Frost Covered Branch

Last year, I wrote a post called 2010: The Best of Living Outside the Stacks, where I went back over the year and picked out my favorite posts from the year and I thought I’d do it again this year. It’s a fun way to look back and see how much life has changed over the past year. And, boy, let me tell ya, we’ve had some changes this year: my family moved half way across country, I took up photography and, most importantly, we found a church home.

It was nice to be able to go back and relive the memories, the excitement and the ohmygosh what did we just do?! I pray that your year has been as blessed and exciting as you can handle and I pray the coming year finds you healthy and happy, but most of all, I pray it finds you enveloped in God’s everlasting love and grace.

To read my favorite posts, simply click on the title in bold text.

January: Book Review {Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay} ~ If you’re looking for a book to add to your “To Read” shelf for 2012, let me recommend Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. This is one of the few books that I read in 2011 that made me cry, do further research and cry some more.

February: I Love My Kids, But It’s On Now ~ My family and I love to play pranks on each other but, I’ll be honest, most of the time, it’s me doing something to them but one night my kids finally got their revenge…

March: Mommy, What Color Were Our Eggs? ~ You know how you have more than one child and you have to explain the birds and the bees to the oldest one but you make them promise not to tell the younger ones? Well, this is what happens when the older kid doesn’t keep their promise.

April: Religious Civility, Where Has It Gone? ~ On Resurrection Sunday (aka as Easter) I was stunned by the amount of nasty comments regarding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I know not everyone holds the same reverence for that day that I have, but I was hurt by the mean spirited comments and wondered how others deal with hurtful comments.

May: Happy Mother’s Day! ~ My kids managed to surprise me a second time! This time it was for Mother’s Day and the whole thing ended up on Facebook.

June: Congratulations to the Newest P&G Manager ~ The hubs promotion from Technician to Manager started our lives on a new and exciting journey that took us half way across the country by plane and by car.

July: Guest Post {My Daughter Shares Her Thoughts on Moving} ~ Sometimes when we’re making life changing decisions, we sometimes forget that our childrens’ lives are also being impacted, so when my daughter offered to share her feelings on the big move, I was both honored and proud to allow her space on my blog.

August: You Can’t Run from God, Not Even at Walmart ~ When we moved from Pennsylvania to Missouri, the hubs and I agreed that we wanted to make some changes in our personal lives as well as the lives of our family, and one of those changes was to find a church home. God made sure that we kept this promise by sending someone to chase me down in Walmart.

September: How I Met My Husband ~ Let’s just say it involves a little bit of stalking, possible breaking and entering and a few other minor crimes and violations of basic etiquette.

October: No Cell Phones in Hospitals, Or How the Hubs Almost Killed Me ~ I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m a practical joker, even when I’m coming out from under anesthesia.

November: How Photography Helped Me ~ You can’t tell from reading my blog, but in “real life”, I tend to be a bit shy. I know, right? Hard to believe, especially when you consider that I’m a librarian and that I’ve taught college level American History. One of the things that has helped me to become more social is photography ~ people love to have their pictures taken!

December: This or That Thursday ~ I have the navigational skills of a monkey in a wind storm and this has benefited me greatly. My kids and I have had many great experiences exploring towns and historic districts, furthermore, it’s allowed me to take some incredibly beautiful pictures.

What are you most proud of this year?