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Merry Christmas 2013- Year in Review


Christmas 2013!!!  The year went extremely fast and things in our world changed a lot this year.

We have decided not to send Christmas cards this year for a few reasons.  1. We did not get any professional pictures taken.  2. Lack of time and energy...sorry people but with a full time job it was not on the top of my priority list this year.  3. Save money and save some tree's. 

So lets do a year in review!  Let's start in January.  It was our first and last winter in our new house in Wisconsin.  Shoveling was a lot more work than apartment living but we had some help on the big snow falls.  Anthony and I were blessed to do a get away to the Kalahari for free as a blog review.  We loved it! 

February was a busy month with winter camp for Anthony. We also headed out to Iowa for the first time to visit a church that we knew God wanted us to visit.  I had a great Valentines Day date with Anthony and Anthony had a great Daddy daughter date with Selah. 

In March we visited the church again and had peace about making the move even though we had not been in our house for a year yet.  Titus celebrated his 2nd birthday with a ball theme and loved every second of it.  Selah went ice skating for the first time and plans on going again soon.  

In April we announced our plans to move to Iowa and put our house on the market.  Thanks to Realty Executives and our friend Max, we had 2 offers the first week it was on the market.  It was a blessing to sign papers to sell our house confirming God was leading us to a new area.
  
The first week in May Anthony and I were installed as the new pastors of church in Iowa near the Quad Cities.  Anthony started to commute while the kids and I waited until June to move.  Anthony also had the fun job of flipping the parsonage (our new house) in just a couple weeks.  The house was very unclean and everything was taken out of the house and new carpet, paint, wood staining, etc etc was done in a very short time by him and church members to prepare for our arrival. There are still more projects around our new house that we continue to work on.  

 Summer was full of investigating our new community and surrounding areas.  I still feel like there is so much more exploring that needs to take place. We had fun at the pool, library, enjoying the river view on our deck, and finding lots of new parks and trails to play at.  I went on several interviews for teaching jobs and was about to give up but was hired one day before new teacher orientation started as a BD/LD teacher (I work with students who have high behaviors and learning disabilities).  I am enjoying my new job but still having a hard time adjusting to not being with my kids.  Thankfully Titus only goes to a friends house 2 days a week and I am so happy he is with someone I trust.  Anthony and Titus have been able to spend more time together the other 3 days that mommy is at work. 

In September Selah turned 6 years old!  She had a great Lalaloopsy party!  September was also the Light the Night Walk!  Selah and I raised over $600 dollars together for Leukemia and Lymphoma. We had a lot of fun walking in remembrance of my mom. We are looking forward to doing it again next year.  

Our church held a trunk or treat in October for the first time and had a blast.  We were able to hand out candy to over 200 kids. Selah dressed up as Tinkerbell, Titus was a dinosaur, and Anthony and I had a great time dressing up as minions from Despicable Me.  Selah also joined the soccer league and the very first day scored a goal!  
  
We ended up not traveling for Thanksgiving but were able to enjoy a wonderful meal at the fire station for a community meal where we met some other people from town who were not traveling either.  It was organized very nice and took the stress out of cooking a big meal to feed four people.  

My kids are eager for Christmas morning.  We will  still be making Happy Birthday Jesus pancakes and opening gifts.  We are also  looking forward to the kids/youth first annual Grinch party coming up next week.  Selah had her Christmas Concert this week and did a wonderful job singing and using actions in the song.  

We have made a lot of new friends but we also are missing some of our other friends.  Friends from home, from Sheboygan, and Wausau.  We love you all and we are praying that God will reveal his love to you in 2014!  

Be Blessed!
       


There are a lot more pictures throughout my blog that highlights our year so dig around and enjoy.  

Comments

DeAnn said…
We are so blessed to have the Flanigans in Iowa. My this be the best year ever.
DeAnn said…
Merry Christmas April and Anthony"

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