2021 at a Glance

 

Wow! Never have I had such an unplanned year turn out so extraordinary! Well...I had goals and hopes I had penned out at the beginning of this year but God had other plans for me and I’m glad I said yes to them. 

So highlights of this year! 

                         

I think it was New Years last year when I moved in with Aiden. It was a big change after having lived on my own for so long, but it was a surprisingly smooth transition and I’ve never enjoyed living with someone so much in my life! 

In February, we ended up with Aiden's son fifty percent of the time. This happened unexpectedly and It wasn’t an easy transition for me but I love the little boy so much and miss the days we don’t have him.

In March, I made the tough decision to not go tree planting due to
arthritis in my wrists. Instead, I got started on our rather large garden. 

In April, we did a family trip to Squamish and I also found out shortly after that I was pregnant!

In May, we moved onto Aiden’s Grandpa’s farm in my camper.

Aiden and I did a lot of road trips this year! We did one week in June to Jasper and other parts of Alberta. We did Alberta again in October and did a couple two days trips into the interior looking for old trucks. 

During the summer, I took an online entrepreneur course and started my bunny business with the goal of bringing joy to people’s lives through interactions with bunnies. This course provided me with new connections and skills that will help with the business aspect of our farm projects. 

By the end of November we were able to move into the cabin we had started building in August. It’s so nice to have our own warm, cozy, and customized space on the farm to raise our family in. 

Then in December, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Sequoia! I had thought I’d never be able to have a child due to endometriosis but we have been blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby girl. 

Not a scrap of this year was planned but I allowed myself to be spontaneous and it has paid off. There was never a dull moment and I doubt that there will ever be with Aiden by my side which is one of the many things I love about our relationship! It was one of the toughest years to date with a lot of changes within myself ranging from mental, physical, to spiritual. It has been all worth it though! With all the changes and events this year, I’m excited to see what adventures the New Year will hold! 

Favorites for 2021

My favorite song is a tie between Bucket List (Mitchell Tenpenny) and Hard Dirt(Hunter Brothers)

My favorite movie I saw was Anna

My favourite TV Show was Yellow Stone

My favorite moment was when they put Sequoia on my chest after I birthed her

Goals for 2022:

I’m not going to set too many but a few worthwhile goals are healthy:

Do my best at everything. My best will change every day based on how healthy, happy, or sleep-deprived I am, but I will give 100% of what I've got every day

Develop more Spiritually. Continue seeking God, praying, and being open to hearing his voice, and being willing to say yes to his plans. Living every day with gratitude. 

Take time to be the person I was before being a Mom. The doctor's suggestion to help me transition mentally into motherhood. Even though our children take up a lot of my time now, it is important for my mental health to still try and make time to do the things that brought me joy before.

Do the garden again. I feel I did pretty good for my rookie year of gardening and am excited to have a little bit less of a learning curve and a better start-up plan so we can feed ourselves again and maybe make some profit!

Work on my Africa trip memoir. It's all edited! Just need to figure out if I want to self-publish or try going through a traditional publisher. 

Improve our homestead/small-scale farming in a business aspect. Going to take what I learned through the business course this summer and possibly take a more farm business-related course this winter.

Get my gun license. A good license to have when you have livestock and a farm 

Hopes for 2022

Our kids and ourselves stay healthy

I’d love to get an Alpaca for fiber

Get back into Jiu-jitsu 

Get more dental work done 

See my Ontario Family

Thank you to everyone for all your help and support this year! In particular, for all the baby gifts sent for our little princess and to those people who helped us build our cabin both by physically helping or financially supporting us. This year wouldn't have been possible without all your prayers, help, and support! Wishing you all the best in 2022!