J&H: December 2017

Sunday, December 31, 2017

2017 Goals

Lead Children's Large Group: Jordan and I are teaming up to lead once a month at the downtown campus. We felt called to this, and are excited for the challenge. We did it, we love it, and we're still doing it. This is one of my favorite things we do together. I'm so glad we committed to this.
Complete An Olympic Tri: I had this as a goal for last year, and it didn't get accomplished. Honestly, I didn't believe that I could do it. After watching a full Ironman, and doing some soul searching, I'm far more excited to accomplish this than I was last year. Done. This was a challenge, but it's one of my favorite moments from 2017. The day was magical, and I'm still proud of myself.
Complete A Half Marathon: I've already signed up for the Monumental Half in November. I'm excited to challenge myself with this. I've done it twice, and I want to make my third one the best! Done, but mixed reviews. I ended up with strep a week before the race, and it wasn't the greatest race of my life...BUT...I did it, finished, and enjoyed it!
Go To Vincennes Every 2 Months: It's difficult to make it home regularly, and we want to make this more of a priority. Not really. Getting home regularly is a challenge, but I want to make this a goal again in 2018.
Take A "Real" Vacation: We haven't taken a vacation that's not a mission trip since we've been married. We're hoping to use some of our Christmas money to take a trip West and do some hiking! Done! We took one of the greatest trips we've experienced in May. We spent a week in Colorado, and it's probably one of my favorite memories of the year.
Read 6 Books: I love listening to books and podcasts, but I'm wanting to make more time for stillness and reading.

~~The 5 Love Languages~~
~~His Needs, Her Needs~~
~~Made To Crave~~
~~Present Over Perfect~~
~~The Book of Forgiving~~ ...so I didn't actually read any of these books, but I did discover Audible, and "read" a ton of really good books! Also, I finally wised up, got a library card, and am going to ditch my expensive Audible membership. Yay for 21st Century library amenities!

Create Daily Quiet Time: I stress out on the daily that I'm not a morning person like Jordan-he is so good about getting up early and reading/praying. I've fully accepted that I love my sleep, and at this moment in my life it's not my jam. Therefore, I'm committing myself to carve out time each day to be quiet and pray, even if that means turning of the podcasts during my drive home, or sitting in the car for ten minutes before I come inside. Not done. Not at all. BUT, it took an entire year to realize that I'm fried, and something needs to change. I'm taking the first week of 2018 to "fast" from social media. I need to quit the mindless scrolling. It's such a time waster, and I need to reel myself back in. I don't think social media is inherently evil, but I have to figure out how to do it better.

We thought about doing something on New Year's Eve....nahhhh. After Christmas, I came down with a legitimate case of Flu A...fevers for 48 hours....the whole 9 freaking yards. It was awful, and I still have zero endurance. Therefore, staying out until midnight sounded like absolute torture. So we did a pre-new year's celebration with Drew, Bryn, Brock and Jordan. We started with dinner at Burger Study-DELICIOUS! The burger...the tots...the freaking salted caramel milkshake-SO GOOD! After dinner, we got drinks and played games at Punch Bowl Social. Good food, good drinks, and bed by 11:30 is my idea of a good time.

Actual New Year's Eve

How beautiful is Mikayla? I can't believe she is a senior. How? When?

We spent the day watching football at the Bushnell's, eating lots of food, and cuddling nieces. Now I'm writing my blog, drinking hot tea, not wearing pants, and I'll probably be in bed by 10-Happy 2018, folks!

Ellie loving her cake.

Those PJ's...so cute.

Christmas #2

Due to our crazy schedules and working a lot of weekends, we hadn't been back to spend Christmas with the Burch's for a few years. Luckily, this year we were able to spend a few nights and plenty of time with my family.

We spent Saturday night at Teresa's, and went back to Knox Co that night. We were able to go to church that morning and had brunch. By the afternoon, we got a pretty good snow flurry, and we all took a walk out in the wet snow. It was so calm, quiet, and beautiful; it was probably my favorite part of the weekend. After a nap, we went back to FBC for the Christmas Eve service. It was great to watch people that we used to spend so much time with run the service.

On Christmas morning, Jordan and I fixed breakfast for the family...this was also my favorite part. I love it when Jordan and I work on a project together. It was so so fun. We spent the rest of the day opening presents, watching family videos(hilarious and embarrassing), and relaxing. All in all, it was a great Christmas and a wonderful weekend.

Katie June Is One!

Katie turned one on the same weekend of our family Christmas. Nieces are the best. Katie has grown and changed so much this past year, and getting to watch it all is the best. Katie has such a sweet personality, and makes us laugh non-stop. Happy birthday, Katie June!

Katie loved this box...she wanted to sit in it the entire time she opened presents!

She was all about the doughnut! Loved it!

Cami was not amused...

Katie was over it too...

Bushnell Fam-2017

Christmas #1

For Bushnell Christmas this year, the only time we could all get together was for "Christmas Breakfast" the weekend before. It. Was. Amazing. We wore pajamas, cooked breakfast, and opened presents. I vote for this Christmas every year. As always, the parents spoiled us with a million gifts made us feel like we were two again.

I didn't get any pictures, but we went to the Christmas Carol at the IRT that evening. Carol and Terry treated us all, and it was fun to get together (just adults!) After the play, we ate burgers at Steak and Shake around 11...it was fun, hilarious, and ridiculous. So thankful for brothers and sister-in-laws that are great friends.

Mimosa at 10 am...yes please...

Breakfast buffet...yes please...

Present opening craziness!

We couldn't find Ellie...she was hiding behind the trash pile eating M&M's.

Feeding the horses...Ellie's favorite time of the day.

December Busyness

Yelp Bazaar: A few weeks ago, Kara invited me to the Yelp Bazaar at the library downtown. It was so fun to catch up with her, look at all of the cute stuff, and run into friends. It was insanely crowded, but the experience was fun and it was good to get out on a week night. (yes, I'm 85.)

Christmas Decorating: Watching Katie and Ellie play with Christmas decorations is the best. Their cuteness is self-explanatory.

Cookies: December was so fun with the Lamb boys. Jordan, Corey, and Brennan took the older two to a Pacer's game, and later in the week we all decorated Christmas cookies. Getting to know the Lamb boys has been so special, and is one of my favorite parts of the year.

Cupcakes: Continuing in the theme of sweets.... One of our sweet patients finished her treatment a few days ago and brought us these adorable cupcakes. Our patients are always so selfless and bring us the nicest treats. Thankful for this bright spot in the week.

Colt's Game: I got zero good pictures, but this game was so fun. Brittany had some extra tickets, and invited the girls of the small group along. Diane came, and it was so good to see her and catch up on life. I'm so thankful for these women.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

December Begins

After a month of feeling gross, tired, fat, sick, and mildly depressed...I'm ready to enjoy December, throughly embrace moments, and have a better attitude.

Saturday Downtown: On Saturday, we met Noel and Katie to watch the "St. Elmo's Shrimp Eating Contest" before the Big 10 Championship game. It was disgusting, but also hilarious and amazing. Joey Chesnut ate 11 lbs of Shrimp Cocktail in 8 minutes. After walking around downtown for a bit, we grabbed dinner at Punchbowl Social. On my way to the bathroom, I heard someone yell "Heidi Burch!" Freaking Michael Udom. I literally had not seen him since our wedding. It was so great to see him and catch up, and meet his fiance Ali! So many amazing memories their family.

Saturday night, I got to go to Shelby's girl's party. It was so fun, and I got to catch up with Jaclyn, Katie, and Katie. I miss working with those girls.

Sunday was amazing. It was 60 freaking degrees. We had brunch with our small group, relaxed at home, and went hiking at SouthWestWay Park.

This should be a life warning.

Such a beautiful night!

I was so happy to be outside, moving pain-free, and in warm weather!!!

The most amazing macaroon from Cake Bake Shoppe! Yay for gift exchange amazeingness!

How amazing is this sunrise?!

Tree is up and gifts are almost done!

This. Rocked. Me.

Novem-blah

Blogging is good for my soul. Writing moments down, and re-living them gives me a sense of peace.

However, November was blah. The time changed(aka, it started getting dark at 4pm) which put me in a terrible mood. We had 14 days of no sunshine-also a bad mood stimulant. I recovered from a sickness and got sick again. My right foot started to seriously hurt after the half-marathon. With a bad foot, I couldn't really exercise...more bad mood. You're getting the idea. Basically I was in a bad mood, a lot. I was ungrateful a lot. I'm embarrassed by it because there were a lot of good things in November. A lot of awesome moments. Overall, I feel like I wasted a lot of time being mildly depressed and angry about things out of my control. The thought of sitting down and writing about how I was in a bad mood only brought on more anxiety. So. As John Mayer would say, I'm moving on and getting over. I'll highlight the good times and decide to have a better attitude in December.

Completed the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon, 2017 goal ✓

Dani completed her second sub 3' marathon-amazing.

My favorite person in the world, and my biggest cheerleader.

We've started house shopping...it's fun...kind of...

My biggest fan-girl moment ever. YOUNG HOUSE LOVE RESPONDED TO MY INSTASTORY OMG I MESSAGED WITH SHERRY FREAKIN' PETERSICK. *^&$()#%($)#*%#)(%$)#(%#)!!!!