
one. This is the third house we’ve built and I questioned myself on why we
torture ourselves in this way. It’s not really a fun process. Parts of it are
fun, but it’s a frustrating and long process. It was a crazy time with getting
Kiarra into the new high school even though we didn’t live in the right zone. She
wanted to play volleyball and so we had to jump through so many hoops to make
that happen (all because the new house was taking forever to be built).
2014 – Hands down, one of the worst years of our lives
(there is no testimony without a test). I want to keep this all as positive as
possible, but the reality of life is that things are not always positive. The entire year was and still is a blur. I
have documentation of what occurred, my blogs, and I recall the many sleepless
nights so I know it was rough. We haven’t completely gone public with our story
but for those of you close enough to us, you know our story and the danger one
of our children was in. One day, I hope to go completely public with the story.
Jeff tore his Achilles
just 1 week before we moved into our new home (that was delayed 4 months due to
rain and holidays). This brought on a whole new level of stress as I was now
the only driver. Kiarra was playing club volleyball, Jayden was playing
basketball and Taryn was in dance. It was a crazy 14 weeks! The highlight of they year has to be that we had another new family member join us, another precious niece. Speaking of nieces, my niece Makenzie
graduated from high school this year and we were able to be in Iowa for this. I
got to catch up with a friend I hadn’t seen or talked to in 10 years. It was a
great trip! This is also the year I realized I needed to find a new job. Wouldn’t
you know it, as soon as we started to
pray about it, I had 3 people that I’d worked with previously all reach out
to me. Within a month of first praying about this, I was working for a new
company! Before starting the new job, we took a quick trip to Destin
which was exactly what I needed. Jeff and I celebrated our 15 year wedding
anniversary!! Jayden started playing football for the very first time and he
got his first pick 6 (ok, this was pretty awesome too!!).
2015 – What a difference a year can make! Overall, 2015 was
a good year! Kiarra turned 16 and got her drivers license. She also started her
very first job at Baskin Robbins and was the cutest and friendliest ice cream
scooper in all of Katy TX! We threw her surprise birthday party (which didn’t
end up being a surprise but still so much fun). The hardest part of this year
was that my Moms very best friend of many many years was diagnosed with brain
cancer and unfortunately passed away. It was so sad. Jan had the best laugh of
anyone I’ve ever met and always had a way of brightening our day. She was kind
and compassionate and such a fighter. We all miss her. Kiarra played in her last high school
volleyball game which was bittersweet. I
met a new friend at my job and she has become so dear to me, I don’t know what
I’d do without her. I ended up quitting that job and starting a new one
and on my very first day of work I flew to The Netherlands to meet my team and
learn my job. I had only ever been to Canada so this was an awesome experience
for me. I only wish I would have planned better to take the family with me.
2016 – Another tough year where I really had to lean on the
Lord to get me through. So much tragedy and
heartache. Is this really what it’s
like to be an adult?? On a positive note, we got another little bundle of joy to snuggle. Jeffs brother and his wife had their third baby girl. This is the year we began leading a
small group in our home again. We were blessed with more
friends who have become family. Small group is my favorite time of the week! The
best part of 2016 is that our oldest daughter Tamia graduated from high school
and she invited us to be there for it. It had been a while since we’d seen her
and so we were thrilled when we got the invite. My Mom sold her house and moved
in with us before moving back to Iowa. We were also able to be in Iowa
for my Morgans, graduation (my other nephew). This is the year I dove into
Essential Oils because I finally took the time to educate myself on them. It's funny how things happen, because just after my Mom moved away, Jeff's parents moved to Texas! It is so nice having them here so close us. In the fall, Tamia started college, Kiarra started her Senior year of high
school, Jayden a freshman in high school and Taryn in 3rd grade.
Jeff
turned 40 in and I threw him a fun 70s theme party where everyone had to
dress in that decade. It was so much fun!
At the end of they year, I had surgery to begin a new health journey
which you can read about here (Journey
to Health, Volume I and Journey
to Health, Volume II). Volume I is a long blog but if you’ve ever struggled
with your health or your weight, I encourage you to read it.
2017 – I rang in the new year at home recovering from
surgery and Jeff and the kids went to a friends. Kiarra was also recovering from
having her wisdom teeth out which soon took a turn for the worst. She ended up
getting a horrible infection which caused her to have to go into emergency
surgery to have the infection removed. It was awful and a very long recovery
but after a couple of months, she was fully healed, and the swelling had finally
completely gone down. This was a year I had anticipated for many years. Kiarra
was graduating high school!! Senior
year is full of activity after activity. Homecoming, Prom and many many ceremonies
but the day for graduation came quickly and was over in a snap. I’m forever
grateful that my immediate family was all here to celebrate this day. She had
planned to go to community college for her basics but then God
had different plans for her. Tamia was doing well in college and had a
change in her degree and career path. She has always had the biggest heart and
is the sweetest human being with a servant’s heart. She is now going to be a
teacher!! A wonderful career that she
will be perfect at! Throughout the year I had lost about 90
pounds and had to buy an entire new wardrobe. I was able to do things I
hadn’t done in years. Hurricane Harvey hit this year and it was devastating to
our community.
2018 – We kicked off this year with sending
Kiarra off to college. It was hard yet so awesome at the same time. I didn’t
know what it would be like to have her away and I hated it. I still prefer
everyone to be home under one roof playing games and acting like lunatics but yea,
yea, yea… they have to grow up. 2018 was a challenging year. Emotionally I was unstable,
and I was trying to be strong and not let her being away ruin me. I wasn’t
prepared for her to go away yet I knew she was where she was supposed to be. We
continued to host small group in our home each week. something that I really
enjoy. My grandfather passed away at the beginning of the year which was tough.
He was my last living grandparent. We got to see Tamia multiple times this year
which was so awesome. Jeff and I took our first trip alone (since our honeymoon)
and we went to Utah. We had a wonderful time at the annual doTERRA conference
and spending time together. The Lord knew what he was doing when he provided
needs to allow us to go on that trip together (not that I ever doubted that). We
needed that time and I’m so thankful we took it.
2019 – The years just seem to go faster and faster. This
year started off rough, as I was hospitalized for Sepsis and very ill. I have been
recovering all year from the massive amount of antibiotics they gave me but through
this process, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about my body and my autoimmune
disorder (as well as natural solutions and rebuilding my immune system). We had
so many blessing this past year I can’t even begin to count them all. Just a
couple of days of being released from the hospital I attended a women’s retreat
with the ladies in my church where we learned about being anchored in the Lord
(Wow!! Powerful and timely message). We knew 2019 was going to be a BIG year, and it sure was!!
To summarize, Kiarra turned 20 and although not a major milestone birthday, she’s
no longer a teenager. I turned 40 and we spent the week in Las Vegas. Jayden
turned 18! Tamia turned 21! Jeff and I had our 20-year wedding anniversary! And
last, but certainly not least, Taryn turned 13! Speaking of Taryn, she also
started playing sports! She’s always been a dancer but has put that aside. She
tried out for volleyball and made the A-team and is currently playing
basketball, also on the A-team. She is playing club volleyball and is also
planning to try out for soccer. Jayden had a great football season, their team
made it to third round of playoffs. He injured his thumb the first week of
football and we finally saw a doctor in November. The MRI confirmed he had torn
ligaments and he just had surgery to have it reconstructed. That took him out
of playing basketball, as well as track. He has a cast now and is expected to
have a full recovery. Kiarra finished up her second year at CFNI as well as a
couple of classes at DBU. Once she finished at CFNI next year, she plans to
attend DBU full time to get her degree. Tamia is also still trekking along in
school. She’s been student teaching and should finish up next year as well. We’ve
seen more and more of her this year and it makes us so happy when we are all together.
Well, here we are 10 years later. 2020! Through all the years, and all the ups and
downs, I’m reminded of Gods love for us! He is always there, through every
situation, He is there.
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