As I sit here in front of my computer on New Year's Eve I think of what an amazing year it has been. My boys have grown up so much and Logan seems to surpassed the phase of toddler into child. I officially have KIDS, not babies. This does not stop me from babying them though! It was a year of highs and lows. It was a year of loss as I said farewell to my friend Maria way too soon. She was truly an angel here on earth and I know she'd fulfilling God's greater purpose for her now, but I cannot help but feel sadness that she is no longer here on earth with us.
I'm looking at my picture folders for each month of this year. When I look at January I see a tiny baby-faced Logan. His hair still in ringlets because it is not yet thick enough to weigh-out the curl. I see a young Brenden - only 3 years old, the same age Logan is today. They both seem so much more mature.
Brenden and Logan's friendship has really blossomed this past year. They are the best of friends and really play well together. They have vivid imaginations and can instantly tranform themselves into pirates, knights, puppies, monsters, etc. I love seeing what creative scenarios they come up with. I feel like the gap between their ages is quickly closing and they are becoming more alike in so many ways. They are still very much their own child. Brenden continues to be our sensitive little brainiac. Logan continues to be wild and silly. He thinks as long as he can make you laugh he can do no wrong. I always say... Brenden is smart and Logan is clever. Brenden can learn anything in a flash, but Logan can figure things out and scheme like no other 3 year old can :) They are a good balance for each other.
This year has given me the opportunity to live closer to my family. I began working from home more frequently and finally made the decision (with the cooperation of my employer) to make the transition to work from home full time and relocate to West Virginia. None of my family lives in the town I grew up in anymore. I made the decision to move to the Charleston/Huntington area as its a nice sized town and is within a 2 hour drive of my mom and my brother. Our search for a home was sort of blind, in that it was really based on the internet. I wasn't familiar with any of the areas. I made a list of 3-4 homes and decided to come look at things. Our realtor told us she could show up to 6 so I aded a few of my 'maybe' options to the list. I was so glad I did. The houses I liked turned out to be not very great, and one of my 'maybe' homes turned out to be perfect. Its a great home in a great neighborhood. We have a large back yard for the boys to roam free. We are just minutes from the interstate and it turns out the exit we live off of is where the Mall is. We never have to travel more than 10 miles to get to anything we need it seems. I was a tiny bit worried that moving from NC to WV would be hard on me since I'd been there for so many years, but we absolutely love everything about where we moved. So far we've even been able to handle the cold weather and snow. Of course we made it all the way til late December before the temps dropped below 50's.
I suppose we often open each new year with everything in our lives we want to make better, but for me, today is a day of reflection. I have come to realize that its easy to focus on the obstacles God places before us and not the blessings. I have obstacles, but as I face the obstacles of life God rewards me with a good job, a good home, a good family... so many blessings. I have the most incredible children in the world and watching them grow has been the greatest joy of my life. There are so many out there without jobs at all and I am not only fortunate enough to have a job, but its a good job that has allowed me to relocate without having to find new employment. I hope that 2013 brings me as much joy as 2012. I look forward to all the new things that will happen in this next year. Brenden will start kindergarten which just seems impossible to believe.
And now for the resolutions... because they are important to have.
1. A healthier me. I work from home now and its easy to just roll out of bed, sit at my desk all day and then finish work and do nothing for the rest of the day. I need to make a better effort to be more physically active and healthy.
2. A more positive attitude. It's so much easier to complain than to rejoice. I need to rejoice more :) I have many things to be happy about. Life could be so much worse.
3. To learn more. I feel like I've hit an educational wall with my job so I want to really push myself to learn new things this year and grow my skills. One of the reasons I went into software development and support was to have a job that continues to challenge my mind. I have fallen into a repetitive mode in my job and don't feel like I'm feeding my mind anymore. I definitely want to do more.
4. To continue to grow my photography skills. I got to that 'i know enough to do what i need to do' level but I could learn more and I enjoy learning... and who knows... one day I may need a backup carreer :)
5. To spend more quality time with the kids. I do spend time with the kids but they play together so well its easy for me to just let them do their thing and I can do my thing. But I know one day they'll be independent teens locking themselves in their room and listening to music thats way too loud and playing whatever fad electronic device is out at that time. I want them to grow up feeling like their parents really are a part of their lives.
And to finish things up, it seems that blogger will finally let me upload some photos so I'll put a few 'best of 2012' pictures here.
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