Word for 2010 & Photos

Posted on January 1, 2010

Last year I was inspired to come up with a word to jump start my year. A word to focus on throughout the year. Link to last years post. I chose strength as my word for last year and boy was it ever fitting. It was perfect for me as I was met with certain situations and I felt it was a good overall word to help inspire me throughout the year. Between becoming a mom of two, being alone in a foreign country during Davids deployment, being away from my family during times I really would have loved to be there for support. Strength was something I definetely had to tap into at times.  I wanted to also choose a word for this year and after much thought I’ve come up with: nurture.

Description:
Nurture: noun, the process of caring for  and encouraging the growth of something or someone.

I want to continue on the nurturing path I’ve already started with my family – I want to keep nurturing my children in spirit, mind and body, to help build them into quality, loving little people. I want to nurture my marriage and make it a priority to spend time with David one on one. I want to nurture my new home and help turn it into a home (I’m so completely pumped about decorating!!!!). I want to nurture my business as I move to a new area. And finally I want to nurture myself, I’ve gone a very long time not really caring for myself as much as I’d like, but I want to change that. So that’s it…my word for 2010 is nurture.

And in closing here are my Top 9 Personal Photos throughout 2009. Some of them I took, some I didn’t, but they are all special to me for one reason or another.

January 2009 – First Family Picture
My sweet Mama took this of us. It’s our first family image and one that is proudly displayed in my living room. I love this picture for so many reasons, but the main reason is it was the first time our family of four was documented. I so love my little family.

January 2009 – Claire Elizabeth
A close up of our new little baby girl. I wanted her so badly and faced something that was a great fear of my own – delivery in a foreign hospital – which ended up being an amazing experience, but none the less, it was something I feared and I’d put having another baby off because of that fear. Once she was here and the delivery process was all over I was so, so thankful. Thankful for the precious gift of life and thankful that I had another perfect baby girl to get to love and adore.

February 2009 – Sisters
I so badly wanted to give Kate the gift of a sibling and to see them interact with each other blesses me beyond measure. I just LOVE watching them love each other. I’m so grateful they have each other.

March 2009 – Holding Hands
More sisterly love here. This photo will be framed and displayed in our new home because everytime I look at it I’m filled with happiness.

April 2009 – Family Photos
Taken by Dream Street Photography
My wonderful friend Susanne took these photos for us. David was about to leave for a deployment and I wanted some family pictures to show to Kate while he was gone to help keep our family unit fresh in her mind. I love these so much!!!! These will also be displayed in our new home (remember I’m excited about decorating? I can’t WAIT to decorate with photos!)

August 2009  - Sissies
This might be my favorite photo of the ENTIRE YEAR. Oh my gosh I love it. I love how you can tell Kate is helping show Claire all about flowers (Kate is a great little teacher). I remember her saying things like, “These are flowers Claire, they are yellow” and followed up closely by “NO!!! Don’t EAT flowers” (said in Kate’s best frantic tone). I love these girls so much.

August 2009 – Katherine Grace
My sweet little Kate. She grew so much throughout the year (becoming a big sister does that to a girl). She completed so many important milestones – potty training, school, learning to write her name, becoming a more mature, obedient little girl. She is a blessing to us and we love her so very much. I love this picture of her because it shows off her big beautiful brown eyes and she really looks like herself here. So often when I bring the camera out she shows off her goofy face (and I do love it too!), but this face is her – really her.

October 2009 – My man and me
Photo taken by Valerie Raybon
This picture is sooooo us. HAAA! I adore it! David’s expression is priceless. I think it’s so very important to get pictures of just David and I together sometimes. It’s so easy to fall into the habit of only taking pictures that include our children, but it’s important to document us as a couple sometimes too.

December 2009 – Christmas Eve
A big part of our family routine is reading before bed. We always make it a point to read The Night Before Christmas each Christmas Eve night and this year we got to include Claire in our family tradition. Sure it was a little hectic since Claire doesn’t really have a concept of sitting and looking at the pictures yet, but it was still fun. I just set my camera on a self timer and take a ton of pictures of us interacting as a family. This was my favorite shot out of the night. I love that we’re all in our jammies piled up in Kate’s bed, I love the girls interacting with each other, David and I enjoying them. Great family stuff.

Hope all of you had a wonderful New Years! HAPPY 2010!!!