2009 in pictures
My favorite shots from 2009 …
January … in my favorite hat.
February … Valentine’s Day tulips.
March … Photoshoot with Molly & Abe. They are the best. (Abe will have a little brother in April!)
April … This was hard. There was Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Aaron’s adorable cousins. But it had to be one of Aaron in his beloved hat. The hat that followed me all of 2009.
May … Finally Spring! (Yes, that’s right. Spring comes to Minnesota in May.)
June … I didn’t take a lot of pictures in June. June was hard. But this one makes me happy each time I look at it. The Peony, God’s favorite flower.
July … In July we went to NYC. It was awesome. I took a lot of pictures with a rented Canon 16-35mm lens, which is an ah-mazing lens. But I had to pick this one. My husband on the Top of the Rock. In the hat.
August … Tomato season!
September … Another hard choice. There was the Minnesota State Fair, Molly Beth, Sarah & Mary’s visit, our trip to Ohio (where I saw Kim and her boys, Melissa and her new baby, Michael & Liz, the Vikings/Browns game …). A big month! But I had to go with this picture of Elizabeth. One of the first images I ever took of her:
October … Eller in the leaves, taken with my (then) new 35mm f/2 lens.
November … It has to be Marlo, right? (But there were also favorite pictures taken of Sylvie, Molly and Thanksgiving in Tennessee.)
December … Christmas, snow, house hunting (and buying!), and Jake’s 10-day stay. I picked this one of sweet Jaker in the 2 feet of holiday snow fall.
Happy New Year, everyone. 2009 was quite the year. Can’t wait to see what 2010 holds!
Do you have favorite images from the past year? I’d love to see them! Post a link in the comments. (Also, p.s., I haven’t forgotten about Cans for Comments! We’re dropping off the donation today. I’ll take a picture, of course!)
2009: Year in Review
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Started my own business.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? No and no. (Last year I said I wanted to be healthier and that didn’t happen. As I sit here today, I am in the worst shape of my 30s for sure, probably the past 10 years. Sad!) So no resolutions for 2010. I just want to Do Better.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes! There were lots of 2009 babies, my niece Elizabeth being one of them.
4. Did anyone close to you die? Not this year, blessedly. 2008 lost me enough.
5. What places did you visit? We traveled quite a bit in 2009, though it wasn’t really planned. I went to Atlanta three times, we went to Las Vegas and Arizona and New York and Ohio.
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? A house of our own! It’s looking that way — we put a hold on a lot last week and they should break ground in January.
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? June 5–the date of my canceled surgery. June 11–the day we lost our baby. I can’t believe it’s been 6 months already.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? My photography business!
9. What was your biggest failure? Though I didn’t think possible, I gained even more weight in 2009 than I did the back half of 2008. Wonk wonk.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I suppose the ectopic would fall under this category.
11. What was the best thing you bought? The Canon 5D. I love love loves it. Now I need another one!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Aaron! He is the best.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Hmm. No one’s really….
14. Where did most of your money go? Debt. And most of the money I earned shooting sessions went right back into the business.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I’m pretty excited about our new house! I was excited before our Vegas/Grand Canyon trip. Super excited to go to NYC for the first time.
16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Definitely Kari Jobe’s version of “Revelation Song.” (Go watch it on YouTube right now if you never have.) Also Brooke Fraser’s new album, specifically “Shadowfeet.” Also — the Glee version of “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier. MUCH. I was pretty sad last fall/winter.
b) thinner or fatter? Even fatter, egads.
c) richer or poorer? Richer, but we’re about to be pretty house poor.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Exercising.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Complaining.
20. How did you spend Christmas in 2009? For the first time ever, I spent Christmas apart from my mom. We stayed here in Minnesota and had a very low key holiday, but it was really quite lovely. (And vacation is still going on!)
21. Did you fall in love in 2009? I fall more in love every day. (Same answer as last year!)
22. What was your favorite TV program? Love Glee. Also Modern Family. Might be the funniest show on TV right now.
23. What did you do for your birthday in 2009? Aaron took me to dinner at our favorite restaurant.
24. What was the best book you read? The Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers. So good–can’t wait to reread them.
25. What did you want and get? I’m trying to not be a downer here, but I do always try to be honest–I wanted to get pregnant and I did.
26. What did you want and not get? But what I did NOT get was a healthy pregnancy, so that goes here too.
27. What was your favorite film of this year? I honestly don’t know. We don’t go to a ton of movies.
28. Did you make some new friends this year? Yes, finally! But I hope to make more in 2010 and get closer to existing friends.
29.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More local friends. To have gotten my head right re: exercise and weight gain way earlier in the year.
30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Holy cow, none of my pants fit. (Same as last year!)
31. What kept you sane? God. Aaron. My mother.
32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I still really like Jared Allen. It’s embarrassing really, how much I like him.
33. What political issue stirred you the most? Abortion. Adoption. Orphan care. Global poverty. We started sponsoring an additional child through Compassion International, and in 2010 we’ll sponsor another. Getting their letters is a joy. To think there’s a little boy in Ethiopia who knows me and prays for me. That there are children in India who do the same … it makes the world seem smaller and God feel bigger.
34. Who did you miss? Oh, everyone. Sometimes I think of my grandmother and I’ll start crying. It’s amazing to me how much I can still miss her. She was a blessed 100-year-old woman who died safe in her bed in her own home. She was loved by generations of descendants. But oh, I still wish she were here!
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Even though it may not feel like it at times, God is good ALL of the time. All of the time, He is GOOD. He will make a way even when it seems like there is no way.
I call this “Scout in Scarf”
It’s been snowing for pretty much three days straight. But Scout doesn’t care–she’s prepared!
Christmas Morning
Aaron and Eller are both asleep upstairs. Scout is romping in the snow (that is coming down hard again). I’m sitting at my laptop, drinking coffee and eating coffee cake sent to me by my Aunt Jane. (My MeMe’s recipe.)
I am listening to worship and I am worshipping. I am worshipping a God who has healed me heart and soul, though my body betrays me. A God who saved me, freed me. A God who foresaw my stumbles and then pulled me out after I leapt headlong into the pit. A God who blessed me with a husband who is exactly the man I needed.
Last night we sat in church, our little twosome family, surrounded by those who came with grandparents and aunts and cousins and tiny babies. I put my arm around him and I said, “I love our little family.” I miss the children we may never have, but I love the husband that I’ve got.
Later today we’ll make Ebelskiver pancakes and then open presents. We’ve got quite a pile. (You can do that when there is no one else to buy for!) We’ll watch Harry Potter 6 and LoTR: Return of the King and maybe we’ll even take a nap. Not a bad way to spend a holiday.
Merry Christmas. May you know the love of a God who stepped out of heaven to heal you, to save you, to love you. May you know it for all of eternity.
Laid in a manager. Laid in a tomb
I was thinking today that it doesn’t really feel like Christmas. I’m normally in Ohio by now, hanging out with my mom, doing her last-minute holiday bidding. And then I thought, we’ll that’s silly. What is it supposed to feel like anyway?
A few weeks ago–as we were preparing to launch into another Christmas Carol — our worship pastor said something that has stuck with me. “Yes, he was born in a manger, but he died on a cross.”
And I thought–well that’s just the whole thing, isn’t it? It’s not just that God came to Earth. It’s not just that He chose to do it in the form of a newborn baby. It’s that He stepped out of heaven, covered himself in humanity and then stretched out his arms–nailed to a cross–and died to save us.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). I am free. Death has no hold on me. Jesus told me that I’d have troubles in this world–and oh I do–but to take heart, for he has overcome the world. He stepped out of heaven to be born in a stable, to a teenager girl and an adoptive father; to live as a boy in a small fishing village; to have a brief, 3-year ministry that covered only the tiniest portion of the world, but that changed all of it; to go to the Roman cross, blameless, sinless, to finish it.
Christmas–after all–was only the beginning.
keep looking »For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7
-
Compassion
