Looking Back on 2024

My friend Wendy uses this as a template for end-of-year blogging, and I am attempting to do the same as I look back on 2024.   

1. What makes this year unforgettable?  

• Saying good-bye to my childhood home. (I have a whole series of blog posts coming about this topic.) It was a huge undertaking, one that seemed impossible, but which the Lord made possible, step by step.  There were lots of helpers and lots of pray-ers and lots of professionals.  
• On a related note, staying in an AirBNB when we visit my hometown. My parents' middle name was hospitality, so it's doubly unusual not to be staying in their oh-so-hospitable home. 

2. What did I enjoy doing this year?  

• Praying weekly during the school year with other moms in our Moms in Prayer group.
• Having two swimmers! 
• Blogging more (the most since 2011). 
• Drinking tea ~ and becoming more prepared to travel with my own teas & supplies. 
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• Seeing LM enjoy cheer! 
• One overnight with Jim in Chicago for my doctor appointment.

3. What/who is one thing/person I'm grateful for? 

• Jim for keeping me sane and being a rock and pointing me to the eternal and the true. 
• People who pray for me/us.
• My rheumatologist. 
• My Moms in Prayer moms.

4. What did I read/watch/listen to that made the most impact this year?

Well, I'm drawing a blank.  Let's chalk it up to being in survival mode for yet another year! I read a good book about emptying a house, and I listened to podcasts.  A new one for me was The Magazine Podcast by Banner audio. I enjoyed several biographical lectures from them.  A few accounts on social media encouraged me to be a good steward of my home (Debt Free Mom & Naptime Kitchen & A Slob Comes Clean).  Others, such as Raising Boys & Girls and Celebrate Kids, encouraged me to shepherd our children well.  But mostly what I listened to that made the most impact was our pastor's sermons.  Those podcasts were catch as catch can, but the local church is what is shaping me more.  

5. What did I worry about most and how did it turn out?

• Lots! 
• I worried about emptying my parents' house (& lots of things related to that).  The Lord answered above & beyond all I could ask or imagine.  
• I worried about the auction of the property, and what would become of it. Again the Lord answered above & beyond all I could ask or imagine.  
• I worried about LM learning to read (& I still worry about that). I want to believe that the Lord will answer above & beyond all I can ask or imagine. 

6. What is my biggest regret?

Worrying!  Comparing myself & my children with others.  And also my daily failures as a mom.  And not having the physical strength & energy I wish I had. A lot of that is due to my disease, so there's not much I can do.  I cry inside when LM talks about my being sick and prays for my disease to get better and asks if I was sick when we got married ... 

7. What's something that has changed about me?

I hope I trust the Lord more! See #5 above.  My desire for 2025 is to remember all that God did in 2024 and trust that He can take care of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. 

8. What surprised me most this year?

A year ago I had no idea that my parents' house would be empty and the farm sold by now!

9. What Bible truths impacted me this year?

God is good, and we can trust Him. (When in survival mode, we stick to the basics.)

10. What meta-themes have I thought about this year? (in no particular order)

• My parents & ancestors living for eternity. The heritage they left us. 
• Life is hard enough. My house doesn't have to be hard.  
• How to help our children become more independent. 
• What am I modeling for our children, specifically about living for eternity & investing our time on earth for kingdom purposes?
• Seasons of life ~ how I would love an opportunity to speak Japanese or to open the Bible with someone who never has opened it or even to read a lot of books ~ but that is not the season in which I am living. 

Highlights:

Time spent with extended family at holidays, weddings, house-emptying ;)

Time spent as our family of 4, especially on trips

My doctor finding a treatment regimen (four scary meds) that is providing some relief for the first time since I got sick in 2021.

Lowlights:

I'm going to pass on this ... 

Concluding thoughts:

The Lord is faithful, and His mercies are new every morning. He is a good Father, loving in all He does. The circumstances of our life change from season to season, year to year, and sometimes moment by moment. But He never changes.