We have a family tradition of sharing, on the last day of the year, our favorite things about the year that's coming to an end as well as what we hope the new year will bring us. I enjoy seeing how the kid's answers have evolved with maturity and life experiences. I started a family journal/scrapbook a few years ago, and I've begun writing their answers in the book. But, since Darrell's death, I've found that my need for family preservation has become increasingly incessant. So, I'm adding our reflections and hopes here, as well.
Mama: The year ended just as quickly as it began. In a blink of an eye, it seems. Yet, I find it extremely easy to reflect back on a thousand little moments that made 2024 so notable. Getting to watch my grandson grow...even from afar. He hit such fun milestones in 2024! Blowing kisses. Pointing. Crawling. Walking. The sheer excitement he gets when he sees his Grammy. How he makes my heart leap with joy! And watching Lindsey, my first born, be a mother to her first child...what a sweet blessing that's been. She is a natural and she makes me proud. Life and tough decisions forced a 12,000 plus mile gap between us but we make the most of it by having many video chat sessions a week. My second born, Gabriel, was Baptised in 2024. As a Christian parent, I can't think of a better consecration than your child's willingness to share his salvation. It was a tremendous honor to be there to witness his Baptism. He also made the bold decision to apply for college and was accepted into a local university. He'll soon begin taking classes in his first semester. He volunteered to coach t-ball and soccer, at his church, in 2024. Those wee ones adored my boy! No surprise to me! My third born, Ella, just finished her first semester of the eleventh grade with all A's and B's. She has worked quite diligently, to say the least. 2024 found her doing a bit of vet tech work with farm animals. A dream come true for my animal-loving girl! She is evolving into quite an extraordinary young lady with a flare for fashion, a love of trying foods from other countries, and the innate ability to make those who adore her smile with her sheer presence alone. The baby of the family, my Jacob, has absorbed every word of everything he's been taught about running a farm, by his Pops. Like his sister, he passed all of his classes with all A's and one B. He's learned how to drive a tractor like a semi-pro. He went fishing for the first time in 2024, and found that he revels in it. My relationship with Luke continues to flourish. It's in a stage of slight newness and age-old familiarity combined. He gives me constant butterflies still, but I feel as though I've been with him my whole life. He also drives me a lil batty on a daily basis. Ha! He has a knack for annoyance. He says it's his "love language". To which I reply, "Love me less then, please." He says "That's impossible!" This exchange always makes me chuckle and silently thank God for this man's presence in my life. Every bit of him. Even the annoying bits. We work well together. I thoroughly enjoyed doing 2024 with him by my side and was thankful to have entered the new year with my small hand in his massive one and our lips locked.
My hope for this year is that we all learn new things that we are able to apply to our daily lives in a positive way. I hope we venture to new places and absorb, in humble reverie, every bit of it all. I hope we exude compassion and empathy and the ability to be beacons in a dark world. I hope that darkness never has the ability to extinguish our lights. I hope we try new foods and indulge in sweet, sweet music and take time to read! Make new friends and love well on the old ones who've been good to us. Along those same lines, I pray for my youngest children whom have struggled a great deal, since COVID, to make friends. Being a virtual learner creates a bit of an obstacle as does the added angst of being a teen with Selective Mutism. I pray that the Lord directs our family on a path that leads us to a place/community that is not simply content and wants to see new people come, encouraging growth as well as inclusiveness. I hope that my children, most especially Ella, can be seen as a human and not looked past because she does not have the ability to be vocal outside of her comfort zone. I can't tell you the number of times that I've seen her be ignored or looked past...even worse, the number of times that she has seen it herself. I hope that 2025 brings people in her life, aside from her family, who truly desire to get to know the person that we all know her to be and have patience for her disability while understanding that, aside from her inability to be vocal, she is a typical eighteen year old who loves to shop, go to the movies, animals, traveling, and being social. She deserves far more than she's been given from the world. I hope I am able to continue to advocate for her as I've always done but, most importantly, that she can find the ability to advocate for herself remembering her worth despite her inability to speak aloud. I hope the new year finds all of us immersed in the knowledge that EVERYTHING we have and everything we are is because of God's grace, love, and mercy for us and being thankful for every bit of it all. I hope we have an abundance of precious time spent together making new memories and reminiscing about old ones. I am itching to see my Lindsey girl and her lil family again so I pray 2025 finds us scurrying back to Oklahoma as well as them coming home to visit as much as possible.
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Luke: My favorite part of the year was being with all of y'all. Ummmm.......from umbridge. I dunno, babyyyyyy. Okay. Buying a tractor and using it. Seeing the Oakridge Boys with my baby. The Cousin Retreat. Seeing the bears up that'a way (in Gatlinburg), and going on a vacation to that other place. Where'd we go again? You know? That other place.
Pause......
Me:(Chuckle) Okie dokie. Got it. What's your hope for the new year, my love?
Luke: Ummmm....(ten second pause) Um...peace and prosperity.
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