Looking back on 2011

I love to take time to reflect on how God has met me throughout the year. The end of the year is a perfect time to do that! I started this post on the last day of 2011, but I didn't get to finish it because children woke from naps and needed me, so it'll have to do nearly a week in to January.

I went back to re-read my first post of 2011. One of the goals I set for myself was to read the Bible in chronological order. My mom had bought me this Bible and it was set up so that you could read it through in a year. I didn't think that was a realistic goal for me, but guess what? I did it!! I read the whole Bible in a year. I did not do as well with doing Bible studies on my own. I did it for a little while in the beginning of the year, but I didn't continue it throughout the year.

Anne continues to be creative and imaginative. We've read the whole Narnia series, Anne of Green Gables, have started Anne of Avonlea, and many other books in between. Her already large vocabulary is increasing rapidly. She has memorized more Scripture, some at home and some in Sunday School. She loves learning and doing "homework". She has learned the alphabet in upper ans lowercase, writes several words, and can read a few, too! Anne continues to mother her little sisters. She's always eager to learn more.

Abbey has also grown this year! She is fully potty trained during the day (if you read any of my posts throughout the year you'll realize the struggle that was involved with this). Abbey is very good at quickly accomplishing 24-piece puzzles. She is still much more quiet than Anne, but that is great! Not all children are alike, and that's a wonderful thing. Abbey has grown a little bit more independent in 2011. She is in a separate Sunday School class from Anne and does well. It took a couple weeks of crying, but she has grown! She loves going to Sunday School and SMILE. Abbey still looks up to Anne but also loves to mother Maggie.

As predicted, 2011 was a year of many physical changes for Magdalena. She learned to roll over, sit up, crawl and walk!! She is talking a lot, too. I love to hear her cute baby voice. She tries to sing, but often it is just high-pitch squealing along with "Jesus". We walked through a difficult time of handling a gluten-intolerance and then a clean bill of health just a couple of months ago. We are so thankful to God for this miracle in our lives.

Trent was able to preach several times throughout 2011. He joined the Ministry team at work and he has taken on a lot of responsibility with trying to provide vision for our church. I'm so thankful for him and his good job that he really enjoys.

Looking back, 2011 was a bit of a weird year for our family. There was no new baby, and our thoughts of starting the international adoption process was halted. We have also been thinking about selling our house, but that didn't take place in 2011. Both Trent and I feel like we have experienced much spiritual growth in 2011, and are looking forward to this new year. I will plan to write out some goals before too long (I hope!)