The Best of 2021

Whew! My family and I had quite the weekend! It started on Thursday when my family and I woke up before the crack of dawn to make the eight-hour trek to my older sister’s house so we could celebrate Thanksgiving with the family. After enjoying Thanksgiving dinner and quiet evening at her house, we got out a bit the following day, eating at my husband’s favorite pizza place for lunch and then heading to a nearby town to enjoy the Christmas lights and festivities that evening. The following morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and packed our bags to make the long trip back home—this time a twelve-hour road trip since we made a few more stops along the way. Needless to say, we were exhausted come Sunday. By the time I tucked my little one into bed that evening, I was ready to go to sleep myself. But I didn’t. I stayed up just a little longer to uphold a personal, cherished tradition of mine—writing a list of the things I liked most about this year. It’s the list that makes me recognize God’s extravagance towards me all over again and causes my heart to overflow with gratefulness. It’s the list that helps me to recognize that, no matter how hard any given year may be, it is still laced with beauty and the touch of a loving Father that knows how to give good gifts to His children. And it’s the list that, once made, can be read over and over again throughout the years to remind me just how generous God was to me, even if life that year was hard. Thinking about these things makes me want to reread the list I made for last year and several others years past. I want to remember God’s goodness more than I remember any trials I endured. Perhaps someday I’ll find myself rereading my list of bests from this year as well.

I’m truly thankful for all the blessings God has had for my family and me throughout these past eleven months (and the ones that we have yet to discover in December). I’m thankful for the small moments that will forever be etched in my mind as precious memories, and I’m thankful for the bigger moments for which their anticipation was even a gift.

As hard as this year has been worldwide, it has been one of our best as a family. God made a way when there was no way, and I look forward to seeing where His way for our family will lead as we close out this year and journey into the next.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

James 1:17