Wowsers, it seems like 2011 flew!
Today is a brief (or not?) recap of 11 highlights of the year. (In really no particular order. Promise.)
#11: barefootmel.com is born. Truly this one has been an adventure. You have no idea the things I have learned as I’ve
splashed my life out every day for you all to read. It’s been fun, it’s been frustrating, it’s been time consuming, it’s been healing. I am so thankful for words and how God gives each of us different abilities to use them.
#10: One more hole. This year I did something I’ve wanted to do for years…pierce my nose. Yes, it hurt. But I’m so glad I did it…and I love it.
Really. But in case you are nervous for whatever reason, know two things: 1) there was zero rebellion attached to the decision; and 2) there will be no more piercings for Mel. 
#9: Four more wheels. We got by for sixteen months with one car, and I think it taught us a lot about not needing everything we always thought we did.
However, with Maelie getting bigger and busier and me often feeling trapped, we knew we needed to buy another one eventually. That happened on a Sunday morning (before church!) in October. We’re really thankful for that silver Mitsubishi in our driveway.
#8: Road trip fun. In September we took our first true “family” vacation, visiting Green Bay, St. Louis, and Southaven, MS in the span of ten days. We had a wonderful time with family and friends and discovered that traveling with a one year old can be done…and can even be fun!
#7: Guestwriting: In May a short piece I wrote was published on one of my favorite blogs. And in October I started writing (very sporadically) for an online newspaper in our area. It’s good, and I’ve enjoyed getting my feet wet in the writing arena. (Now I just need more time!)
#6: Coffee love: Yeah, I love coffee, and that’s not news to anyone here! In August I started working at Café Firefly, a (somewhat) local coffee shop. It was a fun job and I loved meeting some new friends there, but sadly, it just didn’t work for my family’s schedule, and my last day was a couple weeks ago. I’ll miss it and am thankful it’s a short hop away so I can still say hi. (And caffeinate myself.)
#5: Immanuel: In June we joined Immanuel Lutheran Church and have loved getting involved there through Bible studies and praise team and volunteering. When we think back to previous years and how we’d talk about what we were looking for in a church, we realize that Immanuel fits those things. The people there are becoming our family, and we love them…and love worshiping our God with them.
#4: Home: In July, just one day shy of a year after we moved to 127 N.
Wisconsin, it officially became ours.
I’ve gone on and on about that enough on this blog, but it doesn’t mean that it’s any less important to us.
We’re home…in a neighborhood we love and a community we’re slowly becoming a part of.
It is so good to be home.
#3: Holy cow, we have a ONE YEAR OLD!
#2: Milestones: Along with a growing and changing daughter come those milestones…some sad, some happy, some
in-between. There were first steps that all too quickly turned to running, first words that soon turned to constant chatter, first haircuts, new things discovered each and every day. And while there’s a twinge of sadness that Maelie is growing up so quickly, we are learning to love and cherish each moment spent with our daughter.
She is an amazing person, and being her mommy
has without a doubt been the highlight of my year.
#1: Where I am: It’s a category on my blog that I post about often. Truly, it’s been an upside-down, rightside-up year.
There have been joys, sorrows, times of growing, times of struggling, gains, losses…but in all of those things, my Father has never left
me, and each day I am learning to love Him just a little more.
I pray that will continue in 2012.
And I hope you are as blessed as I was this year.
Th anks to
all of you for being
a part of my life. I love you.
