Baby Elena could be a twin to Ava. Only difference is she has a whole lot of long, jet black hair. We are totally in love. Our two little girls are the most precious gifts God could ever give us.
And now for a very short summary of the year, aka traditional Mennonite Christmas letter.
This poem describes my philosophy on life so well at this point. If you have known me since age 17, you may be a bit surprised, but we all get have to get old someday right?
This year, I grew about a million cherry tomatoes and a baby in my belly. I took a skinny brown weiner dog and a long legged tot on bike rides and we ate a hundred cucumbers right off the vine and made bread and cookies with fresh ground flour and filled a crazy amount of Haitian Malta bottles with fiery fermented hot sauce. We picked figs and papayas off our backyard trees and I think we'll have cabbages ready to put in our New Year's Day soup joumou. After my husband heads off to work on his motorcycle, my little sidekick spends hours talking about Richard Scarry characters. I find our conversations very interesting myself. It's a small world, this mom world, blessedly small. Blessedly boring.
If 2023 was themed "everyone decides to immigrate to USA", we could say that 2024 was themed "everyone decides to have a baby." My little nephew Sammie was born in June, and just a few months ago another friend who has only been in the states a few months welcomed Baby Noah. Two very sweet little boys! It seems like I spent a lot of time in and out of our local labor and delivery tho, and I took the nurses Christmas candy the other day and said very decisively that this was the final goodbye. No more babies for a good while.
We'll see what next year's theme is. Maybe "everyone decides to get married?" My brother in laws wedding is already planned for March 16. Weddings and babies are sure happy themes! I could think of a lot worse.
And here is where I'm supposed to report on all our amazing trips and make you have FOMO. But remember this was a boring year spent growing babies so we didn't do much of that. We did go to Mexico in the summer and then helped to put on a reunion at Raising Hope Ranch in Arkansas a month later. Both lovely lovely breaks from the normal routine!
One thing I have struggled with this year is the feeling of being wrapped up in the mundane to the point where God seems distant, like the old friend you love but never can seem to keep in touch with. It's been a comfort to me to realize that much of Jesus' life on earth was actually very mundane. He did things like feeding hungry people, washing feet, and taking care of the sick. Sounds suspiciously like a mom.
When I think about how he did all those things, his attitudes and motives behind it all, I realize that getting caught up in the mundane that is not actually my true problem. It's getting caught up in my self, or in doing good things for the wrong reasons. May I never be the one saying, "Lord, I canned Mason jars, pushed swings, changed cloth diapers, and cooked delicious suppers in your name!" only to hear, "I do not know you."
We wish you all a blessed, boring 2025.
Comentarios