My Year in Review

Happy Friday, everyone! I know this is a day later than typical, but I didn’t want to skip this week entirely. I hope everyone has been enjoying this holiday season.

Looking back, I realize how eventful this year has been for me! Some of the things that happened really “wow” me! Including starting this blog. It’s been an idea of mine for quite a while, though at first it had been more of an idea to share the stories I write. However, I still haven’t shared my stories with people outside the family, and haven’t been working on anything since before starting this blog. I am hoping to start writing again soon, but I’m not ready quite yet.

At the beginning of the year, I had a full-time babysitting job. I decided I was ready to move on from that, though, and took a break from childcare. (I’m thankful to still be able to watch my little friend occasionally on weekends now, though!) I applied to a couple of jobs in retail and was hired at one of the stores. That job didn’t last super long, but I’m glad I tried something new, even if it wasn’t for me. (Ironically, I actually think I got hired there the day I started this blog!!)

Another highlight was that my third niece was born! I love being an aunt.

Besides trying a new kind of job, I tried some other new things this year, which I wrote about in another post this past summer: I went on a day trip to a lake with my two besties several hours away from home, and then later rode a roller coaster for the first time in my life! Those are some cool summer memories… Oh, and I went to not one but two rodeos at the local county fairs for the first time this past summer!

THEN I was presented with the opportunity to homeschool my niece this school year- becoming a teacher was a dream come true! I am loving it.

Also, a friend invited me to go on a few-days’ vacation with her and her family to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg which was super cool! I’d never been invited on a trip with anyone outside the family before -or just me by myself- so that was exciting. That was a highlight of the year for sure!

I went to several concerts this year, but at only one did I meet the singer! It was one of my favorite artists, Jamie Grace! I grew up on her albums, which were very encouraging to me, especially during some harder times, but besides that, her YouTube videos were very encouraging to me too throughout my teenage years! I also have two of her books! So it was cool that I got the chance to meet her. (-:

And then, after months of seeking and waiting on God’s will concerning jobs and working, I ended up applying for a job in childcare and left it in His hands from there. I got the job and am working part-time now, and liking it very much! My days are very full, but I hope this is truly where God wants me for now. I don’t know how long this season in my life will last, but my hope is that God will use me wherever I’m at.

I keep thinking of more stuff! I also started going to a new church this fall, which has been very different for me since I grew up a pastor’s kid and then had done church at home for a while. It’s been nice and I like it, though I do miss my dad’s preaching!

Ok, I think that’s most of my new experiences, milestones, etc. from this year. I usually don’t post anything this personal online -I don’t even always post cool fun stuff from my life on my private social media pages- but I wanted to do a year in review here! This blog has meant a lot to me this year and has been so fun. I love being able to share my thoughts and encourage others here for anyone who wants to come and stop by! I love hearing from my readers and appreciate the support I get. It’s also been super cool and fun to recently have been found by some other bloggers and become connected with their blogs and others’! (I’ve been so enjoying reading the other blogs I’ve found!) I hope that this can be an encouragement to you in some way, even if it’s just relating to something like the fact that we all go through highs and lows in our lives. (I know this post mostly just touched on highs, but just know that my whole year wasn’t perfect! Being an adult without an income in between jobs didn’t feel great, trying to figure out where God wanted me at times was hard, waiting on His timing has been hard… If you’ve followed this blog you’ll know I have gone through some of this stuff this year!)

Thank you for reading! I hope 2026 will be an amazing year for me and for you!! (-: