An adventure called change.

We have been through quite the series of changes in the last 2 months and we are JUST feeling like we're beginning to process them. Why you might ask? Well...in December we were celebrating Gavin turning one, the Christmas season, birthday party madness; then New Years and six days later left on a plane (Susie, Gavin and Auntie Lissy) to St. Augustine for 6 days YL training. Then, we had meetings on meetings on meetings in January, big changes for YL, an all day training one weekend, a middle school camp the next...I'm getting tired just recounting everything that's been going on!

Gavin's First Birthday Party: A Mustache Bash!
Photo courtesy of Anchor Images (Katy Leslie).

Gavin eating his first [paleo] cupcake at his birthday party! Gavin vs. Cupcake
Photo Courtesy of Anchor Images (Katy Leslie)


Cupcake Smash: The Result.
Photo courtesy of Anchor Images (Katy Leslie)

Susie & Gavin in St. Augustine

On January 2, Joey officially began the first day of his new career. His new role is leading business development for a strategic technology consulting business called Praece (means "progress" in latin) focused on offering tech business solutions to small and medium sized businesses. Praece has clients from Auburn to London (yes, the UK), and offers strategic tech assessments (translation: tell us how you currently function and we'll strategize how to make you more efficient through the latest technologies), project management (implementing new technologies for increased efficiency & profitability) and service and support (IT support from really nice guys who won't make fun of you for not using google first). Joey is really excited about his new job because 1) he truly believes the services Praece provides save businesses a ton of time and money and therefore is extremely valuable 2) the guys at Praece are really good at what they do; and 3) he's enjoying his coworkers, this new (to him) industry and learning new things every day.

On the home front, Joey's new career meant two things for our family.

1. For the first time in several years/Gavin's life we are experiencing routine...things like eating dinner together, going to sleep at the same time, and watching NBC Thursday Nights together (so sad it's the last season of The Office). 
2. We are now paying for childcare which is expensive, but worth every. single. penny. Our nanny (little sister of a great friend) comes to the house Tuesday-Thursday and is A-MAZING. We love her. Gavin loves her. It's bliss...until the spring/summer when she moves to be closer to her amazing musician boyfriend in Nashville. Yay for her...boo for us! Enjoying the time now. Here a few photos of Gavin she sent to me this week:

Finally, I have realized a few things in the last month. First, in the craziness that has been our life [the last few years], I recently realized I have not been taking the time to do things I need to be doing to function as a healthy human being and truly enjoy life. First, I have not taken time to process. Life, change, loss...what have you. When you do not process life, you become numb. Numbness is not fun, and it is not healthy. Secondly, I have not taken time to pursue things that I really enjoy. Writing, hiking [yes, I like to hike], biking, fashion, exploring new places...the list could go on. Thirdly, I have realized I have a tendency to be discontent, and I am really eager to root this out of my life. I am blessed and I want to feel that richly.

Here's what's awesome: I have had an incredible year of falling in love with my son and falling more in love with my husband. Life is not terrible by any means. Yet, I know by pursuing personal/emotional health and passions, I will be a better Christ follower, wife, mom, friend, daughter. So, 2013 is a year of pursuit. 

Pursuit #1: writing. yes, writing. 

I love to write. In my previous life as a public relations professional, I was able to write all. day. long. The problem was though, I had to write about things and try to sell products/businesses to journalists that I simply didn't care about...well, most of the time (BabyLegs or Tom Douglas I would work for again in a heart beat- never mind time constraints). Enter: Young Life. I get to work for Young Life. It's awesome. I love it. Our mission is my passion. BUT, I no longer get to write, which I believe is a God given talent and passion. SO, I have decided to transform our blog into a space on the web where I can write (maybe process - that emotional health thing I was talking about), look for the beauty in life (and root out that ugly discontentedness), and share tid-bits with people that I find valuable, exciting or share-worthy (exercise my passion for writing and publicist still stirring inside of me). What is a tid-bit? Anything from wifely/mommy truisms, a product I cannot live without or perhaps a really cute picture of my son (count on those). These things said: 

1. expect a blog transformation in the next week or so. I'm really excited about it. 
2. expect to laugh at me - I will be laughing at myself, too (learning not to take myself so seriously).  
3. expect me to share my opinion...just like every other blogger on the world wide web (shocking).
4. expect honesty and reality.

And that's it. With that...here is a really cute video of my son. :)