2013 in Review

Clearly it has taken me a little longer than I planned to finish this post...but better late than never, so they say.  Who is this "they" anyway?  Oh well, here we go.

As we look ahead to the new year, I can't help but feel overwhelmed with thankfulness for 2013.  The year brought many changes to us, starting with a new home in Indianapolis.  We moved in March, and got busy setting up shop for Back40Life vinyl headquarters, and preparing for the arrival of our baby.

In May, God blessed Adam with a new job, so for the last 12 weeks of my pregnancy we both worked full time outside the house and worked like crazy catching up vinyl on the weekends.  This once again reminded me that God's plan is way better than ours!  During this time of multiple incomes, we were able to save some money for the months ahead.  We had a few ideas on what this savings would do...God had other plans!

In July of 2013, we welcomed a beautiful baby girl, and were excited to announce her arrival to the world.  My 2nd pregnancy was such a different journey from the first.  I was sick for around the first 24 weeks of it, and we didn't find out the sex so it was a big surprise for all of us.  Alexa came home from SC after spending 8 weeks of "vacation" between my parents, my sister, and her dad.  As much as we were thankful for her to be loved on during that time by our family, we missed her like crazy!  There is nothing like being with your family!


After Adlee Grace was born, we made one of the most difficult and easiest decisions I've ever weighed in on.  I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom, but it has never been an option.  When we found out we were having another baby, we started making preparations for this dream to become reality.  I am so thankful to stay home with my baby girl each day and to be in the car line at 2:45 to pick Alexa up.

In October we took a much needed family vacation.  Did you know even first graders get fall break in Indiana?  Me either!  This year it was a whole week...so off to SC we went.  We had a fantastic week catching up with family, showing off our sweet baby, celebrating 2 wonderful years of marriage, and seriously considering what our next step in life was.  It was during that time we felt confirmation from God to move back to SC.  It was truly a bittersweet decision.

We really enjoyed our 2 years preparing for and living in Indy, but our time there was complete and we set plans in motion.  We returned home Sunday, refreshed and excited for the future.  I can honestly say those feelings were quickly and temporarily dashed when we found our home flooded.  In the wee hours of the night, my anger flared.  We found out later, our upstairs neighbors flooded their bathtub sometime that week and didn't bother to tell anyone.  In hindsight, it was truly a blessing in disguise, but in the moment it was painful!

As much as it hurt, the flood was another confirmation that we were doing exactly what God wanted us to do and he was making a way.  Over the next few weeks we made some hard decisions, we said goodbye (or see you later) to some good friends, and we (the girls and I) settled in SC.  My dear husband stayed behind for 2 weeks to finish up work and he single-handedly packed our entire apartment.  What an incredible guy!!

Compared to that whirlwind, the end of the year was quite uneventful.  We celebrated Christmas with our family at NewSpring.

2013 gave us a lot to be thankful for, and as we look forward to 2014 we know we will feel the same way this time next year.  God is still God and God is still good!