Our 2020

(Fort building in the woods with the neighbors)

During the time around New Years I always find myself reflecting on the previous year, this year even more so. I have heard all around me that people cannot wait for 2020 to be over. The term “2020” is used almost as a curse. I disagree.

This year has actually been a really nice year for me personally, although I do acknowledge, and my heart goes out to, those who have real reasons to not feel the same. 2020 has enabled me, our family, to slow down big time—and I cherish that.  I have always strived for the slow in life, I’ve read books over the years like Chasing Slow, The Abundant Mama’s Guide to Savoring Slow, Breaking Busy, Finding Spiritual Whitespace, When Less Becomes More, and Slow Lane…clearly I craved a slower pace of life, but at the beginning of 2020 our family life far from resembled that.

Most of my 2020 reads

When “shut down” happened, mid-March where I live, it honestly felt like a relief. I remember there being a two week period right before that when I had no free evenings at all, I hated that! I had known that I needed to make some changes to our schedule but wasn't sure what to cut out. Usually in the past I had been fairly good at being able to simplify but February and the beginning of March had just been crazy and I was feeling overwhelmed. Now, even though a lot of things have opened back up, or activities have started back up, we made the changes we needed to have a nice balance. I have my evenings at home back most of the time!

I have always been an introvert but this year has brought that out even more and I have embraced that part of myself. The “stay home order” felt like a privilege to me, not a prison sentence as it did to some people. Although I did miss my church, family and friends, we figured out creative ways to stay connected.

(Spending time with my brothers outdoors during quarantine)

About a year ago I finally officially accepted God’s call for me to ministry. I talked a bit about this in my last post…a year ago(!) I had felt Him calling me to more and more with the ministry I am involved in, but I did not feel equip…I was like “God, how can you be calling me to be a pastor?!” So it took a little while for me to surrender my feelings of inadequacy and to say Yes, Lord, I will follow where you are leading me…wherever that ends up being!

My "classroom"

I began taking classes locally in Jan. 2020, in the spring I received my local ministers license, and then in the summer I became a student at Nazarene Bible College and have consistently been taking classes to work toward my district license and ultimately toward ordination in the Church of the Nazarene.  This is a big deal for me…being in college is hard and extremely time consuming. I was perfectly content just being a stay-home, homeschooling mom. But I could not deny the calling God was putting in my heart. I know this journey will be worth it.

The highlight of our year was Camp Meeting in July. I am incredibly thankful the opportunity our family had there. I felt very privileged to be asked to lead children’s services for that week. It was such an amazing week for me personally with getting ministry experience, and being able to involve my kids in everything was priceless. They all helped set up and run services, lead worship, play games with the other kids, etc. We spent every afternoon at the pool, it felt like a mini vacation for all of us.  

Preaching at Camp Meeting

It feels like we spend most of the spring, summer and half of fall outside with our neighbors…this was another benefit to this “COVID” year…everyone was home…we built on relationships with those around us in ways that we didn’t always “have time for” in the past. Spending time with them was one of the best parts of 2020.

 I am so very thankful for many things that 2020 brought, but the slow times of just being together as a family has been my favorite. This year we have played more board games, card games, completed more puzzles, taken more walks, baked more treats, and read more books together than ever before. None of us knows what 2021 will bring but we can all chose to find things to be grateful for in our lives. 

Here are some pictures that represent our year:

Our 2020 read-alouds

shooting airsoft guns with friends

"back to school" donuts

hanging with the neighbors

First day back at Hogwarts!

we went on many hikes

all smiles at camp meeting

my view from the back deck

poolside at camp

Gaga ball at camp

camp meeting

Camp Meeting

Dylan loves his big brother's friend!

Slip & Slide with neighbors

Dylan and the neighbor spend hours playing cars in the dirt

Tea Time

Vince teaching "airplanes" class

camp meeting

Quarantine coffee meet-ups with friends

The girls helping teach "zoom" ASL class

chalk messages for the neighbors

Summer singing at church

Happy New Year’s Eve! 

This is such a fun time of year, I love reflecting on the past year and looking forward to what is in store for the new year.  

Over the past few days I’ve went through all of my 2019 photos, it reminds me of all the cool things we’ve done and how much the kids are growing and changing!  My three year old is writing words, my oldest went to prom, they've made new friends, volunteered hours at church and dance events, spent even more hours outside playing, I have one kid learning to play guitar and writing a novel, my boys have built amazing lego designs, we've completed a couple 1000 piece puzzles, caught several crawdads, my 16 year old and I went to an AWESOME concert together, we went to Shakespeare in the Park with friends, had a blast at the pool all summer...this is why I take pictures!  Let's face it, I have a lot of kids and not the best memory, I need pictures to help me remember everything!

My 2019 reads, not counting the 20 I read on my kindle!

I just gathered up all the books I’ve read this year and I have to say it is pretty impressive, I beat my records from past years! Although my teenage daughter beat me (again), she read like over 115! The kids and I also gathered up all our read-aloud chapter books so I could snap a picture, we’ve read some really great ones!  

Our 2019 Read-Alouds

Some of their favorites were: 

The Wild Robot 

Bob

The Strangers 

Winterhouse 

The Boy Called Christmas

The Bark of the Bog Owl

My favorites from our read-alouds other than what they said were probably The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic and The Wishtree.  I also had the kids gather up a few of what they thought were the best books they’ve read on their own.  It’s awesome seeing them get excited over how much they’ve read too.  

Some of their individual reading favorites

Our homeschooling style and routines have changed throughout the years, especially as the kids get older but I’m really liking the place that we are right now with it.  We do as much as we can together as a group (besides my high-schooler) and they have a good routine with our book basket, memory binder, and some individual things so that even when we have busy days they are still able to get some “school” in, whether we actually all sit down at the school table or not.  We regularly get together with friends every other week to do Brave Writer activities, play educational games, or discuss books.  Homeschooling high-school is no joke though, Algebra II and Chemistry are NOT my specialties by any means! Give me history, literature, writing, art, Bible…anything but high-school level math and science! Luckily, we know other homeschoolers who are using the curriculums she uses and have been able to help!   

This year I have had the privilege to teach a lot (well over 50) of American Sign Language classes, currently I teach a class for pre-school/elementary age and another for middle/high-schoolers. Also throughout the year I have taught adults, kids summer camp, Girl Scout group, and baby sign. My kids are all part of the different classes and I love that I get to involve them in what I do, my older girls have also helped teach. 

One day each week we spend several hours at church getting things done (I help with many things in our elementary department) and I am so thankful for all that the kids learn through doing that, to me that is just as important as getting “lessons” done at home.  My husband and I have worked in the elementary department for 5 1/2 years but over the past year or so I have felt called more and more into the children’s ministry. I’ve had the opportunity to learn and do a lot within the ministry, even when it’s pulling me out of my comfort zone (like speaking to a large group), I love it!  I am actually getting ready to take a pastoral class that starts next week.  I’m a little nervous to be going into a classroom setting after so many years, having essays due, etc. but I am excited to see where this leads, at the moment I have no idea what God has in store I’m just taking the steps I feel called to do.  

Many people ask me how I do it... whatever they mean by "it"...sometimes it's having so many kids, sometimes it's homeschooling, or being a stay-home mom, or having well-behaved kids, or living in a small house with a large family...and I don't always know how to answer the question on the spot, but reflecting on it I think what helps me enjoy this season of life so much (homeschooling 7 kids, which isn't necessarily easy) is taking time to do things that fill me up.  I meet up with a friend for coffee and/ or a meal about once a week, we do bible studies together, practice ASL, and talk about anything and everything. I read (a lot) late at night. I wake up before the kids to do bible studies, devotionals, read non-fiction and have quiet time with God and my thoughts. I learn new things because I want to learn. I paint, write, scrapbook, spend time outdoors, go on dates with my husband often, etc.  So, I guess that's how I "do it", so much of life does revolve all around the kids, as it should be, but that can also lead to burn out as a mom, taking time to fill yourself up also needs to be a priority. 

This year our baby turned 3, we had another officially become a teenager, our oldest turned 16, and we celebrated our 17th anniversary!  Life is full…crazy at times with three kids in dance, three in basketball, preschooler tagging along everywhere, work with church, teaching sign classes, etc….but I’ve also found ways to simplify, this school year I have tried to have a day or two each week were we have no where to go, even if that means not making playdate plans or going on a field trip that maybe last year we would have said yes and went.  The things we have added this year are important to me, which meant saying no to other things that are good but would overwhelm our schedule if we tried to do it all. 

 I can't wait to see what God has planned for 2020!   

Some of my favorite photos from the past year:

Kids church camp

They think they're cool!

Kite flying out back

Sweet sixteen!

Love this one!

Twenty One Pilots!

December dance recital