Sweet Snippets: 2011 in a nutshell.

Well the first month of the new year is coming to a close.
Life has finally slowed down for a moment and allowed me to reflect over the past year and prepare for the one to come.

2011 was the most eventful year of my life.

I've had many other eventful years, but none of them hold a candle to 2011.

Todd got a new job at New Beginnings Baptist Church.

This was a huge blessing for us.
Previously, Todd had worked for his dad's wrecker company doing service calls and managing the few service drivers.
This was good for us for the phase we were in.

Just a married couple. Living in a claustrophobic house in town.
My daycare closed due to the move.

Trying to figure out the next step.
We were making a really good living and I was able to spend all day with Todd as he worked. This allowed for him to work 10-14 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Then we found out we were going to have a baby.

This surely wasn't going to work.
No benefits. Long hours. Family business stress. I certainly couldn't tote a baby around with us.
I started to panic.
I cried.
A LOT.
What were we going to do?
Then, just like always, God provided a new way.
New Beginnings was part time contract work in the beginning, but we were all hoping and praying that it would become permanent and full time in the church's new budget year in April.
God delivered.
April 1, 2011
A weight so heavy was lifted off of our shoulders.
Meanwhile, we had purchased a foreclosed house in Sand Springs.
January 3, 2011
For the first 4 months that we owned the house, it just loomed over our heads like a dark storm cloud.
I was deathly ill with the gift of life growing inside of me and Todd was unbelievably busy working for TowBoys AND New Beginnings AND keeping up with his website business.
This was another reason working full time at New Beginnings was such a blessing.
Todd finally had time to work on the house and it was a good thing, because if you didn't already catch it...
I was pregnant!

We had a baby due in August and were living in a two bedroom, 500 sq ft house.
Todd has a baby grand piano.
We were having a baby.
The two babies were going to be sharing a room.
Not completely ideal.
The house needed to get done.

We hadn't decided yet if we were going to rent it out and move closer to Bixby, or if we were going to live in it ourselves.

On rolled the remodel and the pregnancy.

In case you don't recall, the summer of 2011 was THE HOTTEST summer of my entire life.

What a time to be pregnant and due in August. :-)

It was finally baby time.

Only 5 days late... in the hottest summer of my life.

This was not only the 2nd big event of 2011, it was also the biggest, most glorious, most precious, most wonderful event of our lives.

August 7, 2011.

We are now parents.

We have the most beautiful baby girl.

We finally knew what everyone was talking about.

This is when I really put the pressure on Todd to GET THE HOUSE FINISHED!

I never yell. ;-)
The days became VERY long for the both of us.

Life with a newborn is tiring enough, but adding the house on top of it was just exhausting.

The long days and sleep deprived nights soon paid off.
The house was ready to move into in November.
November 14, 2011
Whew. What a year.

It was such a busy year, that the busyness even bled over into January of 2012. :-)
Life is finally slowing down.
We are getting into a routine.
Todd has settled at New Beginnings.