Journal Entry: New Year's Eve

It's officially December 31, 2017. The last day of the year. Tomorrow brings new promises, fresh starts, and a brand new year. 

Today is Sunday, so we started our day with church. I feel like it was the perfect way to end the year, listening to an inspiring sermon from our pastor. Letting everything from 2017 go and praying for blessings and new beginnings for 2018.

The rest of our day was just spending time together as a family. I printed over 300 photos from each month of 2017 yesterday, so Annabella and I picked up a photo album so I could organize, label and fill the pages. It was so sweet to go through month-by-month and see our memories together as a family. All of our adventures, each child's birthday, our 8 year anniversary, all of the holidays. The animals all got a photo a too. 

We had a special dinner together and let them have cocoa beforehand. Then we had game night and a dance party with glow bracelets and party blowers. The kids danced so hard and had so much fun. They were all so exhausted and ready for bed by 9:30. We chose a kid NYE countdown on Netflix and brought in the new year together (about 3 hours early). I was watching the kids when they were dancing and laughing, not having a care in the world. I was in awe of how big they are, how funny they are and just that they're mine. It's so hard to believe that we don't have babies anymore. They're so independent and unique. It's truly amazing. 

Now they're all tucked in and Jonathan and I are looking forward to a lowkey night of Wii games and trying to stay awake until midnight. Happy New Year!!

2017

It's been a year since I've posted on our blog. It was intended for us to track memories and keep as a sort of scrap book for the babies when they get older. Inspired by another blog I read, I have decided to treat it as more of a journal. To document each day with something that we did, a photo we took, a memory we made.

2017 was a wonderful year. It's a year that I honestly can't remember any tribulations that we went though. It was a smooth year with good health, growth and goals met. Jonathan took his last graduate classes and got his MBA this month. He is officially finished with school and we couldn't be more proud. Madelynn turned 7 and went into second grade, Annabella turned 5 and went into kindergarten and Noah turned 3 and started preschool. They are all excelling at school, bringing home wonderful report cards and Madelynn is bring home excellent grades. 

Now that Noah is at school, I have a few hours to myself throughout the week. I have dedicated that time to my business and have really seen it flourish this year. Madsy Bella Boutique was busier than ever and I look forward to getting back at it after the first of the year. 

God has truly blessed us and I could not be more grateful. My word of the year for 2018 is NURTURE. Nurture by definition means to care for and encourage the growth or development of. I need to nurture my relationship with Jesus, nurture my relationships with Jonathan and the kids and nurture myself. I want to be more gentle, kind and really focus on the things in this life that matter. Nurturing myself will look like regular sleep, exercise and healthy foods. I want to focus on losing weight and gaining strength, eating for health. I truly believe that if I take better care of myself, I will be better able to care for those that I love. I also plan to execute a better plan for quiet time with God each morning and time for journaling and focused prayer.

I love a fresh start. 2018 is on a Monday. It's a fresh year, fresh month, fresh week. Thank you Jesus for fresh starts.