It’s hard to believe I’m sitting down to write yet another end of the year wrap up. I can’t believe I am writing the SEVENTH one of these! 2011 was the year of social media and the year it all began… 2012 was the year of love. 2013 was the year of marriage. 2014 was the year of the home. 2015 was the breather year. 2016 was the year of being present. 2017 was the year of Levi.
We began 2018 with a three-month-old baby going to daycare for the first time, Mom just returning back to work, and trying to figure out what life looks like after all of that. Having Levi has forced me to re-evaluate a lot of things. Becoming a mom has not only forced me into finding routines, but it has also led me to pursue living an intentional life ever more than I was before. I really rounded the first of the year with one thing in my mind – intention. I wanted Levi’s first year to be one where I found joy and truly enjoyed every moment of it.
I realized that it is easy in life to say yes to far too much and end up finding yourself burnt out, stressed out, and continually feeling empty. None of those qualities allow you to pour into the people in your life who matter to you most and in reality, you end up wasting so much emotional, mental, and physical energy on things that in the end don’t really matter much to you at all.
It is so easy for me to say I never have time for anything, but when I take an honest look at how I spend the hours in my days, it is deeply convicting. How much of my time is wasted on things that aren’t my priorities? How much of my time is wasted on mental or emotional stress over things that aren’t truly my priorities? Turns out, quite a bit. Once I came to this realization, I decided I needed to make some changes. I said NO to a lot of great and wonderful things, but they just didn’t fit the priorities I had set for my life right now. And let me tell you – that was life-changing.
Our year was sprinkled with moments of intention. We celebrated a lot. And we lost a lot of important people to our lives. But most importantly, we grew in ways we never knew we could.
Early January, Mark and I left Levi for the first time as we enjoying some time soaking up the sun in Hawaii. I admittedly cried as the plane took off, but Levi had such a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa while we were gone. It was great to re-connect with as husband and wife and I swear we woke up every morning saying “gosh, we miss Levi.” Later in January, we took a family trip to Montana to visit friends. Levi took the second flight of his life and also got his first tooth on that trip.
March and April will always be a special one to me. I celebrated my first Lent as I converted into the Catholic faith. Mark and I prayed together every day of Lent. It was so beautiful and such a special time for us to become closer to one another and grow in our faith. In March, we lost Grandma Katie. Losing her was a huge blow to our family even though she lived a long, beautiful life. She was the matriarch, she held us all together, and of course fiercely prayed for us daily. I was heartbroken that Grandma Katie wasn’t there to see me baptized into the Church, but I know she was watching from Heaven.
We also took a trip to California in March to see my parents. Now that we have Levi, they obviously want to see us a lot more than they usually do. Levi celebrated turning SIX months in California and sat up on his own for the first time! We enjoyed the beautiful weather outside, time with family, and of course all the good food we always eat with my parents. Mark enjoyed a fishing trip in Canada and I held down the fort for my first time completely solo parenting. We sent Mark a lot of photos and videos and Levi loved seeing his Daddy over video.
On Easter, I was officially baptized and confirmed into the Catholic faith. It still feels very surreal as I think about the breadth and depth of that moment. Making our family whole, under one faith, has hands down been such an amazing blessing to our family. It has been a joy to watch Levi learn and understand when and how to pray and also read stories from the Bible as we teach him and guide him in his faith.
We celebrated a notable birthday for Mark (ahem, 40) this year. He swears he is so old, I just joke with him he is lucky he found a young wife. We celebrated how we know best: with family and friends, good food, and maybe a little (or a lot) of whisky.
As the ground thawed and the snow melted, it signaled that it was time to start farming. It was Levi’s first growing season. He, of course, has taken to farming like he was born with it in his blood. His third word (after Momma and Dada) was tractor. He lights up whenever he sees a tractor (or semi – or anything with wheels). He got to take several semi rides, tractor rides, and rides in the combine. We spent our Sundays during the growing season (as we usually do) checking crops. Levi loved every moment of it. He is so much like his Dad, it is unreal. Outside is his favorite place to be.
Our summer was filled with a lot of times spent outside enjoying the sunshine, lots of exploring and crawling for Levi, a bout of Hand, Foot, & Mouth, and a lot of work for Daddy. In June, we were so fortunate our friends from Australia that we visited in Australia came to stay with us! It is truly incredible the people social media have brought to our lives and we are so thankful for those incredible friendships that have been forged. And how amazing that we can always mark Levi’s first year as the year they came from AUSTRALIA to visit for the first time!
In July, we took a family road trip to Kansas City to attend the American Association of Meat Processor’s convention and spend time with my parents. Levi did awesome in the car for that long drive and he enjoyed seeing new faces and places. Levi also started swim lessons – which he enjoyed most of the time. I cannot wait to get him back in the pool this coming year!
August 8th marked the day that Levi walked for the first time and we’ve been trying to keep up chasing him ever since. September 3rd we celebrated Levi’s FIRST birthday. What an amazing day it was. We had a small celebration with family, my parents even flew in from California. Levi loved every moment playing with his cousins and riding his tractor. We still can’t believe we have such a happy, healthy, and beautiful little boy.
This fall, we announced the opening of another Maverick Ag location in Linton. We are so excited to be expanding and partnering with some incredible people to make it possible. I am so proud of Mark (and Matt) and what they’ve built at Maverick Ag. I look forward to what 2019 brings for all of us at Maverick Ag.
Harvest, we thought, was going to fly by. Turns out, harvest this year was long and literally never-ending. It was an extremely stressful and challenging time for all of us. But we finally wrapped it up over Thanksgiving while we spent Thanksgiving in California. Leaving without harvest being done was tough, but thankfully we finished!
In between all of the trials of harvest, I was able to make a trip to Iowa to visit with my two dear friends (Kelly and Kellie) as well as attend Women of Joy in Texas with my sister from another mister, Nicole. Both trips were one of those, “if you don’t put it on your calendar, it’ll never happen”. I am thankful we planned them and that they happened. Filling my cup up with time with great friends I only get to see once in a while is my favorite. It is through those conversations where I find I truly get inspiration and encouragement to grow and do more. I am so thankful for those ladies!
As we do every year, we celebrated Thanksgiving in California. And shortly after, I visited California again to celebrate the life of my Aunt Pam after she lost her hard-fought battle with cancer. We are ending the year remembering a lot of loss, but also celebrating the beauty that this season of Christmas brings. Celebrating the true light of Jesus Christ that came down to Earth and can never be put out. And that light shines in and through us.
As I look back on 2018, there was a lot we didn’t accomplish, but there was a lot we did. I set out to live this life with more intention and I did just that. I did in so many ways. I am proud of the work that was put in to cultivate a life we truly love. A life where we can truly feel joy and peace and we can navigate the hardships of life with hope. And through that work, we can grow together both in our relationships, and our faith. And it has, without a doubt, been life-giving and life-changing.
I encourage you, as we begin 2019, to sit down and evaluate your life. Are you living life with intention or are you just going wherever the wind takes you? Start by establishing your priorities. What do you want out of life, what do you want life to look like? That framework will give you a standard to hold everything else up to. Either the things you spend your days doing and your energies on will fall in line with what you want out of life. Or it won’t. And that will signal the need to say NO to some things, without guilt.
I pray that 2019 brings you a life where you find more joy, more peace, and more happiness and less stress, less worry, and less burden. I pray for the life-giving freedom that prioritizing your life can bring for you. And most of all, I pray you experience a bright light shine on even the darkest parts of your life.
Happy New Year, my friends!! Thank you for being a part of it all! Here’s to 2019!
