When last year started, we had a 3 month old baby. We were excited to put Levi in his Jolly Jumper for the first time, and were watching all his developments (daily! is our kid the smartest ever?!). I'm not sure what else we did. I think we did alot of hanging out in the house, avoiding the cold!
This month officially marked one year of knowing that we would be expecting a baby in 2010! As far as other things in life, it was fairly uneventful. Levi was 4 months and also started sitting by himself at the end of February! Nathan took a short homework break for Christmas so February brought the writing of his Master's thesis. If my memory serves me right, I believe he wrote the majority of his 148 page thesis this month. (If anyone wants a copy, by the way, I'm sure he would gladly send one out to you electronically!)
March!March was more homework for Nathan. At some point he realized that he just wouldn't get any homework done at home with an increasingly aware and interactive baby, thus began Nathan spending his days in the Bethany College library. Levi and I hung out at home, with one guaranteed outing each day to get the mail and pick up any groceries we may have been needing. :) It was also the month when Levi started scooting around on his belly to reach whatever desirable toys were out of reach.
At the beginning of April, Levi and I packed up and flew to Indiana to visit my sister. The trip was about 5 days long and we enjoyed seeing where she was living, and exploring some of the Amish shops nearby. Shipshewana, anyone?? Levi was a perfect travel companion and an even better shopper. He just hung out in the Moby wrap for an entire day of going in and out of stores. We joked that I would be shocked if our next baby hates shopping because Levi is just so calm and happy when we're out! April also brought the exciting development of introducing solids to Levi. Took a few months for him to really catch on though...peas, anyone?
Nathan was finally done his Masters degree! He officially has a Master of Arts majoring in Theology. Levi and I were so proud of him for finishing in the originally planned two years. Plus, this meant that I got my husband back! Nathan being a student for the first half of 2011 was hard, but also incredibly perfect for the first year of Levi's life. While Nathan had homework to do, he also had a flexible schedule, so when I was up all night with Levi, Nathan was able to get up with Levi in the morning and give me an extra hour or so of sleep. That just wouldn't have been possible if he'd needed to be at work at 9am! Anyway, back to grad. We flew down to Fresno, CA to be part of the graduation ceremonies. Our parents joined us down there for the festivities and it was also wonderful to catch up with friends from our year living down there in 2009-2010.
While Nathan graduated in May, he still had a few requirements to finish up before being completely DONE. He finished up these requirements at the end of June/beginning of July with a trip to LA with some classmates. In June, our question of "what's next?" was answered as we were asked to candidate at a church we'd applied to and a couple weeks later were officially asked to fill the position. As I'm trying to keep details like our complete names and locations to a minimum on this blog, I'll just say that the church we are working at is an answer to prayer. The town and church that we are a part of is more than we ever hoped or imagined it would be. Like I say when people ask how we've settled, "we are 100% sure that we are exactly where God wants us right now and that is a wonderful feeling. It's been home right from the start." Just days after being asked to fill the position at the end of June, we drove to our new town and bought a house! This, too, was an answer to prayer. After moving half a dozen times in the past two years, we were really hoping to be able to move straight into a place where we could see ourselves being long-term but weren't sure if this would be possible having just been students for the past two years with no regular income. Praise God the funds were there and we were able to purchase a home!
July was a vacation month for us. We spent time with friends and family, and ended the month with a family gathering/reunion with my mom's entire side of the family to celebrate my grandma's 85th birthday. I think there were only three families missing...and that's pretty good considering the number of families who could make it!
We moved into our house on August 2. The first two weeks of the month were spent unpacking and exploring our new town. Nathan started work at the church on August 15. We soon realized that it was just as perfect a fit for him as it seemed and he's been enjoying work ever since!
I'm not sure what there is to say about September. Levi continued to grow. Every couple days I would be reminded of the previous year when we spent the whole month of September waiting for Levi to make his appearance. Lots of memories of a big belly, trying to get labour started, and getting up 12 times a night to use the bathroom...what a long month it was in 2010. This year, we continued to get settled into our house, though it soon felt like we'd been here forever. Church programs started up. Levi and I did alot of playing as Nathan is gone during the working day for the first time in Levi's life. Life is good!
October!
We made quick trips out of town to visit both parents this month. With being so close (4 hours to my parents, 1.5-2 hours to Nathan's parents) we try to see each set of parents/grandparents once a month, though sometimes that just doesn't happen with the busyness of life. Levi had his first bout of sickness in November which resulted in a trip to the emergency room while visiting my parents. His fever lasted 5 days in total...not fun. While at the hospital, the mother of one of my good friends (a nurse in town) was ever-so-kind and took care of Levi so well. It was nice to have a familiar face while waiting to find out what was making Levi feel so down. Nathan continued to be busy with work this month...lots of evenings which is quite typical of pastoral ministry.
December brings with it anticipation of the holidays! We are blessed to be able to spend time with both families this Christmas season, including all of our siblings! It is SO nice to be closer to family than ever before in the time we've been married! Levi and I have been doing a bit of Christmas baking together. Levi is walking all over the place, climbing, dancing, eating, "talking", and is just such a joy! He certainly keeps us busy but we wouldn't have it any other way. Our Christmas tree is up (still...Levi has been respecting it and all its ornaments - except the ONE that I have given him permission to play with...we can't expect him to not touch the tree at all, now can we? Where would the fun be in that??) and it's beginning to feel alot like Christmas!
With all that said, I'm sure Levi will be waking up from his nap anytime now and wanting some lunch. So, from our home to yours, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May God bless you richly in the coming year!
Love,
Nathan, Niki, and Levi
McCorkindale
p.s-Oh, and yes, Nathan's head is cut off in our family picture (top of the blog). I truly thought it just made for a cozy effect but Costco didn't even print it right away because they thought it was a mistake. Oops. What do you think? Is it ok??
2 comments:
What a great year!!
We loved being a part of your lives this year, and are very excited to have it continue in 2012.
Merry Christmas!
Great summary of your year! And I didn't notice that Nathan's head was cut off until you mentioned it.
VERY excited about living closer to you soon and seeing you in just a couple of weeks!
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