settling in. 2011.

It’s been a good year. A slow year. Dare I say, an uneventful year. (After 2010, monotonous was what I needed.) This year I settled into the role of being a full-time working nurse, mother to a toddler, husband to Brandon and trying to balance each of these without collapsing out of exhaustion and managing to take a shower at least every other day.

In 2011, I made my most expensive purchase ever. A home. To be honest, I dragged my feet throughout the process. I was scared of the commitment, responsibility, making the wrong investment or settling for less than perfect. (Gosh, I sound like a dude.) In the end, it was one of the best decisions we have made as a family. I absolutely love our neighborhood. We are both closer to work and less than 5 miles from the heart of the city. Needless to say, I left Blue Springs and pretty much never looked back. Come over?

We adopted a sponsored child from Nicaragua through World Vision. Her name is Omara and she is the exact same age as Lola. When you sign up to sponsor a child, you pick if you want a boy or girl, their age, what country they are from, etc. It was extremely emotional. You literally just scroll through name after name, face after face of children who need help. I was having a hard time just randomly picking a child, so to narrow it down we entered Lola’s birthday. We have truly established a relationship with Omara and her family receiving letters, pictures and updates on a monthly basis. I wish we could sponsor 100 more.

As always, 2011 provided many victories, moments of comic relief and tragedies. Osama Bin Laden was killed which led to many strange and violent status updates by otherwise elegant people and Casey Anthony was found not guilty of the death of her three year old daughter dubbing her the OJ Simpson of this generation. Egypt and Libya protested their way to change and Joplin was destroyed by a tornado.

Congressman Weiner showed us his…wiener (I’m sure he knows how to send a direct message NOW) and I caught Royal Wedding fever. I tried so hard not to care but as the day came I found myself glued to the TV and extremely jealous I didn’t get to walk down the aisle while choirboys sang on each side.

The US Women’s Soccer Team proved once again that girls are better than boys by making it to the 2011 World Cup finals. These beautiful and athletic women proved you can be hot and still kick a guy’s ass.

My heart is full of thanks for everything God has provided for my family and I this year. As cliché as it sounds, God has been good to us and blessed us. Yes Brandon and I have worked hard but I believe God has filled in the gaps.

If 2012 were exactly like 2011 I would be ok with that. Last year my resolution was to live a life less cluttered. I must admit I struggle with filling my days with hobbies and adult busy work. I want to limit my crafting (I have other avenues of “me time” I enjoy more anyways) and spend more quality time with my family. I want to focus on Lola and these precious early years in her life. My little buddy, sometimes by little “destroyer-of-all-things-especially-things-I-just-put-away-or-cleaned-up” won’t be home all day with me forever. I get five years. Five years before she starts kindergarten. I don’t want to rush through, busying myself with unnecessary chores. I want to engage with her, get to know her, spend time molding her into who she is and wants to be. I always tell her how much I love her and how she is the most important thing in my life. I need to start acting like it.

I want to write more. Always. I want to attend writing classes, read more on how to be a better writer, expand my writing skills. I want to enter writing contests, get my name out there, become vulnerable and explore opportunities that may be available.

I know I have little to no control over this but I want to see Mew live.

I want to own a scooter. (Against my mother’s well wishes.) A Vespa to be exact. Laugh all you want, it’s going to be bitchin’. I want to participate in Lent. Last year I did this for the first time and it was a humbling experience. I want to continue being patient in my job and career trusting God and his timing, making myself available and learning when to wait and when to go.

I want to run. I want to participate in 8 runs throughout Kansas City this year. The distance is not important (most of them I’m sure will be 5K’s) but something that will keep me accountable throughout the year to better myself and become more active and healthy.

(And for those of you who are sure to ask, no baby this year. Or the next. Not if we can help it.)

Now that you have heard about my year, I want to hear about yours. In 2012, I encourage you to write your story. Because if you won’t who will?