Year in Review

When I think of 2017 the thing that comes to my mind is that I’ve never been happier to see a year come to an end!

Although it was a VERY hard year, it was also a year of growth and learning to lean on God more than ever.

I have tried to make this year in review post over the past few weeks, but every time I sit down to write, it brings a flood of memories back to me and I end up getting too sad to finish the post.

However, it is good for the soul to look back and highlight all the moments from the past year. I have enjoyed looking back and remembering all the happy/sad times this year has brought us. Hope you enjoy it as well.

January

Cold weather equals a lot of board games in our household

We had our first foster placement. He was precious! He ended up going to grandmas after about 2 weeks.

February

My dad was officially diagnosed with dementia after a horrible fall/hallucination scare.

We celebrated Valentines Day~ one of our favorite holidays.

March

Liz started playing on a travel volleyball team and I made my debut as coach. We had a wonderful season!

Great friends of ours in Doniphan had a benefit fish fry for my dad and mom. The turnout was amazing and my mom and dad were blessed tremendously!

April

We sold our house and moved into a bigger house.

We celebrated Easter and our risen Savior

We watched with the rest of the world as April the Giraffe gave birth

May

Ended a great school year!

Emily turned 9

Dad had a severe brain bleed and spent 2.5 weeks in the hospital at St. Louis before moving into a nursing home. This was a very trying time.

June

My dad went to Heaven on June 2. Read my post about my dad here. He is greatly missed!

Chris turned 34 <no pancakes for him for some reason>. We went fishing instead.

Chris and I celebrated 13 years of marriage

We went on a lot of Adventure Tuesdays

Both girls got 12″ of their hair cut off and donated to Pantene Beautiful Length

I went back to college and started my Master’s Degree! Eeek!

July

Celebrated 4th of July

Went to FL on vacation

We received our second foster placement. A one year old little girl that will always hold a special place in our heart!

My uncles, Nini, sister and I re-did my moms house for her. There were a lot of things that needed fixed to help her feel safer without dad and we ended up doing a lot more! She deserved every bit of it!

August

Back to school- Emily 4th and Liz 5th grade

I turned 33

Celebrated my FIL turning 60~ I made a special book for him with 60 different people writing him a letter. We also had a great party for him!

September

After having our foster placement for a month, we decided to have her placed into a different home. The girls were having a hard time adjusting to a new person in the house and it just wasn’t a good fit for us. Also, since we didn’t want to pursue adoption at the time, it was best for everyone involved if she went to an adoptive home. This all lead to us putting fostering on hold for a while. It was a tough decision, but we know we made the best decision for our family of 4. Now looking back on everything that happened after this decision, it was a blessing in disguise. Maybe God will open this door again later in our life, maybe not.

Both girls played in Dexter’s volleyball league and had their momma as the coach. Emily did great for the first time playing and finally got her serves over towards the end of the season!

October

At the beginning of the month, my MIL was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She originally went in for them to remove the tumor in her colon, but when they opened her up they found many other cancerous tumors in her abdominal cavity.

We celebrated Halloween with a cow and a 50s cheerleader.

My nephew, Zach, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and spent a few days in the hospital

November

We had a great Thanksgiving together.

My MIL went to MD Anderson in Houston, TX for treatment with her cancer. They decided to do 4-6 months of chemo to shrink the cancer before doing the experimental HIPEC surgery. She just did her second round of chemo Tuesday and is doing really well with it.

December

Liz turned 11!

A week later Liz was diagnosed with T1D and we spent two nights/ 3 days in the hospital.

We counted our blessings this Christmas and was thankful to be home to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Wow!!! What a year!!???

Our prayer for 2018 is health and happiness. May we live our lives for Jesus and help others to see Him through us.

Chris and I always pick a verse to focus on for the upcoming year. For 2018 we have chosen Joshua 1:9~

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

We know that no matter what trials come our way that God is going to be with us every step of the way. I am so thankful for this promise!

Happy New Year!

Thank you for reading my blog and following along with our Bolin Bunch.

~Jen