2010 - The Year of CHANGE

With our annual Christmas card, we typically have tried to include some sort of summary of the year’s events, but as the holidays approached we realized we needed to spend some time thinking through it more versus just whipping something together.  Plus we needed some more time to come up with a creative way to describe the year that was, 2010.  It might sound a little boring, and maybe a bit cliche, but in looking back there was one word that continued to come to mind when thinking of 2010, CHANGE.  Granted, change is happening constantly - it’s the one thing you can count on...but for us, this was truly a year of change.  To help describe it, we converted CHANGE into an acronym and thought of 6 words that describe our year.  

Cherish - We use the word cherish to describe some key changes this year because it marked some milestones in our lives; After over 10yrs, Mike and Daptiv parted ways this summer.  He described it in more detail here.  At the same time, after a number of year focused solely on the kids, Steph got back into the working world doing recruiting for a company called Another Source, and loves it!  Maddie (9) and Kenzie (5) are changing all the time and getting bigger every day.  Hard to think that Maddie will be 10 next year!  Great memories and experiences that we will cherish for sure.

Hope - Hope filled our lives a lot again this year.  From a phyical perspective, Hope Church and School continues to be a big part of our lives.  Mike is Chariman of the School Board and Steph helped with Sunday School and a number of other things (too many to count.)  Emotionally, we felt a lot of Hope this summer as Mike went through job transition.  We had a ton of support from friends and family as he started his journey to find something new.  There was no doubt that Hope filled our family day in and day out this past year.

Adventure - Our year was filled with adventures as well.  Mike, along with two friends, headed to the western outskirts of Vancouver Island to Bamfield BC for a open water fishing trip.  8+ hours of travel, 3 on a windy, dirty, bumpy road made for quite a trip...Oh, and they brought back lots of salmon and halibut that filled the freezer.  Our big family adventure was to Disneyland in August.  Our summer was wrapping up quick and on a whim we decided to book a trip to the happiest place on earth.  5 days at the park, where we also stayed at the Grand Californian hotel...right next to California Adventure.  The kids had bunk beds, and we loved every minute of it!  We are always on the lookout for fun family adventures.

New - No cars, houses or boats..Not even new pets.  When we think of new we really think of new situations and new relationships.  Having Mike at home this summer to hang-out with the family more was something totally new.  Sure we had vacations, but it was a treat to have the entire family together.  Meeting new friends, personally and professionally  was also a big part of our year.  Through school and church, as well as through professional networking, new relationships were formed.  Finally, when we think of new, we think of new perspectives and understanding what is really important to us and how good we have it.  So, while it’s easy to get caught up in new “things” - we are most happy with the new situations, experiences and perspectives that 2010 brought us.

Growth - With change comes a lot of opportunity to grow in many different ways.  One growth area for us was when we had good friends (Landskovs) move away.  We had grown very close to them, so that was a tough transition...but thank goodness for Skype and Facebook for the ability to stay in touch.  Our girls are growing like crazy as well.  Kenzie is about 3 inches taller than Maddie was at the same age, so she is sprouting up quick.  Maddie is playing all kinds of sports; softball, soccer and basketball and loves to learn new things.  

Exciting - There was a lot of excitement this year..probably more than we would have liked.  Much of the excitement revolved around Mike’s job change, but the exciting part was the variety of conversations he had with so many different people and companies.  It was exciting to see the various relationships being established and the opportunities that presented themselves.  It was also exciting to have family visit during the summer, during the fall and now during the holidays.  We always enjoy having family in town to visit and become tourists in our home town and hit all the great spots.

So, there you have it.  2010 was a year for change.  Sometimes change can be scary, uncertain, and even difficult, but with it all we felt blessed to be surrounded by amazing friends and family that brought us through it all.  We wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!