2016 Classic End of Year Post

two.thousand.sixteen.

You've been quite a year, Twenty Sixteen.

Actually, you may have been our hardest year yet.

But you have been oh, so good and brought oh, so many blessings.
("you" meaning our gracious God, and not Twenty Sixteen. obviously.)

Last year, I ached to be home full-time with my sweet girl. That longing became reality this year, except instead of being home with one, I was home with two. And it was harder than I thought.

I spent the first half of the year trying to get adjusted to this new way of life - especially the change in family dynamic that came with adding another person to love.

Just the other day, I apologized to Husband for coming up way too short on the time and energy I put into serving him (he graciously pointed out all the things I'd done for him recently, what a guy I have), so I guess we're still figuring things out.

Half way through the year, we had either gotten ourselves together or needed a distraction from the fact that we still hadn't, so we up and bought our first house.

We'd been looking for years and finally figured out what we wanted.

(low-maintenance, inexpensive ongoing costs, walking distance)

When it became available, we snatched it up in less than 9 hours.
I think our Realtor is relieved to be rid of us.

We love living downtown.

We love our utility bills.

We could use more practice with loving our neighbors.

Now that I'm looking back over the year, I'm realizing just how many transitions we went through!

We moved, most of our siblings moved, heck even the library moved!

By the end of the year, we'll have gained 3 new siblings-in-law
(with another on the way next year!)

We buried two grandmothers

(My) life-long pastor retired

This year probably highlighted to us just how thankful we are to be surrounded by family (and close friends).
It was a blessing to have our Miller parents nearby more frequently throughout the year.
We went on more dates this year than any other - Thanks, Conrady parents.

We thought we could use a breather in 2017 (and maybe 2018 too, for good measure) but we're adjusting our expectations now because it's pretty evident by my growing waistline that there will be some more big adjustments coming soon.
Like in June.
Surprise!

p.s. i made these out of thrift store sweaters
don't look too closely. they were my first real sewing project. and they look like it.

So that's our year.
We probably learned a lot, but right now it still just feels like we survived, and that's enough.
Plus I'm too tired to analyze anything.
So Merry Christmas and Good Night!

Love,
The Millers

Last year's letter