A Look Back at 2008

So I know the end of 2008 is still a few days away, but I wanted to recap 2008. I will say this much about 2008 – it wasn’t the year I thought it would be. In a lot of ways it was better and in some ways it was just different than I thought it would be, but that is what I get for trying to tell God my plans for life. I grew in a lot of ways this year, but in some areas of my life I am still standing still. Overall 2008 will go down as a good year!

January

• The year started out with a trip to NYC for market – with really warm weather.
• I officially start leading my young adult’s community group without a co-leader – glad that drama is behind me.
• Winter Chill with my fun 6th grade girls & Stacy.
• I turned a quarter of a century old on the 22nd – fun to celebrate with friends at Mattido’s. Mom & Whitney even drove down to surprise me.
• I lost my boss and assistant within two days of each other due to a promotion, which left Sherri and I to fend for ourselves – crazy times.
  

February

• Jamie joined Sherri and I as a part of the crippled Traditional Career Team
• A crazy busy month with the launch of American Living and everything that came with it. I was back in NYC for AL market and the Red Carpet Launch party – I got to meet lots of fun famous people and feel like a star for the night. The month ended with the entire AL team being snowed in, so we had to spend an extra night in the city.
  

March

• I found out I wasn’t losing my job, but I was taking a demotion and moving to the retail side of things on 4/1. It really ended up being a promotion not a demotion, thankfully.
• DTown with my 6th grade girls, so much fun. And we had two new girls join our group – Katherine & Kristina. We now were up to 6 girls.
• The rest of the month was pretty much spent recovering from my gum surgery – definitely the most painful thing I have experienced this far in life. Not being able to eat solid foods for over two weeks – super tough.
  

April

• I moved upstairs to the career retail floor and started working for Dan as an assortment planner. Funny thing was neither of us knew what I was supposed to be doing – make work interesting.
• Mom’s mysterious health scare b/c of the weird things on her legs.
• I returned to Brazil for 10 days with another team from WM to love on the people in the Amazon jungle – what an amazing trip. I was privileged to be able to help lead the VBS team, but the team and kids in the villages taught me more than I could have ever taught them.
  

May

• Bridget and Chloe join the little girl’s small group – we now have 8 amazing girls.
• Whitney decides that she is transferring to the University of Arkansas starting next fall.
• Kate comes to Texas for the weekend, 1st time I have seen her since her wedding 11 months earlier.
• Madison (one of my little girls) & Stacy (my little girl’s co-leader) get baptized.
• Memorial Day was spent at the lake with Maryann and several of her friends – fun weekend out of town
• Cliffy graduates from Old High.
  

June

• Started off with a weekend of weddings – Vahista (one of my college roommates) on Saturday night in FW and Sherri (a co-worker) on Sunday in Rockwall.
• I graduated from CR – finally after a year & a half. I will admit now, I miss my Monday night friends.
• June also brings around ½ of my community groups birthday within like a week of each other – so we had lots of birthday celebrations and fun outings. We also finally started to really click as a community group and as friends!
• Dad (17th) & Jimmy (18th) celebrate their birthdays together again – I actually saw my dad on his birthday this year, yes that is a rare thing for those of you who don’t know that.
• The entire last week I spent living in a hotel room with my 6th graders as they attended connection and put on a vacation bible school for kids in West Dallas – so fun to see them reach out to others.
• Found out Poppi has liver cancer, and the outlook was not good.
• Said goodbye to Amanda (WM friend), as she was moving to Austin to start her new life their before she gets married.
  

July

• Moved to another new position at work – moved from Dan’s team to Lesa’s team. Still not sure what I am really doing.
• Maverick (my dog) turned 5 years old – hard to believe I’ve had him that long. I guess time flies when you’re having fun.
• The 4th of July celebrations started on the 3rd with Kaboom Town and lots of friends, and the 4th was spent being lazy in the pool with a few friends and the evening came to an end with lots of great fireworks.
• I said goodbye to Lynn (college roommate) as she packed up her life and headed to Lubbock for law school.
• Celebrated 1 year at JCP.
• The month ended with Poppi having surgery on his liver to try and remove the cancer. After several days of kidney failure – he amazingly bounced back to the surprise of even the doctors – he is one tough cookie.
  

August

• I had my second oral surgery – not as painful as the 1st one but still pretty painful.
• I decide it is time to run another ½ marathon – San Antonio in November
• Whitney moves to Arkansas for school
• Doctors tell Poppi – that it looks like they got all the cancer.
• Outside the Camp with WM student ministry leaders – lots of fun.
• Mom & I go to Arkansas to visit Whitney for Bid Day – mom is never again allowed to make the hotel reservations over the computer.
  

September

• Whitney pledges Pi Phi
• My little girls are now 7th graders – we lose one Becca, but we gain one Alexandra – we have 8 solid 7th graders.
• Several friends amuse me with a trip to the Plano Balloon Festival.
• The last weekend of the month starts my month of weddings/engagements – Amy (summer camp friend) got married.
  

October

• Nicole (sorority lil sis), Amanda (WM friend), and Beth (WM friend) all got married one right after the other – crazy times, but lots of fun. They were all beautiful brides.
• In the midst of the weddings I have to spend a whole week lying to my roommate about everything, in order to keep her engagement a secret. Congrats to SarahBeth & Jeremy!
• Sadly in the midst of all the great celebrations – one of my 7th grade girl’s dads was killed.
• So Stacy and I had to learn how to help 7th grade girls deal with such a thing and how to love their friend. Needless to say all 8 of my 7th grade girls had to grow up a little more quickly than we would have liked, but it was amazing to see how they loved their friend.
• Halloween was spent at Pine Cove with some of my 7th grade girls as Halloween fell on the Jr. High fall Pine Cove retreat – lots of fun to just hang out with my girls for a weekend.
  

November

• Was a crazy busy month I ended up being out of town every single weekend – which made the week nights really busy.
• Mom and I went to San Antonio for the ½ marathon. Finally my mom got to see my run a race since high school. She was such a great cheerleader, as she cheered Brooke, Julie, Amit, and I on during the race. Fun weekend.
• The Getaway – WM girl student ministry leaders retreat – ended up being fun and a weekend where I learned a lot – even though it took a small act of congress or just some really dedicated and great friends to get me there.
• I found out I get to go back to Brazil in May of 2009 – I really nice surprise and I am super excited about the whole thing.
• Thanksgiving I ran in the Turkey Trot with Brooke and Julie. I celebrated Thanksgiving with dad out at Mark’s house before heading to WF to see that side of my family for a few days.
• Black Friday – was just way too early but lots of fun and I even actually started Christmas shopping this year.
  

December

• As December always is busy, this year was no exception but it was a lot of fun with all the holiday parties and fun festivities that come along with the holidays.
• On the 8th my family said goodbye to Bobby, and while it was hard to say goodbye he was ready to go, so that made it a little easier.
• The White Rock Marathon was a lot of fun except spraining my ankle between mile 2 and 3 – I still finished in good time, even beating my San Antonio time.
• Christmas Eve was spent with dad & Marsha – with lunch at Jimmy’s and dinner and presents back at dad’s house that night.
• Christmas Day – after a great homemade breakfast – I headed to WF to celebrate Christmas with my mom and that side of the family.
• New Year’s Eve will be spent in St. Louis with Kate and Shawn
  

I am sure I missed highs and lows in my recap of 2008 but overall it was a good year. I am excited to see what 2009 has in store for me, I know it holds lots of changes but what those changes are exactly I am not sure yet. I hope everyone enjoys the last few days of 2008, and I hope everyone has an amazing 2009.