My dear friend Meredith, who is a very talented photographer, takes our family pictures every year and I’m so grateful! It blows me away each year how much the kids grow and change in just 12 months, so I think it’s important to document and capture each season for us to be able to look back on one day.

Landon and Harper are about the same size, although 24 months apart, and we get asked if they’re twins all the time. They’re at a sweet spot in their relationship, where they love playing together and really just adore each other. They beg to sleep together at night, ask where the other is over and over if one is with the grandparents or if Landon is at school, and they love to snuggle up for morning cartoons or bedtime stories. I am so grateful for their closeness and I pray everyday that they’ll always feel a special bond and that Jesus will protect their hearts from unforgiveness, competitive spirits, and comparison as they grow older.

This has been a long, hard year – not just for us – but for so many families we know and love. So many of us have lost loved ones this year, watched people suffer from depression and loneliness, and watched beloved small businesses close their doors because of this pandemic and the economic shut down. There has been so much hate and division between the American people – because of racial tensions, opinions about the “best way” to navigate this pandemic, and of course… over the infamous 2020 election that has left our nation in limbo and left many of us frustrated and skeptical. People have struggled financially, carried more burdens than ever, and felt so much fear and uncertainty.

In so many ways, I’m thankful to see 2020 go. It’s not that I believe the calendar rolling over to January 1, 2021 will bring about any magical clean slate, but I do love the turning of a New Year because it’s a subtle reminder that it’s never too late to start over, that we’re never “too far gone” to begin again, and that His mercies are new every morning. I’m looking forward to 2021 with confident expectation of what the Lord will do. He’s a good, good Father – in the midst of the heartache, in the midst of the disappointment, and in the midst of the unknown.

I haven’t spent as much time writing as I’d have liked to this past year and so that’s one (of many things) I’d like to begin making time for again as we start a fresh, new year. I’m not a big fan of resolutions, but I do believe that it’s important and healthy to look back on the past year and assess areas where we can do better, for our mental, spiritual, and physical health.

Best wishes to you and your family as you finish out 2020 and welcome 2021, friends! And as always, thank you for reading and keeping up with my little family through the years.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Isaiah 43:19