Where's the Joy?

I have come to the conclusion that stating out loud (or at least on the internet) that I intend to be intentional about choosing to have joy in my life may not have been a wise thing to do.

Since writing my blog post, I have had an intense chest cold that has lasted for more a week, Daniel and I have yet to decide on a house to buy (tick tock, tick tock) and Daniel (unexpectedly) had to start working 6 days a week. It's kind of hard to intentionally choose joy when I am sick, Daniel is gone 70+ hours each week and we have no idea where we will live in a month.

I am hoping that I will feel better soon. As for Daniel's work schedule, it is out of our control and we are going to have to make a decision about where to live. Hopefully in the midst of this harder-than-expected season of my life, I can still muster the ability to choose joy.

Jack sure has no problem being joyful.

New Years with Family

This is the third year that at least some of our Canadian relatives have made the trek south to ring in the New Year with any of the Southern Lock Flock that could make it to the Nashville area. It is a tradition that I am growing to love. 

Over the course of several days, we all gathered at my Aunt Becky's house or my sister's house to visit and play games and enjoy good food.

This year, the Canadians requested that we do something with a Nashville feel. So my brother took a bunch of us to the Wild Horse Saloon in downtown Nashville for some line dancing.

It was actually a lot of fun. It cost $3 to get in and there was a live band and a guy that taught the dance steps. Also it is kid friendly, which was nice, since our cousins are all under age!

We had practiced the Electric Slide at my sister's house so that we had the basic steps down, and the dances were all a variation of these simple steps.

It was freezing the night we went out and my brother decided we should park at LP Field and walk across the bridge to downtown. Did I mention it was freezing! Even our relatives thought it was chilly! Thankfully the dancing warmed us up.

Afterward we went to Mikes Ice Cream shop for some hot chocolate to get warm before going back into the cold. My sister, brother and uncle make the cold trek back across the bridge to pick up the cars, while me, my aunt and cousins stayed warm in the ice cream shop.

I am looking forward to next year's New Years get together!

Life Lately

I have had a nasty cold all week and am way behind on most things in my life right now, including blogging. This is a quick update with a few things I want to remember about Jack at this age.

While at the Pediatrician today, Jack kept insisting that he wanted to go see Sophie. He was almost in tears over this.

After leaving the doctor's, I ran by our house in Hollywood. I guess just to reminisce. It looks the same. Upon seeing the house, Jack started crying and emphatically saying, "Toys" over and over. I guess he associates our old house with his toys. Rightly so since that is the last place he saw all of his toys. The majority of his toys are packed up and in storage until we find a new house.

Tonight while watching Thomas the Train, Jack kept saying, "All Aboard" over and over. He even has the right inflection in his voice just like a conductor. It is adorable.

As for our PEd visit, in terms on height and weight, Jack is right on target, in the 70th percentile for both. His head size is now 80th percentile which is WAY BETTER than when it was 110th percentile.

Jack seems more and more grown up with each passing day. He insists on what he wants to wear everyday. He walks around with his hands in his pockets and is saying 4 and 5 word phrases/sentences. I love that he can pretty much tell us what he wants or needs. His most frustrating phrase for me is, "I'm not ready." He loves to use this phrase at bedtime.

Outdoor Adventures | 2013 edition

2014 was a year of in-betweens for us... We were living in Chattanooga during the week and in Alabama on weekends. We still managed to do some exploring – mostly in the form of biking. This year did include a couple of visits to highest points as well as a few firsts for Jack.


January
Indian Falls | DeSoto State Park, AL

March
Devil's Racetrack | Huntsville, AL

April
Jack's First Camping Trip | Cheaha State Park, AL
Alabama's Highest Point | Cheaha Mountain, AL

May
Jack's First Bike Ride | Hays Nature Preserve in Huntsville, AL
Blevin's Gap | Huntsville, AL

June
Paddling the Flint River | Huntsville, AL

July
Rainbow Lake | Signal Mountain, TN

August
Biking at Hays Nature Preserve | Huntsville, AL
Biking at Hays Nature Preserve, again | Huntsville, AL
Biking at Hays Nature Preserve, off trail | Huntsville, AL

September
Florida's Highest Point | Lakewood, FL
Biking at Topsail State Park | Santa Rosa Beach, FL

Top 10 Highlights from 2013

With the craziness of moving right before Christmas, we had no time to create and mail our traditional Christmas card. We intend to send an actual card next year. In the meantime, we hope you had a wonderful Christmas, celebrating with those you love and that 2014 is a joyous year. 

Our Top 10 Highlights from 2013

10. We took Jack camping for the first time (at 17 months). It only took an hour of him lying on our heads before he fell asleep. Other than that, he loved the tent… and our headlamps.

 9. At the end of June, Daniel was relocated for work and we spent the last half of the year living in Chattanooga, TN during the work week and Hollywood, AL on the weekend. We never thought we would have a more difficult living experience than when we lived in a 30-foot camper for three months, but it turns out that living in a hotel with a toddler and a dog trumps living in a camper! 

8. We are thankful that we will be living permanently in Chattanooga in 2014 (as far as we know).

7. We are still in shock that we sold our house in less than a week! During the Thanksgiving holidays no less.

6. Date nights currently happen about a four times a year in our household, typically around the holidays when we have access to plenty of sitters.

5. In 2013 we did manage to do our first overnight trip away from Jack to attend a couple’s retreat. We needed that! We also had some much needed fun canoeing with friends this summer.

4. We visited two high points in the United States this year – Cheaha Mountain in Alabama and Lakewood Park in Florida. Jack has now been to 3 of the 50 highest points in the US. 

3. We introduced Jack to riding bikes and he is a huge fan. Our longest ride to date (as a family of three) was 13 miles. Jack likes to go fast and humors our long rides (especially if they involve lunch at Chick-fil-a afterwards).

2. Speaking of firsts, Jack got to take his first trip by plane. He was a little pro and traveled like he had been doing it all his life. Jack also had the opportunity to be the ring bearer in his Grandpa Moore’s wedding. At 18 months, we weren’t sure how he would do, but he marched right down that aisle, smiling and waving at everyone.

1. In the coming weeks we are hoping to buy a new house in Chattanooga and we are looking forward to getting settled and into our new sense of normal. We hope that the coming year is a blessing to each of you!

If you are interested, here are our Top 10 List from Years Past
2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | We skipped 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012

Books I Read in 2013

This is the 5th year I have tracked my effort to read 52 books on this blog. Below you will find my full list of books read in 2013. You can click on the link to each month for book reviews.

January
1) The Wander Year 
2) Gods and Kings

Febuary
3) Song of Redemption
4) The Contessa's Vendetta
5) The Four Seasons of Marriage

March
6) You Lost Me
7) Warrior Prayers
8) Yellow Star

April
9) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
10) The Strength of His Hands

May
11) Behind the Iron Curtain
12) Sparkly Green Earrings
13) Pride and Prejudice

June - no books read 

July
14) The Three Musketeers

August
15) Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century
16) Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
17) Healthy Finances by Infinite Ideas
18) The Price of Politics
19) Who Took My Money?

September
20) The Soul Keepers

October
21) Outliers
22) EntreLeaders

November
23) Keeping Kids Reading
24) Economics: The Remarkable Story of How the Economy Works

December
25) Freakanomics
26) The Tipping Point
27) The Story

If you are interested, here are my lists for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Word for the Year: Joy

I wish I could say I was more deliberate in my efforts to live life to its fullest in 2013, but I fear that I dropped the ball with this goal. I found it tremendously difficult to be intentional when half of the year was spent living out of a suitcase. I hope that 2014, and future years, will find me living my life with more purpose.

In keeping with my tradition of writing down a word to represent the coming year, I have found myself gravitating toward the word "joy."

JOY is the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.

Watching Jack have such pure, unadulterated joy over simple things like jumping in puddles; learning new words; or running as fast as his little legs will carry him; make me ache for more sheer joy in my own life.

I want to delight in my life; to feel satisfied and elated because it is a good life. I want to deliberately share this pleasure with people that I interact with on a daily basis. I want more than just muddling through when life gets hard. In 2014, whether it is embracing the mundane or celebrating holidays and life events with those I cherish, I want to focus on the joy of being alive.

May 2014 be a joyous year!

 

Words from previous years:
 Fortitude {2010} ~ Adaptation {2011} ~ Patience {2012} ~ Deliberate {2013}