I've always loved reading Dave Barry's annual Year in Review. So I decided to write a review of my own year, and here it is! Considerably less funny than Dave Barry's, but with considerably more gratuitous photographs.
In January, I had a birthday, tried out contra-dancing with my boyfriend, and hung out with some Chinese friends.
Alas, this was the last semester that I had Chinese friends in town. Hope to meet more soon!
In February, I got a new nephew! I call him Little Benny Boo, and I trust he will let me continue to call him Boo until he's at least 18.
Andy and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day together with Salvadorian pupusas and a trip to Wal-Mart to buy chocolate fish labeled, "You're a Keeper."
Also on Valentine's Day, Andy got a haircut and took a secretive trip to see my dad that determined the course of the next few months.
In March, I took a quick trip to Iowa City with my grad school friends. Below you can see the little classroom where I did my first speech therapy session ever, working with a little 3-year old that couldn't say her "k"s. That may have been the only time I worked on speech articulation with children in my whole career since.
In more life-changing news, Andy and I got engaged!
April and May were a whirlwind, and I don't really know what happened when, so I'll present these months together. April was our one-year dating anniversary, which we celebrated with a failed hunt for morel mushrooms. In other news, we applied for a marriage license, I had some showers (both the bridal sort and the regular sort), we planned our wedding, and we searched for a place to live. This might have been the busiest spring and summer of my life, but God answered tons of prayers and we had a lot of help from the people we love.
Ah, June.
In the first week of June, we finished our pre-marital counseling, hired a UHaul, moved my stuff and Andy's to our new apartment, and finished up our wedding planning amidst piles of boxes. Andy came over to the apartment almost every evening that week and we sat on the only seats we owned (at the dining room table) and powered through final tasks like making our programs, confirming final numbers, and mapping out table alignments.
Then we got married! Then we went to Hawaii!
Another highlight was returning to our first home together and having our couch delivered the day after our return. We sat on our new couch and opened wedding gifts and read every word on every card.
In July, it appears that the only photo I took was this one, of Andy and a little kitten that is not ours.
But it was a lovely month nonetheless, as we participated in an international outreach training at our church, unpacked our stuff, and settled in as husband and wife.
We also went to our jobs once we realized that married people actually do have to go to work. (Our first week of marriage, in Hawaii, had led us to believe otherwise.)
In August, the photo record indicates we went to the National Balloon Classic in Indianola. According to the photo record, that's all we did, although I felt pretty busy this summer, so I'm guessing there was more.
In September, things settled down a bit and we returned to our regular routine of church, work, and having a birthday (Andy). Little Benny Boo remained as cute as ever.
A highlight of October was taking my parents to the High Trestle Trail. We stayed at the amazing Two Bears Lodge in Madrid (Iowa), and were mentally planning many more such getaways before learning that the lodge was closing the next week.
It was on this excursion that we learned how to beat the crowds at the High Trestle Trail: Go at night. In the rain. Still so much fun.
November gave me my first trip to California, where Andy's brother and sister-in-law have a beautiful house right by the beach. Best Thanksgiving ever!
December was dominated by Christmas cheer. I would like to thank the Craigslist sellers in Pella who provided us with our first tree, and my family for all coming home so we could spend Christmas together with my parents.
2017 was a year filled with blessing and change. The last day of the year was one of our favorites: We woke up to host a few friends from our community group for an early breakfast, spent the day with just each other at home, feasted on an Iraqi dinner with our neighbors upstairs, and ventured into the cold to a New Year celebration with some friends.
As you could probably guess, the big stories of my year were Wedding and Marriage. I've never discovered anything that better demonstrated to me my own immaturity and selfishness. (Thanks, Marriage!) I also can reflect on many instances of God's faithfulness and direct answers to specific prayers. (Thanks, God!)
Thanks for reading along. If I hop on this blog again one day, I hope to see you here!
In January, I had a birthday, tried out contra-dancing with my boyfriend, and hung out with some Chinese friends.
Alas, this was the last semester that I had Chinese friends in town. Hope to meet more soon!
In February, I got a new nephew! I call him Little Benny Boo, and I trust he will let me continue to call him Boo until he's at least 18.
Andy and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day together with Salvadorian pupusas and a trip to Wal-Mart to buy chocolate fish labeled, "You're a Keeper."
Also on Valentine's Day, Andy got a haircut and took a secretive trip to see my dad that determined the course of the next few months.
In March, I took a quick trip to Iowa City with my grad school friends. Below you can see the little classroom where I did my first speech therapy session ever, working with a little 3-year old that couldn't say her "k"s. That may have been the only time I worked on speech articulation with children in my whole career since.
In more life-changing news, Andy and I got engaged!
April and May were a whirlwind, and I don't really know what happened when, so I'll present these months together. April was our one-year dating anniversary, which we celebrated with a failed hunt for morel mushrooms. In other news, we applied for a marriage license, I had some showers (both the bridal sort and the regular sort), we planned our wedding, and we searched for a place to live. This might have been the busiest spring and summer of my life, but God answered tons of prayers and we had a lot of help from the people we love.
Ah, June.
In the first week of June, we finished our pre-marital counseling, hired a UHaul, moved my stuff and Andy's to our new apartment, and finished up our wedding planning amidst piles of boxes. Andy came over to the apartment almost every evening that week and we sat on the only seats we owned (at the dining room table) and powered through final tasks like making our programs, confirming final numbers, and mapping out table alignments.
Then we got married! Then we went to Hawaii!
Another highlight was returning to our first home together and having our couch delivered the day after our return. We sat on our new couch and opened wedding gifts and read every word on every card.
In July, it appears that the only photo I took was this one, of Andy and a little kitten that is not ours.
But it was a lovely month nonetheless, as we participated in an international outreach training at our church, unpacked our stuff, and settled in as husband and wife.
We also went to our jobs once we realized that married people actually do have to go to work. (Our first week of marriage, in Hawaii, had led us to believe otherwise.)
In August, the photo record indicates we went to the National Balloon Classic in Indianola. According to the photo record, that's all we did, although I felt pretty busy this summer, so I'm guessing there was more.
In September, things settled down a bit and we returned to our regular routine of church, work, and having a birthday (Andy). Little Benny Boo remained as cute as ever.
A highlight of October was taking my parents to the High Trestle Trail. We stayed at the amazing Two Bears Lodge in Madrid (Iowa), and were mentally planning many more such getaways before learning that the lodge was closing the next week.
It was on this excursion that we learned how to beat the crowds at the High Trestle Trail: Go at night. In the rain. Still so much fun.
November gave me my first trip to California, where Andy's brother and sister-in-law have a beautiful house right by the beach. Best Thanksgiving ever!
December was dominated by Christmas cheer. I would like to thank the Craigslist sellers in Pella who provided us with our first tree, and my family for all coming home so we could spend Christmas together with my parents.
2017 was a year filled with blessing and change. The last day of the year was one of our favorites: We woke up to host a few friends from our community group for an early breakfast, spent the day with just each other at home, feasted on an Iraqi dinner with our neighbors upstairs, and ventured into the cold to a New Year celebration with some friends.
As you could probably guess, the big stories of my year were Wedding and Marriage. I've never discovered anything that better demonstrated to me my own immaturity and selfishness. (Thanks, Marriage!) I also can reflect on many instances of God's faithfulness and direct answers to specific prayers. (Thanks, God!)
Thanks for reading along. If I hop on this blog again one day, I hope to see you here!
1 comment:
Such a fun post to read! Loved learning more about your year! I am also sad that B&B closed... if you ever find fun gems like that, please let me know!!
Happy New Year to you and Andy!
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