riding the wave

So I closed 2012 out here on the blog with a lot of.....

Nothing.

Silence.

But it wasn't for lack of anything to say.

I got the job.  And waited to start until the week after Thanksgiving, which was for the best, really, but it made December kind of crazy, not to mention financially tight given that 1.) we were already behind on money, 2.) uh, Christmas, and 3.) because I'd neglected to ask about pay frequency, I soon discovered my new gig pays MONTHLY, and I'd started right at the beginning of the pay period.  Any working mom knows the trouble that presents with childcare being due in advance, but we made it, PHEW!  God has been so good to us in providing just what we need when we need it - not gonna lie and say I haven't gained new gray hairs over it, but when His providence appears on the horizon and I know we can abide in it, the joy and peace that comes is truly indescribable.

Additionally, we found ourselves smack in the midst of a new schedule that has Mom waking at 5:30 to get things rolling at casa del Meyer, working from 9-6, Dad picking up Christopher from his Montessori school, and a crazy evening routine of family dinner, cleanup, and residual homework all before bedtime at 8:30.  There've been some transition pains, yes, but overall, it's been good.  Thus, regarding the holiday, gifts were haphazardly purchased with mere days to spare, we got to spend a few hours with my side of the family, and we hosted Christmas for the Meyer side of family.  That said, I didn't get things together enough to make my homemade items for teachers, coordinate a Christmas letter/picture to send out to friends and family, or make goodies for the neighbors, per usual.

So, today, this last day of Christmas break, I'm finally going to take some time to breathe and do our family's  year in review for 2012 and try to bring y'all current.

2012 was a year of busy, hard work and lots of great times as a family for casa del Meyer.  We had lots of firsts in 2012, too.

At the beginning of the year, Seth was in the second half of his first year as Cub Master for Colton's Cub Scouts pack, and Heather was a novice coach for Kelsey's 5th grade Odyssey of the Mind team.  {Kelsey and Colton had both done OM in 2011 and this was their second year, but a first for Mom as coach.}  The spring was highlighted with the Pinewood Derby and the OM Regional Tournament where Kelsey and Heather were shocked {and thrilled} as their team placed 2nd and advanced to the State tournament in May!  We didn't place further at State, but what a great time we had and how inspiring it was to see a team of kids be creative together.

This year marked the year archery became a hobby for the entire family, when Heather got her first bow in the spring and we purchased a membership to our local archery range.  We've spent many hours over the weekend there learning the craft.

In April, Keith Lancaster came to our church to provide a singing workshop, and lit the fire in three of our men to attend his Worship Leader Institute in Tulsa that summer.  Come July, Seth boarded his first airplane and spent a full week at the Worship Leader Institute, learning how to really engage our congregation into giving our best to God in worship.  He had a wonderful time and the impacts of the instruction he received have been dramatically noticeable each time he steps up to lead worship at church.  At the same time Seth was coming home, Heather and the kids were leaving for a week of camp, making this summer the first time Seth and Heather have spent more than a week away from each other.  Camp was great, and we enjoyed a few more weeks of summer before school started.

This fall marked the first year that Kelsey and Colton didn't go to the same school, the end of one era as they began another when Kelsey started middle school.  She did her first organized sport, running with the cross country team, and has been learning to play her first instrument, the trumpet her daddy once played.  She continues to be a star student, if on the quiet side per all her teachers at conferences this fall.  Colton is in 4th grade and has been a busy bee with Colorado State history projects like his Mesa Verde diorama.  His teacher this year is wonderful and has really inspired Colton in the classroom.  He is in OM again {and Heather is coaching again - despite her hope to take a year off} and still very active in Cub Scouting.  Christopher is a joy, constantly hamming it up with his silly faces and voices to get the ready attention of those around him.  And not just that of our family; he has an attractive force about him, making teens at church, other Cub Scouts and students from the older kids' schools flock to him and see what new trick he has to show them.  He continues to speak in the vowel-heavy pattern he's long adopted where inflection changes "ou" from shoe to soup, which seems to add to his charm rather than raise any concern about impediments.  He started "heehaw coow" {horse school}, his first experience with full-time daycare, at a local Montessori school in November when Heather began her new job and likes to do his block work, take naps, and ride the horses.

While Heather enjoyed the balance of being home with the kids and working as a free-lance grant writer this past year, the feast or famine nature of self-employment did little to stabilize the financial struggles we've had shortly after Christopher was born.  In November, she returned to social work with an organization that serves youth demonstrating risky behaviors.  She is three-quarter time and thus enjoys Mondays off and half-day Fridays.

Seth spent a few weekends hunting with his dad during archery season again this year; and brought home a deer that has been so mild and tasty, it has gone very quickly!  He signed up to do his work's small-scale version of The Biggest Loser and put his heart {and soles} into his efforts as a new runner.  The more conscientious eating plan and 60+ miles he ran over 6 weeks paid off, as he dropped 20+lbs and claimed the highest percentage lost of his co-workers.  In a follow-up weigh in at the end of the year, he had lost another 5-6 lbs and still claimed first place, so we are all very proud of his efforts.

As we begin 2013, we pray for a year with fewer tragedies than the one we've just closed.  Between all of the shootings, fires and the tragic story of Jessica Ridgeway, we've held on to the hope that Jesus provides us.  We pray that God will use us to be comforters, teachers, and servants to those in need this year, that blessings abound to those whom we love, and that we get to share in them with you.