Every year since I first launched my blog in 2011, I have ended the year with a time of reflection. It is my way of highlighting the things that happened here on the blog and in my family life. I love to look back at the year and see how God moved in our lives and praise Him for it all!
This year ended with a house full of sick kids. They got a cold that did not want to leave. Between their cold and my exhaustion, we decided to lay low at home for a few weeks, which turned out to be a huge blessing in that we spent quality family time together every day. It was great. I decided not to focus on my usual end of year things like making goals and doing this reflection post. I figured it could wait until we all recuperated.
So a few days into the new year and I finally got it done! Here are my highlights from 2017:
January
Eliott, my oldest son (4), took me on a date to see our friend Kelsey perform in a local play of Little Women. It was incredibly sweet and we had a great time.
Aaron and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.
Over the years I had been filming Aaron and I, although I never knew what for. The years worth of videos came in handy for a gift I made Aaron…okay he helped! Check out this awesome video to commemorate our 10 years together…
February
On Valentine’s Day we opened the registration for Marriage After God, a gathering we planned in a rural part of Oregon and only allowed 12 couples to come to. We were nervous and excited to plan and prepare for this as we had dreamt about it for a long time. I took this photo from the back door of our cabin on the property where we were planning to host the retreat!
March
Much of this month was spent preparing the content for Marriage After God and planning all the details. We also took advantage of all the snow we got over winter and took the kids sledding. Click the image to see our sledding vlog!
April
With Aaron’s birthday, Easter, and Olive turning 2, all happening in April, we decided to head to Southern California to spend time with both of our families. We had a great time surprising the kid’s great grandma and seeing the beach. The family photo below was taken on Easter.
May
For Mother’s Day I wrote a special note for moms, reminding them of all the work their hands do for their children. I even made a short video to further express this beautiful message. Click the image to watch the video!
We also officially launched Bookworthy!
This was another HUGE project we focused on. We jumped into working on our course that will teach people how to publish their stories. This new venture took up a ton of our time throughout the year. We poured everything we knew about the publishing process into an easy to follow course to help others reach their dreams of becoming an author. The course is NOW LIVE!
June
At the beginning of the month we hosted the Marriage After God: Gathering! It was so incredible to meet all of the couples who came to join us in this wild adventure of allowing God to use our marriages for extraordinary purposes. The weekend was filled with laughter, tears, amazing breakthroughs, great conversations, spectacular views of the cascades, and deliciously catered meals. It will be a moment in our ministries we will never forget. And we are now planning on writing the book Marriage After God based on the content from the gathering!
At the end of the month we went to Portland for the Oregon Christian Homeschool Conference. We got to hear Heidi St. John speak and we met up with her and her husband for a little chat afterward. I am preparing to officially start Eliott in Kindergarten next year so I am researching and learning what I can about homeschooling now. This conference was a great resource.
July
We hosted our 2nd annual 4th of July party at our house. That is always a fun, but chaotic day. I also published this article on the blog: How I Loved My Husband When He Was Addicted To Porn.
August
Aaron had been going to Crossfit for about 3 months now and the results were amazing. I was motivated by his initiation to be healthy and decided to try it. I didn’t like Crossfit at all, but I knew I needed something, especially if I desired to have another baby soon! I wanted to be stronger than I was. So I signed up with a personal trainer. It was the first time in my life I have ever done this! Those first few sessions were brutal, but then my muscles began growing and my heart started to enjoy it! I am still going to the gym weekly and I am proud of the progress I have made.
The central Oregon fires got really bad here late summer, to the point where we couldn’t even open our doors in order to keep the house air pure. I decided to flee to the coast with the kids while Aaron stayed home to get some work done. As much as I don’t like traveling without Aaron, this was an absolute treasure of a time with my littles. Now I am thinking an annual coast trip is necessary!
September
We wrote the content for 31 Prayers for my Son and for my Daughter resources. God put these books on our hearts earlier in the year and we were eager to get them available. We had our friend Ciera Rose do the cover and interior design.
I shared 30 Encouraging Life Verses For Marriage based on my devotional Wife After God. These are great verses to pray over your marriage as well. 
I had been following Joy Prouty, an amazing photographer, for years. While we were in Nashville we had the opportunity to meet her and have her photograph our family. Check out her work at Wildflowers Photography.
October
After Nashville we continued on to Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Arkansas before heading home. It was a wild adventure, and one of the best trips our family has ever experienced.
November
Eliott turned 5! I can’t believe we have a five year old. He is getting taller, smarter, funnier, and his imagination keeps getting wilder. He loves learning and is currently working on reading, although I know its a long process.
We started doing our prayer videos. This was our very first one and everyone seemed to LOVE it! If you haven’t tried it yet give it a go!
December
Wyatt turned 1 and we celebrated with a little tea party. He was so excited to see the candle light up and hear us all sing to him. 
That next weekend me and Olive went to our first mother daughter tea party! We put curlers in our hair, painted our nails, blushed our cheeks, and put on our fancy dresses. She was the princess of the ball. And it was nice spending one on one time with her.
We officially launched the 31 Prayers for my Son and for my Daughter books! They are now available on our store or amazon!
And for Christmas we found out we are expecting baby #4!
I want to thank every one of you who have been a part of the Unveiled Wife community!
Thank you following me on this journey of marriage and parenting. On facebook there are 1.2 million of you following, on Instagram there are 114K, and so many more on Youtube, Pinterest, and right here on the blog. Each of you make up our communities who are adventuring with us on this journey. Thank you for being an integral part of the community by encouraging and praying for one another! Wives coming together to bless other wives has been an extraordinary thing.
I am praying that 2018 is a life-changing year for all of us! I pray that marriages that are broken or are being oppressed in any way would receive healing and freedom! I pray husbands and wives would find a passionate love for each other and that they center their relationship on God. I pray for the chains of addiction to break and I pray for reconciliation in Jesus’ name Amen!
