Happy New Year!!!!

Well, we did it.  We finished that really long chapter of our story and successfully turned the page.  This year we rang in the switch with some dear friends and a fabulous, amazing, house full sleep over!  Does not get better than that!

It's a new day, a new start, a shift, and a beginning.  New year's are always so exciting!

I didn't need to see 2020 go though.  It wasn't necessary for me. I didn't want to burn it down, I didn't want to call it a dumpster fire, I deeply, truly, and without question am finishing the year with an incredibly fond view of it.  I know, call me crazy, but 2020 was a gift and one that I will forever look back on with deep and swelling pride.  WE CAN DO HARD THINGS.  Our lives and the joy we hold are not simply limited by our circumstances, nor are they ultimately defined by them. Joy is so much more. Jesus is so much more, and 2020 has forever changed how I live and hold onto this world. 

You know the absolutely greatest thing that our family has learned?  Nothing matters but people and relationship and loving all in, all out, all the time.  You know what we shouldn't waste our time on? Anger.  You know what is more stealing than any pandemic? Fear. You know what plays the biggest thief in your lives? Selfishness.  And 2020 forced us to daily make the choice on all three.  What a gift.

Time is fleeting, it goes fast, people die, people change, elections happen, life happens.  Stop wasting any of it in anger, fear, and selfishness.  Hug all of your people, all of the time.  Let not one encounter be lost, life is too short for all of that.

The tone of our house has gone through a massive shift since the first few months of quarantine. Our parenting has shifted. Our marriage has shifted. LIFE IS TOO SHORT to spend it angry.  It just is.  Lily and Evie are getting tired of us never rising to their fighting and reminding them on repeat, "Your sister is not guaranteed tomorrow, why spend a second of time being this angry over legos?" They cry and tell us that its so sad to think about and YES  it is.  Living life is a gift.  HOW you live is a choice and today is the only day that matters. Choose to love, and then do it again.

This place that we have found ourselves in may have otherwise taken us a lifetime to arrive in.  But then 2020 happened.

2021 You are welcome here, and 2020 I know you have to go.  Thank you for teaching us Longmires how to live better and more purposefully.  I will always be grateful. 

Lily and Evie,

2020 is one of the best years I have had of being your Mom.  I am so grateful for your part in my life.  You both are deeply loved by your Daddy and I.  We are always on your team. Always. Promise me that you will never forget the joy of 2020.  Its okay to remember the hard, but never forget everything it gave us and the lessons we learned.

Extend grace, do it over again, on repeat.  Love first, always, and often.  Love divinely and purposefully and do the loving thing first.  I promise, its powerful.  

Set captives free,  forgive, love, let go. Liberate those in pain, liberate those in fear, and break the chains of anger and bitterness.  Shift and shift again.  You have been made by LOVE in order to LOVE.  Look up Child and remember Whose you are! 

I am proud of you both. I am in awe of your resiliency and adaptability.  You both are so possible and so worthy.  

Love, Mom

Dear Bob,

You are the all to my everything.  Literally every part of me loves every part of you.  I love your good and your bad, every inch. A lifetime spent loving you will simply never be enough.  

2020 will forever be one of my favorites of our marriage.  I love being married to you, I love spending time with you, I love being behind closed doors with you. I love parenting, and the beautiful chaos of this life lived loving each other.  You are so worthy of being loved all the time.  

I'm in, ALL in, all the time. I am yours.

B

Climbing Camelback

Life happens when you simply let it.  I have so much to say about 2020, and honestly, most of it is so very good.  2020 was a gift to me, to my family, and to my life.  It brought so much learning, so much purpose, and a few new friends too.

This lady is one of those new friends and I am very grateful for the space she holds in my life.  This is Jenna and life has dealt her a lot of hard blows, and yet she still remains lovely, kind, gentle, and a joy.

The other day she asked if I wanted to hike Camelback Mountain and what an experience that is!

 

I really thought that I remembered hiking Camelback, but once on the trail I clearly have never actually done it.  Camelback is not just a hike, it is a literal climb, and such a fun and unique experience.  There are many parts of the climb that are quite literally hands and feet on the rocks kind of climbing.  Within the first quarter of a mile you get to this rock face that you have to climb up by holding onto a railing they have concreted into the rock. It is challenging and fun and such a great experience.

The views of the valley are really unrivaled as you find yourself slowly reaching the top.  Its such a beautiful climb and you feel so accomplished once you stretch over that final boulder to reach the peak.

Of course I did yoga on top.  I do yoga everywhere these days.  The climb is only about 1.5 miles one way, but the intensity of the climb and the care you must take to not literally tumble all the way down the mountain makes the miles go by slowly.  Its an experience to be sure.

I cannot wait to bring the girls up to Camelback and let them climb and I am so grateful for the friends and adventures that 2020 has brought.