2023 Year in Review
2023: A Year in Review
A brief look back
We have not written Christmas cards since we have gotten married, and my husband, being motivated by someone on Twitter, thought this would be fun! So he reflected on his year, and encouraged me to reflect on mine.
While my husband broke his up into the categories: career, projects, life and future, I figured I could at least change up the categories to fit me better! Therefore, my categories will consist of passions, life, and future (not 100% different than his, but enough).
While my husband broke his up into the categories: career, projects, life and future, I figured I could at least change up the categories to fit me better! Therefore, my categories will consist of passions, life, and future (not 100% different than his, but enough).
Passions
In 2022, I decided to quit teaching. I had lost my fire and passion for it, not to mention my mental health was wrecked. I worked for an incredible school system and I loved my coworkers and kids, but I just didn't have it in me anymore to continue. Later that year, Samuel (my husband) and I moved to northern Colorado in order to be closer to family. When we moved into our beautiful home, I felt like something was missing. All I had to distract me were house projects (which was plenty to keep me occupied - for a while) and my beautiful fur babies - Tonks, Kala, Crush, and Rex. But, that wasn't enough to fill the hole that I felt gaping in my life.
Shortly after moving here, Samuel and I got involved with Calvary Severance, a beautiful church plant that was in the family of churches from the church we attended down south, Calvary Englewood. Truthfully, the only thing holding us back from leaving Highlands Ranch was Calvary Englewood, we loved our church and our life group. But we took the leap and moved and I am so thankful for that. After attending Calvary Severance for a couple of Sundays, we simply felt at home and it wasn't long after that before I was ready to get heavily involved in the community. I spoke with the Director of Children's Ministry, Tina, at Calvary Severance about getting involved. Initially, I wanted to help out with High/Middle School since that was my area of expertise, but Tina informed me about the help she needed in Children's ministry. I took the position of team lead for the elementary team and felt my hole starting to fill. I met each month with a few other women involved and loved it.
A few months later, the woman who had been the team lead for the 2-3 year olds stepped down, so I decided to take it on and fill her spot. I LOVE it. I am getting to lesson plan again, working with kids and teachers, and being more heavily involved in a church I adore. After a few months of leading elementary and the 2-3 year olds, I decided to take on the additional role of teaching in our Zone45 class (4th and 5th graders). I was incredibly skeptical as I initially started, not sure how I would respond and wondering if I could find my drive for teaching again. Needless to say, I was quickly reminded how much I love being around kids and teaching them, but this was so much more because I was getting to teach them about Jesus! My husband reminded me, after I confided in him that I was truly enjoying teaching about Jesus to these kids, that I had never once complained about teaching the Bible class at my first school, my biggest complaints had been about teaching English. I was overcome with a feeling of deep satisfaction as I discovered he was right, I still had a passion for teaching kids, I just needed to find the right content that brought my passion to life - and Jesus is the passion of my life. I love seeing kids understand more about Christ, but more so being willing to ask the hard questions that even challenge me sometimes, and I love learning alongside them.
Shortly after moving here, Samuel and I got involved with Calvary Severance, a beautiful church plant that was in the family of churches from the church we attended down south, Calvary Englewood. Truthfully, the only thing holding us back from leaving Highlands Ranch was Calvary Englewood, we loved our church and our life group. But we took the leap and moved and I am so thankful for that. After attending Calvary Severance for a couple of Sundays, we simply felt at home and it wasn't long after that before I was ready to get heavily involved in the community. I spoke with the Director of Children's Ministry, Tina, at Calvary Severance about getting involved. Initially, I wanted to help out with High/Middle School since that was my area of expertise, but Tina informed me about the help she needed in Children's ministry. I took the position of team lead for the elementary team and felt my hole starting to fill. I met each month with a few other women involved and loved it.
A few months later, the woman who had been the team lead for the 2-3 year olds stepped down, so I decided to take it on and fill her spot. I LOVE it. I am getting to lesson plan again, working with kids and teachers, and being more heavily involved in a church I adore. After a few months of leading elementary and the 2-3 year olds, I decided to take on the additional role of teaching in our Zone45 class (4th and 5th graders). I was incredibly skeptical as I initially started, not sure how I would respond and wondering if I could find my drive for teaching again. Needless to say, I was quickly reminded how much I love being around kids and teaching them, but this was so much more because I was getting to teach them about Jesus! My husband reminded me, after I confided in him that I was truly enjoying teaching about Jesus to these kids, that I had never once complained about teaching the Bible class at my first school, my biggest complaints had been about teaching English. I was overcome with a feeling of deep satisfaction as I discovered he was right, I still had a passion for teaching kids, I just needed to find the right content that brought my passion to life - and Jesus is the passion of my life. I love seeing kids understand more about Christ, but more so being willing to ask the hard questions that even challenge me sometimes, and I love learning alongside them.
Life
Apart from my involvement with the church, Samuel and I have had such an incredible year. We hit our one year anniversary of being in our house in June. When we moved in, we didn't love our house, that was all it was to us, a house. All the walls were white, our cabinets are white, the doors are white, truthfully, we felt like we were living in a hospital room. After painting the ENTIRE downstairs and living with it as a baby bluish-gray for months, one of us (I can't remember who) finally confessed they hated the color, turns out, we both did! After feeling like we were living in a hospital, we felt like we had moved into a little boys nursery, so the painting began again. We picked a color that we both love and painted the whole house. It completely changed our feelings towards our house. After decorating each room, we finally felt like we had created our home.
At the start of the year, Samuel's and my relationship hit a disconnect. Nothing was wrong, we were having great communication, financially stable, happy pets, we just didn't feel connected. After we addressed the issue, we have had a date night every single week where we put our phones away, and try to make one weekend each month an open weekend for us. It has absolutely helped grow our relationship in every way and I am so pleased to say that our relationship is thriving and so happy, I thank the Lord everyday for this incredible man!
We currently have four pets, two dogs and two cats. When Samuel and I got married, I brought Tonks, our black miniature schnauzer who turns seven in January, to the relationship; Samuel brought Crush, our orange kitty with an attitude who turns 8 in April. In May of 2022, literally a week before we moved to our new home, we adopted Rexy Kitten, our gray cat who loves bigger than I thought possible. He adapted so quickly to both the apartment and the house a week later! After a few months, we decided to tackle ANOTHER pet. We adopted Kala Bear, our beautiful yellow lab, from my little brother. Boy has she given us a run for our money, but she sure is sweet and lovable.
We have loved being closer to our families in Wyoming, but we have been so blessed to build a family here in Severance. We have a group of incredible friends and we are constantly reminded how blessed we are to have such a rare friend group. Over the past few months, we have also become involved in a life group full of wonderful people who help us feel so encouraged and excited to have these people to do life with.
Since we got married during Covid, Samuel and I finally got to take our honeymoon to Cancun in March. It was the absolute best week of my life. We sat on the beach, read our Bibles and books, and just plain hung out the whole week, it was incredible. We had the opportunity to take other trips throughout the year, but, apart from our honeymoon, my favorite was our Friend Cruise we took this December. We got to see the Chacchoben Mayan ruins in Costa Maya, zipline in Honduras, and snorkel in Cozumel.
At the start of the year, Samuel's and my relationship hit a disconnect. Nothing was wrong, we were having great communication, financially stable, happy pets, we just didn't feel connected. After we addressed the issue, we have had a date night every single week where we put our phones away, and try to make one weekend each month an open weekend for us. It has absolutely helped grow our relationship in every way and I am so pleased to say that our relationship is thriving and so happy, I thank the Lord everyday for this incredible man!
We currently have four pets, two dogs and two cats. When Samuel and I got married, I brought Tonks, our black miniature schnauzer who turns seven in January, to the relationship; Samuel brought Crush, our orange kitty with an attitude who turns 8 in April. In May of 2022, literally a week before we moved to our new home, we adopted Rexy Kitten, our gray cat who loves bigger than I thought possible. He adapted so quickly to both the apartment and the house a week later! After a few months, we decided to tackle ANOTHER pet. We adopted Kala Bear, our beautiful yellow lab, from my little brother. Boy has she given us a run for our money, but she sure is sweet and lovable.
We have loved being closer to our families in Wyoming, but we have been so blessed to build a family here in Severance. We have a group of incredible friends and we are constantly reminded how blessed we are to have such a rare friend group. Over the past few months, we have also become involved in a life group full of wonderful people who help us feel so encouraged and excited to have these people to do life with.
Since we got married during Covid, Samuel and I finally got to take our honeymoon to Cancun in March. It was the absolute best week of my life. We sat on the beach, read our Bibles and books, and just plain hung out the whole week, it was incredible. We had the opportunity to take other trips throughout the year, but, apart from our honeymoon, my favorite was our Friend Cruise we took this December. We got to see the Chacchoben Mayan ruins in Costa Maya, zipline in Honduras, and snorkel in Cozumel.
Future
As for the future, we are just going with the flow at the moment! Samuel is working at Subsplash and has cofounded a company called VideoTap that I get to be a part of as a Platform Success Specialist! Our fur babies continue to grow and we are hoping to add a human baby to the mix next year, but it is all in God's hands! We are keeping the verse Proverbs 19:21 always in the back of our minds, "Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand."
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