As the year comes to a close, I am always craving some time to reflect and consider what the past 12 months held. I resorted to some old writing prompts tucked in my iPhone notes app to reflect on this previous year. One of the prompts read: Write a Top Ten List for the year–include ANYTHING from books to trips to recipes you loved, conversations, answered prayers, memorable moments, and everything in between. I began sifting through my photos, texts, social media posts, calendar events and prayer journal to see what started to jump out at me.
This was such a fun, surprising, and encouraging exercise to do and I would encourage you to take the time and do the same! Even better if you can get together with your spouse, friends, or family to reflect together.
Here is my TOP 10 LIST for 2024 in no particular order:
1. Finally mastering sourdough bread
This was quite a learning experience for me and though I wanted to give up a few times, I kept trying. The reward was incredible to finally see a fresh and fluffy loaf after so many attempts. I gained more grit in pushing through something when it seemed to take too much work, and I grew in my desire to learn new things that take longer to find your rhythm with. Plus there is nothing like a warm slice of sourdough that you made yourself slathered with butter and devoured at a random time of day. It’s perfection!
Learning I was pregnant after many months of negative tests
No matter how many babies we have, trying to get pregnant always stretches our trust muscle. Waiting each month to only see another negative test can truly capture the essence of “hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12).” Do we really trust God when we feel disappointed? This third baby was one of our longest waits, but it reminded us of where our true hope lies. In May, we were overwhelmed with gratitude to learned of a little baby on the way and we can’t wait to see their sweet face in roughly 5 weeks!
Seeing children’s book illustrations finalized
In early 2023, I submitted a children’s book proposal. I’ve had the privilege and joy of working on it with B&H kids for almost 2 years. This summer I was finally able to see the book fully illustrated and I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see in my inbox. The whimsy, the detail, the perfectly captured essence of the story. Not to mention, my illustrator surprised me with illustrations of friends, family, and photos she’d found that I was blown away by! I can’t wait to share it with you all next month!
When Tallulah and Rosie started impromptu saying “I love you” and “I love you too”
These girls have stepped into a wonderful phase of sisterhood. Sure, there are squabbles, but they love each other so much. Chad and I pray for wisdom to help encourage and shepherd these girls in seeing the gift they have in one another as siblings. And it was a wonderful thing to hear them first say, unprompted, “I love you,” and “I love you too.” Since then we hear it at the sweetest moments… when they are playing together, laughing together, or simply holding hands in the car.
A family trip to Savannah, just our family of four
Once or twice a year we try to take a trip, just our little family. This year we spent a few days in Savannah, Ga enjoying good food, shops, walking around downtown, ice cream, beach time, and it was truly the best. There was nothing extraordinary about the trip, but I can remember looking across the table at Chad one night and marveling at how much I love our crew.
When God answered our prayer for a new job
Something we’d been hoping and praying for Chad for almost an entire year, finally we saw come to fruition. Another exercise of trust that strengthened our faith. We were so grateful for an opportunity that came up in the fall and seemed almost perfectly crafted for Chad and our family needs. We celebrated with Thai food!
Finding a brand new car seat for $40
This may sound a little random for a Top 10 List, but I can’t even tell you the adrenaline rush I experienced from this purchase LOL! A little fun fact about me is that I love to find a good deal. I can struggle to spend a ton of money without at least getting a coupon! Especially things that feel so not fun to spend money on. Finding a gem in a thrift store or catching some crazy 75% off sale is like my kryptonite. So when I found a New in Box car seat that retailed for $300 but I only paid $40, I was over the moon! It was the exact car seat we were looking for and I could not believe it.
TGC Women’s Conference
First time at TGCW in June spent with thousands of women desiring to know Christ more deeply and serve him faithfully with their lives. I had the privilege of attending the conference with my mom and sister who are the absolute best travel companions! I so treasured our time together, endless conversations, and sitting under teaching together. I enjoyed sweet hugs and hallway chats with new friends, old friends, and first time in-person friends including my incredible editor, Lauren Groves, who has been such a gift to me in the past year in a half! Lastly, I never could’ve made the trip with out my husband holding down the fort at home—taking off work, putting bows in hair, handling meals and bedtimes solo, and reminding me every step of the way how rich and good this time would be for my soul. He was right and I’m so grateful for him.
Watching the Wicked movie
Long story short, the first time I saw wicked was in London on a trip with friends. I was completely enamored even with nose bleed seats and binoculars. For my 30th birthday, those same friends treated me to the Wicked show in Charlotte and it cemented my love for this performance even more. When the movie came out, we knew we would have to see it and WOW, it was everything I hoped it would be —especially that final scene where I felt my hair should be blowing in the wind as Elphaba sang out to the heavens, “OoooOoOOooOOohhhh”
Friendship in Marriage
Chad and I are nearing 7 years of marriage and I continue to see the beauty and necessity of friendship in marriage. Through all of the highs and lows, ordinary pressures of life, joys and challenges, I am thankful to be married to my best friend. Simple conversations, running errands, planning out our weeks, parenting together, laughing together, working through budgets, being one another’s sounding boards, or finding a podcast or tv show that we both enjoy. It is not always glamorous, but I am certain that our friendship makes all of life sweeter.
Happy New Year,
Aubrey Coleman