20 Things 2014 Taught Me

My word for 2014 was abundance, and boy was it all kinds of abundant.  Our car veered off the comfort zone highway this year, and took an exit ramp toward all things new.

I want to hold on to every last minute of 2014 because it changed my heart, my plans, my home and my people.   It was the hardest gift I've ever received. 

I chose "abundance" at the end of 2013, because we were fresh off the plane from China, followed immediately by an emergency hospital stay for our daughter that included a zillion tests and hard news from a handful of specialists.  I was feeling blessed by my long awaited new family, but heavily weighted.  I felt overwhelmed with four kids, terrified of the medical needs we faced, and chained down by financial burdens.   I saw my free time, Disney vacations, beach trips and easy grocery runs slipping through my fingers.  My eyes were focused on the subtractions from my life, and I knew I needed to switch to some mental addition to train my eyes to see the abundance. 

I did that addition, and learned some things about abundance this year.

1.  To receive.  We had an army of friends and family caring for us, and I tried to talk every single one out of it.  I was so bent on not being a burden that I tried to keep people from giving blessings they wanted to give.   In the end, I accepted that the weight couldn't be carried alone. Some friends gave me a "Mary to Martha Nudge", and I learned to receive. 

2. To enjoy big family life.  It's a fat mix of fun, mess, refinement, and serious lack of privacy.  

3.  To love God's crazy timing.  In the busiest season of my life, I was given the opportunity to write with, and learn from, the amazing folks at No Hands But Ours and Ungrind Webzine.   In a time that was all about caring for little people, the creative in me was tended to.  It was scary and such a gift. 

 4.  To write bravely.  I've always loved to string together words, but never had the guts to fully call myself an author. It feels like I spent the year naked on the Internet, and it messed with my confidence, solidified my thoughts, connected me with new friends, and forced me to pray over my motives.  It made me squirm, but opened a door I never gave myself the freedom to approach. 

 

5.  To listen to podcasts.  My laundry folding and dinner making will never be the same.  Love 'em. 

6.  To make time for creativity and beauty. To find it valuable.  Essential even.  I didn't have time for it, but I sat my to do list down more in 2014 to do some scripture doodling/journaling, placing flowers in vases,  big girl coloring, writing, trying new recipes and playing with yarn. 

7.  To embrace change and move forward with my blogging dreams.  Changes are coming for La Dolce Vita.  I am dreaming, carving out time, reconsidering how much of my kids I want to post, praying and setting some goals, plus hoping for an artistic, techie soul to do a super cheap blog redesign.    My dream is to be used by God to inspire and encourage mommas and make some change for orphans. 

8.  To let big sisters be big sisters even in hard moments.  They can take it.

 

9.  To accept that I don't have what it takes to be God of My Children.

10.    To handle the truth that little boys touch EVERYTHING.  For the love.  Little boys touch everything, even hearts. 

 

11. To not spend so much time anxious about the next doctor’s appointment that I miss our appointment-less today.

12.  To fight for family preservation through Love Without Boundary's Unity initiative. 

13.  To be less "Strung Out on Perfectionism" than I once was.  "My spirit isn’t gentle when I’m wound so tightly that my family could never please me. My spirit isn’t quiet when I care more about being embarrassed by kid behavior than I do about guiding hearts."  

14.  To put people before productivity.  Many times over the last year, I almost said no to time spent with friends because productivity at home seemed more important.  But I need friendships more than I need checks on to do lists. 

15.  To eat more Lay's potato chips.  They are little mood lighteners. 

16.  To appreciate that God keeps right on stretching, no matter how bent out of shape I already am.  I'd like to think He'd give me a pass, but He doesn't.  He's given me another vision for something that I can't possibly make happen.  I'd need more guts, lots of technological ability and a better ability to communicate.  I'd bring nothing to the table.  That's how I know it's probably God.  Gulp.

 17.  To give my kids more grace than I sometimes feel like giving.

18.   To listen because God's Calling.  I have often missed it because I was too busy adopting. 

19.   To appreciate cups of tea.  Black, green, white, chamomile.  No discrimination here.  Shout out to "sleepy time" tea as well. 

 

20.  To laugh more.  More giggles.  More chuckles.  More laughter for me and them. 

I'm pretty grateful, 2014.  I'll forever treasure your messy beauty.



I'm linked up over at Chatting at the Sky. 

 

 

2013, More or Less

Ever year, as one year passes and another is before us, Mark and I spend some time talking about who we are as a family.  We think through what we want more of, and what could have a lot less of.  This year, we had that conversation, then we decided to make it a team meeting.   We talked about the ideas that we had come up with and then discussed that we want to be sensitive to what God might have for our family this year. 

How fun it was to listen to the girls share that they'd like MORE desserts, puppet shows, camping, rice, blueberries, hula hooping and time at jumpy places.  And, then LESS giving up, yelling, computer time, being mean, being afraid, and time-outs. 

Big plans for the new year!  To seal the deal, we ended with a super secret team handshake. 

Happy New Year, friends!

On the Eve of 2012

Ringing in the new year at the Daniel's shindig has become tradition.

This year, we did it in style with finger foods, cranberry deliciousness (courtesy of Angela, our mixologist), Just Dance, Sleeping Beauty, lots of giggles, and Dick Clark. 

Thanks, friends, for another fun NYE!