2017 Jar Moments

Most of you know that we keep a yearly jar in our house, and on New Years Eve we open it up and look back at the year. I love it because often times, we are big picture people and this jar helps us to look back at the year as a whole and see some smaller moments that we probably would have forgotten about. Our adoption consumed a lot of our jar this year which totally makes sense because this was our year for our adoption to have some jar worthy moments! The last five jars have had very little regarding our adoption because well... not a whole lot looked like it was happening.

Another reason I love this jar is because despite how our year ends (some years have ended pretty terrible), we can look back and see all of the good we encountered. Whether it be answered prayers, acts of kindness, surprises, or adventures this puts our year into a pretty great perspective.

This year we probably slacked a little more with filling our jar. Maybe it was our lack of sleep, maybe it was pure forgetfulness- I am not quite sure, but even with what we have, you can tell that 2017 was a GREAT year for the Woodson household.

Every year, I try to pull a few from our jar and share what stood out to us. In no particular order and just pulled at random, here are a few that made the 2017 jar.

1. Celebrated Ethiopian New Year with friends and Family
2. Spoke at DayBreak Women's Conference with my Core 4 
3. Jeffrey started a Youtube Channel
4. Received Zane's Vital Letter! Getting Closer!
5. Gemma's First Birthday! Mickey Mouse Party!
6. Successfully made bread from scratch
7. Were so blessed by a meal train from our church family that came to our house and brought us meals for a month
8. OUR TRIP TO ETHIOPIA! WE MET ZANE! HE IS AMAZING!
9. Took a two hour tour of Dubai, saw the worldest tallest building, and put our feet in the Persian Gulf (Arabian Sea)
10. I had the most beautiful baby shower
11. Tim McGraw with Mom and Leah
12. My CMS family donated a large suitcase full of shoes, toothbrushes, wipes, and more for Ethiopian orphanages
13. Shakespeare in the Park (Last date before bringing Z home)
14. ZANE IS HOME FOREVER
15. Jeffrey was a part of Scott's wedding in New Mexico

There were so many more jar worthy moments this year! Some I failed to write down, and some I just didn't share because well 15 seemed like a good place to stop.

2017 was all about soaking in the moments and just enjoying and learning from where we were at. We have had some huge transitions, we have overcome much, and we have so very much to be grateful for this year! We experienced loss and heartache; we learned a lot about ourselves, and we discovered more of God's faithfulness and grace. 

We are beginning to game plan about 2018, and I am so excited for what the next year has for us. Hoping for better sleep, deeper relationships, being more intentional about goals, relaxing more and stressing less. 

We pray that wherever you are and however you are ending your year, you are going into 2018 with hope. 2017 was a year that proved a lot can change in just a matter of a year. Here's to next year and the journey and adventure that lies ahead!

Here is our best of nine from 2017.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not the Update I Wanted to Share

We know that many of you are anticipating our court date and our travel ALMOST as much as we are! We have literally been stalking our mailbox all week for our approval letter that was supposed to come any time now. I kid you not, I went to the mailbox three times yesterday just to make sure, and Jeffrey has been running home on his lunch break every day to check. We don't know if it is because of the Easter holiday or some other reason, but it still hasn't come yet. Once we receive the letter, we scan it and email it to our adoption agency and within a week, we should have a court date. A week after that, we should be in Ethiopia. So yes, although we are disappointed that the letter hasn't come, this is all really exciting news, and we can't wait to hold Zane in our arms and legally become his parents. Because we know so many of our friends and family pray for us daily and are invested in our adoption, we don't want to keep you out of the loop from what is hap...
Read more

Parting the Sea Walking on Dry Land Kind of Prayers

Most of you who follow our story have seen that I have slowly been sharing about the trip. I have told many of you that it was the best and worst trip of my entire life. It truly was an emotional rollercoaster. Many of you have been private messaging us, calling us, and texting us and asking us, "What is next? How do we pray? When are you going back? What is the timeline?" First of all, I have to stop and say once again we are so blessed to have such faithful, loving, and supportive friends and family. Seriously, you have no idea what you all have meant to us and how you have truly impacted our lives and this process. I know many of you have been so sensitive and cautious of how to approach us and love us, and we want you to know that everything you have done has not been overlooked, and we are sorry if we haven't truly expressed our gratitude in ways that confirm our love and appreciation to you. I am a woman, so I am guilty of spider webbing (going off on another ...
Read more

Not Easy-Different.

The other day, I had a pregnant friend tell me that I was doing it the easy way in referring to adoption. I know she wasn't meaning to at all, but this truly hurt my feelings because she clearly doesn't understand what I am facing. I simply said, " I don't know about that", and I walked away trying to fight back tears. I am not pregnant and have never been pregnant, so I don't feel like I really have the place to compare the two. We are hoping one day after we bring baby Woodson home that I will be pregnant, and I will give you my thoughts. I think that no matter how you come to be a mother that there our challenges that you have to face. Though they may look different, it doesn't mean that one way is easier than another. I understand that I may not be experiencing morning sickness, and my feet aren't swelling (even though they probably will on a 16-18 hour flight). I understand that my belly isn't growing (well, maybe it is but that's anothe...
Read more