At this time

This time of year always seems special. It's not just that spring is finally in full swing, even though that's wonderful indeed. Here's just a glimpse of some of the things I've been thinking about concerning this time of year:

10 years ago I was finishing my freshman year of college. I was so jealous that my guy friends were all filling out mission papers or getting their mission calls already.

9 years ago I was turning in my own papers & ah hum, meeting my future husband.

8 years ago I was on my mission in Taiwan. It certainly was the right place for me to be.

7 years ago Dan proposed at the tennis courts we had played on when we first hung out.

6 years ago we moved to Colorado so Dan could begin is dream job. It's such a strange thought to me because the longest I've ever lived in the same town was in Iowa City for 6 years as well. I found myself mentally preparing to move & thought about what we should pack & what we should leave behind. Looks like we'll be here at least another year, though!

5 years ago my friends & I were saying good-bye to our amazing friend, Erin, as she died of cancer.

4 years ago I became completely disgusted with my first teaching job & found the Waldorf philosophy of education.

3 years ago we began e-mailing with Kaelah's birth mother. It took all the faith I had to turn down a full-time teaching job offer. I had to call the principal 3 times before I could say no.

2 years ago my biggest concern was that Kaelah wasn't crawling yet. The day I broke down & prayed about it she began to crawl.

1 year ago we were up on the adoption website, thinking our little boy would be born around Christmas. (The picture is from the trip my mother, Kaelah, & I took to VA last April.)

Now we're mini van shopping & going through almost 100 diapers, over 200 wipes, & doing over a dozen loads of laundry every week. Life is good.