Travel

2022: A year in review

Welcome to my annual post of our life in the last year – a review of all the big and little events, travels, habits, heartbreaks, and joys. These posts require a lot of time and energy, in part due to sifting through all the posts I wrote in the last year, but also because these posts spur me to reflect and sit with the previous year for a moment, before stepping into the next one.

•12 min read

Up north to the Tulip festival

If you missed my last post, I shared about the passing of my beautiful mother-in-law. I don't want to continue on in a "business as usual" style, nor do I want to neglect to share about joyful things in our life. Again and again, I'm learning that grief and joy coexist in this life. And what a grace that is! Grief can highlight the joy, make it more precious in my eyes. And so, I wanted to share about a little day trip I took with my SIL, Katelyn, Cooper, and Finn back in mid-May, since it was a good thing, a sweet day spent with some of my very favorite people.

•4 min read

2021: A year in review

Every January, I assemble a blog post of sorts that catalogs our year. Largely organized in list-form, I touch on the big and little things, events and thoughts and experiences that shaped our life over the last year. I do find this incredibly helpful as a sort of reflection, a glance back on the Lord's faithfulness, to show me, time and time again, that He is a good God. And with that mindset, I feel less encumbered as we continue on into the new year, more ready to face a full year of new, fresh days, with the heart attitude that regardless of what the days will hold, mundane or exciting, difficult or good, I can walk into the future with hope and trust in Him. Plus, I do enjoy looking back on a lot of the little details of our life, the ones that make me smile or think, Oh, yes! We loved that! What a little joy in our life.

•16 min read

An early Christmas weekend up north

The weekend before Christmas, we packed up our truck with warm clothes and Christmas gifts, plenty of snacks for the drive, and a loaf of sourdough bread, and drove north to see my family in the Twin Cities. It had been over a year since we spent time in my home state, and it was a so nice to be back for a visit.

•6 min read

A first hike

Several weeks ago, Nicholas took some time off of work, and our little family planned a few semi-local adventures. One was our day trip up to Michigan, and another was a first "real" hiking experience for Cooper at Starved Rock State Park. My SIL, Katelyn, had wanted to visit this particular park for some time, and as it was on our short bucket list of summery activities, we added it to the week's activities. It's quite the drive for a day trip (resulting in 4.5 hours in the car, all told, with Chicago traffic), so it took some planning and intention to make it happen. But I'm so glad we went.

•3 min read

2020: A year in review

Now that we're well into January, I'm sitting down to write and glance back at the last year. I'm not much of a resolution-maker (not fundamentally opposed, just not for me), but I do find it's healthiest for my heart and mind to reflect and then continue on into the next year. Like every single year, there are good, hard, and in-between snippets and seasons.

•13 min read

Mini mid-week getaway to Michigan

We're back from a little vacation to Michigan, just a few hours north of us. We enjoy travel, but in recent years, haven't done much (with a baby, a cross-country move, other personal things, and then recent events, of course). But we decided several months ago that we would try to make a mini trip happen, with just the three of us, somewhere close and beautiful that we could easily drive to. Michigan fit perfectly.

•6 min read

2019: A year in review

Every year, I find it a bit therapeutic to look back on the last year. I know my heart is bent toward nostalgia, and at times, I wonder if that is one of the reasons I find looking back easier than looking forward. That's something for me to mull over, perhaps. All that said, at the close of a year, I find that it is good heart medicine to ruminate over the good, the hard, and the in-between. To think on the things that are the same, things that are wildly different, what didn't produce joy, and what did.

•15 min read
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