Word of the year- 2014

Normally, this time of year is one for making a resolution, lose weight, drink more water, exercise more, etc. These are often met with vigorous enthusiasm for several weeks and then forgotten about or moved to the lower end of the priority spectrum. I recently came across the idea of a "word of the year" found here. It goes along with Willow Creek's focus for the next few weeks on the idea of getting stronger in 2014. What would happen to the church, ourselves, our relationships, if we were more proactive about becoming stronger people, wives/husbands, parents, members of society. That's the goal: see what happens when we are mindful. In this spirit, I have decided my word of 2014 is "embrace". Here are a few reasons why I am choosing to reflect and act on that word this year:

1. I've been staying at home for more than a year now, and often times days tend to blur together and I find myself creating things to do in order to feel productive. I find myself getting into the habit of just getting Emma from morning to nap time to bed time without really embracing the time in between. I want to make the most of every minute she is awake, whether that means playing at the park a little longer, doing a puzzle with her, playing "cool cars", or whatever else she is into. I want to embrace our time together and not just let it slip by.

2. I am almost done with my bachelors! I cannot believe I finally get to say that, but it is true. I have four weeks left of my current class and then one final class to wrap everything up. This has been a goal 10 years in the making, if I count all the time I spent after high school trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I grow up. It would be easy to just ride this time out trying to just "get it done" but I want to embrace and remember this time. I want to continue to try and learn whatever I can, and also remember this feeling of accomplishment. It's not every day where a goal takes so long to achieve, and it is even more rare to actually accomplish a goal that takes so long. It would have been easy to give up years ago, but I persevered. I want to embrace and remember this stubbornness, this ability to persevere. 

3. I want to embrace my "little while" friends right now. When I was younger I had a book that I loved called Orlando's Little-While Friends. I think so often I am slow to make friendships with people because we do not see a future, so to speak. I have a great group of friends from a bible study and play group, and I enjoy the times that I spend with them very much. But I know that these probably aren't "forever friends" and so it is hard for me to truly invest in those relationships. I need to be ok with the fact that people can be in my life for a short time, and that does not make them any less meaningful to my story. 

Just as these boys parents are my "little-while" friends, they are also Emma's "little-while" friends. I still want to see her be friends with them in a very real way, so I should also invest in the same way with my own friends.

Morton Arboretum 5K & Kids Dash

Brandon and I ran another 5K to round out the season. It was a beautiful run through the Morton Arboretum. The course was pretty challenging, with a steep hill right at the beginning. But towards the end there was a lot of downhill resulting in a time that was much faster than I was expecting!

Emma also ran her first race, a 50 yard dash. Brady ran it as well and it was so cute! Emma was last, but she loved running by all the people cheering for her. I think she's hooked.

Fall Fun!

This past Sunday we went to a farm in Oswego that had a corn maze, hay ride, and all sorts of other fun fall activities. 

Eating apple cider donuts.

She wanted to sit on or roll every pumpkin.