A lot has happened in the last twelve months. Kids have gotten bigger. Life has gotten crazier. Lives have been altered. God has moved. And we are all better for it. It seems like forever ago that I wrote Smith Family Year in Review 2010, but it's only been a year. I guess so much happens in a year it can feel like a small lifetime. So, what were we up to in 2011?
In January, Rob and I celebrated five years of marriage and Xzayvier turned eight. We got some pretty significant snow, by Tennessee's standards and enjoyed a few snowball fights. In February Rob and Mekyla attended the Father-Daughter Purity Ball for the second year and it was the highlight of Mekyla's year, for sure. She and Rob look forward to the event each year and they always have so much fun. In March, we celebrated Mekyla's 8th birthday and the coming of the Spring season. I never thought of it this way before, but it doesn't seem like a coincidence that Mekyla's birthday is the second day of spring. Her birth was not only new life for her, but for ME. Becoming her mother changed everything for me and I treasure everything that has brought us to where we are now. April brought lots of fun as we celebrated our first Spring Break family vacation. We went to Gatlinburg and had a blast! So much so, that we intend to make it a tradition and go every year. We are looking forward to this year's trip. May carried celebration and sadness as we celebrated Rob's birthday, but we also sent him away for deployment. While I would venture to say there is never a great time for deployment, summer break is probably the "best" (I hate to even use that word) time. Xzayvier spent the summer in Texas, at his biological mom's again, so Mekyla, Kreid and I spent our summer swimming, hanging out, playing, visiting friends and family in Cincinnati and waiting for Rob to come home. In June, we went to Cincinnati and had a great visit with some of our most favorite people. I also realized (for certain) that I was being called to go on a mission trip to Ethiopia in August and started fundraising. Yes, I had just two months to fundraise $3,000 and God showed up and provided! No surprise there. July rolled in with a bang, and not just from fireworks. We celebrated my nephew, Deryck's 11th birthday and Rob returned just days before Kreid's 3rd birthday party. Rob's return meant Charley (Rob's daughter) was able to come for a visit. We had such a great time having her here and Mekyla and Kreid loved spending time with her. August was a big month. You'll laugh, but the first big event was Kreid's first haircut. Silly, I know, but it had never been cut and it was a crazy-wild afro. And we just trimmed it...but it was still craaaazy. That haircut led to cutting it all off about a month later. After that, Xzayvier returned from his summer trip to Texas and he and Mekyla started third grade. Just a couple weeks later I was headed to Ethiopia. I can't even begin to tell you all that God did during those nine days, but I will never be the same, that's for certain. If you haven't already and you're interested in seeing what we did while we were in Ethiopia, check out the blog I posted here. It was overwhelming, exciting, heart-breaking, joy-filled, and precious. I am going back this summer and HOPEFULLY, Rob will be joining us. I can't wait! August also introduced a new ministry that little did I know, would change everything. Minivan Mayhem is a discipleship group for women and it has been incredible. I could go on and on about it, but it's awesome. My small group from this group are some of the most incredible women I know and it's been such a treat to get to do life with each of them. September was weird. I returned from Ethiopia the first week of September and literally could have slept for a week straight. I thank God for my incredible husband who picked up the slack while I was gone AND when I returned, because I was no-good. I was weak, exhausted, emotional and crazy. THEN, if I wasn't crazy enough, we celebrated my birthday. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my birthday. I mean, love it. But this was the most difficult birthday ever. It is really hard to accept celebration after returning from a place that you want to leave everything you own. Just having a home, car, more than one pair of shoes, even, seemed like plenty of lavishing, so celebrating anything else seemed excessive. October was uneventful. Rob had to leave for a school, so that was no fun, but we were able to skype with him regularly, so we made the best of it. Him being gone allowed me some extra time for the my newest form of fundraising for Ethiopia...photography. Another crazy-awesome God adventure, but basically I do photography as a hobby and some super-awesome people were willing to PAY me to do family photos, children's photos, and engagement photos to help me fundraise for my trip. It's just crazy. And awesome. And crazy. God blows me away. Alot. November was a lot of photography. A lot of Minivan Mayhem. And a lot of eating. Yay for Thanksgiving! December was fun. December is always fun, in my book. There is just nothing more exciting than celebrating Christmas. I celebrate Christmas, pretty much as soon as Thanksgiving is over. I love everything about the Christmas season. Yes, we buy into the hype. Yes, we put up a beautiful tree and yes, we buy gifts for friends and family. But most importantly we praise, worship and celebrate the coming of our King! Mom came down for the long weekend and we had Sam, Kim and Deryck over for Christmas dinner and then some other friends joined us for dessert. It was a wonderful day of celebration. I love that about Jesus. He calls us to great (and sometimes hard) things. We cannot just wander through life, say we love Jesus and "act right", but the work, the hard times, the growing pains are all worth it when we can literally celebrate and feast for all that He accomplished when he came to earth. That's why I get so excited about Christmas! God is good!
When asked what was their favorite thing about 2011, the Smith's said...
Rob: Settling into a new church home, Gatlinburg Spring Break, Charley's summer visit and staying home with the kids while Delilah was in Ethiopia
Delilah: Gatlinburg Spring Break (and more great family time in general), Minivan Mayhem, Ethiopia and just falling more in love with Jesus than ever before
Xzayvier: Gatlinburg Spring Break (especially the fudge shop!) and a trip to Chicago (during his summer vacation with his bio-mom)
Mekyla: Purity Ball, Gatlinburg Spring Break, Visiting Cincinnati and Charley's summer visit
Kreid: Hanging out with Daddy, hanging out with Cross and Mercy, Meadow and Brooke at church, my birthday party at Chick-fil-a, and playing with Zay
So, all-in-all, 2011 was good! We were blessed beyond measure, challenged like never before, and enjoyed all that God had for us. It wasn't always easy, always fun, or always predictable, but it was for sure blessed and covered by God. Now, on to 2012 to see what it holds!
In January, Rob and I celebrated five years of marriage and Xzayvier turned eight. We got some pretty significant snow, by Tennessee's standards and enjoyed a few snowball fights. In February Rob and Mekyla attended the Father-Daughter Purity Ball for the second year and it was the highlight of Mekyla's year, for sure. She and Rob look forward to the event each year and they always have so much fun. In March, we celebrated Mekyla's 8th birthday and the coming of the Spring season. I never thought of it this way before, but it doesn't seem like a coincidence that Mekyla's birthday is the second day of spring. Her birth was not only new life for her, but for ME. Becoming her mother changed everything for me and I treasure everything that has brought us to where we are now. April brought lots of fun as we celebrated our first Spring Break family vacation. We went to Gatlinburg and had a blast! So much so, that we intend to make it a tradition and go every year. We are looking forward to this year's trip. May carried celebration and sadness as we celebrated Rob's birthday, but we also sent him away for deployment. While I would venture to say there is never a great time for deployment, summer break is probably the "best" (I hate to even use that word) time. Xzayvier spent the summer in Texas, at his biological mom's again, so Mekyla, Kreid and I spent our summer swimming, hanging out, playing, visiting friends and family in Cincinnati and waiting for Rob to come home. In June, we went to Cincinnati and had a great visit with some of our most favorite people. I also realized (for certain) that I was being called to go on a mission trip to Ethiopia in August and started fundraising. Yes, I had just two months to fundraise $3,000 and God showed up and provided! No surprise there. July rolled in with a bang, and not just from fireworks. We celebrated my nephew, Deryck's 11th birthday and Rob returned just days before Kreid's 3rd birthday party. Rob's return meant Charley (Rob's daughter) was able to come for a visit. We had such a great time having her here and Mekyla and Kreid loved spending time with her. August was a big month. You'll laugh, but the first big event was Kreid's first haircut. Silly, I know, but it had never been cut and it was a crazy-wild afro. And we just trimmed it...but it was still craaaazy. That haircut led to cutting it all off about a month later. After that, Xzayvier returned from his summer trip to Texas and he and Mekyla started third grade. Just a couple weeks later I was headed to Ethiopia. I can't even begin to tell you all that God did during those nine days, but I will never be the same, that's for certain. If you haven't already and you're interested in seeing what we did while we were in Ethiopia, check out the blog I posted here. It was overwhelming, exciting, heart-breaking, joy-filled, and precious. I am going back this summer and HOPEFULLY, Rob will be joining us. I can't wait! August also introduced a new ministry that little did I know, would change everything. Minivan Mayhem is a discipleship group for women and it has been incredible. I could go on and on about it, but it's awesome. My small group from this group are some of the most incredible women I know and it's been such a treat to get to do life with each of them. September was weird. I returned from Ethiopia the first week of September and literally could have slept for a week straight. I thank God for my incredible husband who picked up the slack while I was gone AND when I returned, because I was no-good. I was weak, exhausted, emotional and crazy. THEN, if I wasn't crazy enough, we celebrated my birthday. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my birthday. I mean, love it. But this was the most difficult birthday ever. It is really hard to accept celebration after returning from a place that you want to leave everything you own. Just having a home, car, more than one pair of shoes, even, seemed like plenty of lavishing, so celebrating anything else seemed excessive. October was uneventful. Rob had to leave for a school, so that was no fun, but we were able to skype with him regularly, so we made the best of it. Him being gone allowed me some extra time for the my newest form of fundraising for Ethiopia...photography. Another crazy-awesome God adventure, but basically I do photography as a hobby and some super-awesome people were willing to PAY me to do family photos, children's photos, and engagement photos to help me fundraise for my trip. It's just crazy. And awesome. And crazy. God blows me away. Alot. November was a lot of photography. A lot of Minivan Mayhem. And a lot of eating. Yay for Thanksgiving! December was fun. December is always fun, in my book. There is just nothing more exciting than celebrating Christmas. I celebrate Christmas, pretty much as soon as Thanksgiving is over. I love everything about the Christmas season. Yes, we buy into the hype. Yes, we put up a beautiful tree and yes, we buy gifts for friends and family. But most importantly we praise, worship and celebrate the coming of our King! Mom came down for the long weekend and we had Sam, Kim and Deryck over for Christmas dinner and then some other friends joined us for dessert. It was a wonderful day of celebration. I love that about Jesus. He calls us to great (and sometimes hard) things. We cannot just wander through life, say we love Jesus and "act right", but the work, the hard times, the growing pains are all worth it when we can literally celebrate and feast for all that He accomplished when he came to earth. That's why I get so excited about Christmas! God is good!
When asked what was their favorite thing about 2011, the Smith's said...
Rob: Settling into a new church home, Gatlinburg Spring Break, Charley's summer visit and staying home with the kids while Delilah was in Ethiopia
Delilah: Gatlinburg Spring Break (and more great family time in general), Minivan Mayhem, Ethiopia and just falling more in love with Jesus than ever before
Xzayvier: Gatlinburg Spring Break (especially the fudge shop!) and a trip to Chicago (during his summer vacation with his bio-mom)
Mekyla: Purity Ball, Gatlinburg Spring Break, Visiting Cincinnati and Charley's summer visit
Kreid: Hanging out with Daddy, hanging out with Cross and Mercy, Meadow and Brooke at church, my birthday party at Chick-fil-a, and playing with Zay
So, all-in-all, 2011 was good! We were blessed beyond measure, challenged like never before, and enjoyed all that God had for us. It wasn't always easy, always fun, or always predictable, but it was for sure blessed and covered by God. Now, on to 2012 to see what it holds!
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