I love the beginning of a new year. It is a great time to reflect and a great time to plan.
CHALLENGES:
2011 was a year of change and challenges for me personally as I went back to graduate school, starting a second Master's degree in History with a concentration in Romance languages. Learning French at 40 has been a challenge and in January that challenge grows as Italian joins my courseload. I am still figuring out how to manage homeschooling and homemaking with being a student again...mainly, I miss sleep and my laundry has not been caught up since August. LOL.
TRAVELS:
2011 was a year of travels for us. We got to experience history when we went to England for the royal wedding...we were in that throng of people at Buckingham Palace when my husband snapped this picture...
and it was a great learning trip for our daughter, age 7, who we took with us... if she looks tired, its because we were at the palace that morning at 5am to get our spot. Totally. worth. it.
GOALS MET:
Of course, one of the highlights for me was starting a Jane Austen Book Club here locally that met once a month throughout this past year (to start your own, see this post) and visiting the Jane Austen House in Chawton...Seeing the house; the exact table, where she wrote my favorite story (Pride and Prejudice) was a thrill.
The whole day was a teachable homeschool, literature loving, moment. Here is my daughter Audrey and I walking the Gardens at the Jane Austen house.
I also marked a big thing off my bucket list by finally seeing Paris. I went alone and got to indulge my adventurous spirit by exploring the city for 5 days with nothing but my newly learned French, a dictionary, a walking tours book and a map of the city. I'm not exagerating when I say this adventure changed my life and I think a big adventure now and again is good for the mind, body and soul.
Versaille
The Iron Lady
Louvre humor
Royal Opera House
Last night in Paris
On the family front, the kids had a great year and I love love love being their mother. There are still alot of challenges in our home with two of our five children having special needs. We continue to persevere. For now, everyone is happy and healthy and you can't really ask for more than that.
favorite outdoor activity: riding
favorite indoor activity: skating
favorite homesteading activity: the chickens!
Baby Brooke turned one!
Mr. Darcy is used to my adventurous ways...who knew there was a rock wall at the SD Zoo?
All my best,
Wow!!! I loved your pictures! I think its awesome you went to the royal wedding!!! And Paris looked amazing.
ReplyDeleteWow! You were in England for the wedding?! How cool is that! I love your black hat too! I've been to Paris as well and loved it. (I was only 18 at the time; I think I would appreciate it more NOW. LOL) Where did you get your little coop? It's the same color as mine, but maybe bigger? and definitely raised.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I seriously think you may just be my long lost sister...lol. I, myself, have a real love of all things Jane Austen. I love her so much I got my degree in English...lol...she was my true inspiration. I just found your blog, and let me say...I LOVE it! You seem to share a lot of the same ideas and interests as myself. I'm just curious as to how exactly your family makes it work financially? I was a SAHM until this past August when I went to work as a teacher, and sent my daughter (4) to school. This was in no way what I wanted to do, or what we feel God wants for our family. However, we had a financial need and I thought it was the only way to solve it. Our goal is to homeschool and for me to be home of course. By no means am I loving what I do, and I cry out of guilt everyday as I leave my child at my mother-in-law's. It is as if she is no longer raised by us, but by her grandmother and the school. This is not what we believe in. We are dying to get back to where we were and doing what we feel God desires for our family. Do you have any advice on this? I feel like I jumped on the full-time work bandwagon way too soon without exploring other options first because I wanted to please people who were pressuring me to go to work, and to take some of the weight off of my husband's shoulders. However, this has only made things harder for all of us it seems (other than in the finance area, of course). I'm not sure what other options I have, or what other SAHMS are doing?
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