Happy New Year! Our holiday season turned out pretty great- we spent a ton of time with family, ate a lot of food, celebrated the birth of Jesus, and gave and received some pretty awesome gifts. But I’m glad it’s over. I’m ready for routine, back-to-school, and the promise of a fresh start.

2014 was a decent year. Our 2013 was so overwhelming and tumultuous, and it was nice to have a year that didn’t have so many crazy emotional extremes. We’ve been settled in our new house for almost a full year now, and for the most part, I’m content living here. It’s not big, new or fancy, but it meets our family’s needs, and that is just what we need at this point.

I’m so thankful that Grayson had a good year too. I’m not sure how many times he was in the hospital in 2014, but it seems like it was less than last year, and each hospital stay he bounced back fairly quickly. I’ve accepted that it’s when, not if, he’s in the hospital the next time, and we have the hospital routine figured out. It’s disruptive for sure, but we know what to expect.

Charlotte continues to light up our lives and cause me to fall asleep in bed at 8:40 pm on NYE (true story). She is hilarious, sweet, so smart, and exhausting. And she never stops talking. What a blessing it’s been this year to be with her as she’s transformed from a baby to a toddler. Her phase of today was “Happy Birthday New Year”!

I learned a lot this year. I really believe I’ve made small steps towards understanding and embracing people who are different than me, and I want to continue to try and look at issues from all different points of view.

If I were to choose a word I want to live by for 2015 it would be “brave”. I want to tackle my life with excitement and anticipation, not fear. The fear of the unknown and “what ifs” keep me up in the wee hours of the night far too often. I want to make decisions and feel confident in them, and not spend so much time fearing the reaction of others to those decisions.

We have some exciting things planned for the coming year and I can’t wait to see where it takes us.

Happy 2015!