The time has come, this late December, to look back at the year and revisit what happened, what we learned, what we accomplished, what we wish we had done. It’s a terrifying and wonderous thing, to realize that a year is almost over, and a new one is beginning. Some of us made big plans for our year, set goals and worked hard to achieve them. Others of us made loose plans and rolled with the punches. Still others may have been lost in the throes of 2014 when we began, unsure of what 2015 would bring, or the tone that would dominate the months of uncertainty.

As we reflect and gather our thoughts on 2015, here are 7 questions you may ask yourself to wrap up the past year. I’ll even answer them for myself, and reflect alongside you.

1. What was the biggest event in your world this year? Something you can tell your children’s children about, years from now…   This year, D was born. We began the year with trepidation regarding his health, and were happy to welcome a perfect little guy into the world in July, after a night of hard labor and a blessedly quick delivery.
2. What purchase turned out to be the best decision ever? And why?   We bought a new car, a GMC Acadia, just before D was born. We knew we needed a new car (three kids needed a bigger car than my Camry), and weren’t quite sure what we would get, or how much space we really needed. The Acadia was the perfect blend of space we needed day-to-day and space we would need on a road trip. We’ve been very happy with it!
3. What was the funniest thing that happened this year? Is there anything that you still laugh at today?   I wouldn’t always share a birth story for a big question like this, but there was a moment during my labor with D that the nurse broke my water… Hubby was taking a snooze (we’d been up all night, and I had just gotten my epidural) and I cried out when she broke my water, because it splashed all over the room. And I still die every time Hubby tells the story. He’s way funnier than I am.
4. Who are the top 5 people you spent the most/best time with this year? If I have to pick exactly five, I’m going to choose our sweet family friends the Van Zandts. Hubby’s best friend from high school, his wife, and their three girls, who are roughly the same ages as my kiddos moved to town (into our neighborhood!) right at this time last year, and we have been blessed by their presence and closeness multiple times. They are good people to have close by and we love our time with them. 
5. What was one thing that you did really well this year?   I think that I grew as a worship leader this year. I got to know my people better, grew in confidence behind the keys/mic, and fell in love with doing my job even a little bit more. I have some incredible co-leaders and role models to base my craft upon. 
6. How did you grow spiritually, emotionally, and/or physically?   I’ll try to answer all three: Spiritually, I bridged the gap between having no time for a personal spiritual life and making time for myself as often as possible (Goal: daily. Reality: weekly.) Emotionally, I struggled with some hormonal changes after D was born, and again at his 4 month sleep regression (apparently, being tired makes me short-tempered and straight up angry sometimes). I battled to keep my cool some days. Physically, the last half of the year was comprised of losing my pregnancy weight, and finding a healthy exercise routine…and then losing the routine again for the holidays! Ha!
7. If you had one word to describe your 2015, what would it be, and why? At the beginning of the year, I chose a word (phrase, actually) to carry me through the year. I had chosen “Embrace it!” to be what I wanted my year to be about. I feel like I did a pretty good job with that most of the time, however much things changed or were crazy. I don’t know if I think that was the most important word, or the word I thought about most often, but it definitely was up there. Thankful is another word I think of that goes with my year. Amid the craziness of expanding our family, I always tried to remain in a posture of thankfulness. 

Let’s hear some of your answers to these questions!