Repost December 31, 2020
Hey lovelies! It only seems proper that I do a post about 2020. You know it’s crazy its the end of 2020!!! There’s all kinds of memes out there about March being two months long, April being year and so on… but honestly, 2020 flew by! (maybe you feel differently, idk..)
2020 was actually a good year, believe it or not! Yes, there were challenges, just like every year. Yes we faced many new things, and yes our world is changing and growing darker, but besides all that it was a good year. I’m seriously getting tired of all the memes “If 2020 was…” Guys, it wasn’t that bad! You survived it right? God calls us to be joyful not complain! 2020 was actually quite fun for me!!
January – The year started off normal with winter activities like games, puzzles, school… etc. We got a nice snow early that month, nothing huge, but a few inches to make everything look pretty! Stephen built us girls a new bunkbed, Kaleb and I helped out at the PA farm show with some of our cousins (serving fried onions), and Stephen, Kaleb, Joseph and I ended the month going to the Fruit and Vegetable Convention with our cousins and our Dads.
February _ We had choir programs, Garrett’s 4th birthday, I bought a violin, Valentines day, made donuts, played games, watched cousins do Bible quizzing, Stephen got his license, I went bowling for the first time and Stephen, Kaleb and I went on tour with our choir.
March – Finished choir tour on the 2nd. Enjoyed the warmer days and first flowers of spring. Cared for 8 puppies, Celebrated Han’s 9th birthday. And had our final choir practice March 15th. By the next week everything was shutdown. For March and April the only things different were no church and no homeschool group. Our family doesn’t have that many social events, so nothing else really changed. It was actually nice to be home with family and not go anywhere in the evenings. School continued as normal, and we had extra time to play games and enjoy each other. Farm work increased… we laid plastic, and prepared for the growing season.
April – Easter was a bit sad cause we couldn’t go to church, but we spent the afternoon and evening with cousins and grandparents. Celebrated both my parents birthdays. Planted strawberries and other crops. Had the first campfire. And in addition to 8, 6 week old puppies, we now took care of 3 more newborn pups. Spent a lot of time outside enjoying all the sunshine!!
May – Went to the cabin with cousins, Sold the 8 puppies. Briana turned 10. Work in the lettuce house increased. Did some babysitting for neighbor kids. Prepared for aunt’s wedding. More planting. A lot of scrapbooking. Cutting runners on strawberries. Started this blog! Church started again. Baled hay.
June – Lettuce. Puppies. Camping with cousins which included lots of laughter, late nights, games, movies, great food, hiking, biking, fishing, and memory making. First strawberries. Planting my flowers. My aunt got married – and had an awesome wedding! Me and my cousins had the privilege of being honorary bridesmaids. Joe turned 12. Planting, harvesting, sunshine, family get together.
July – Colton turned 6. Picked strawberries. Cared for my flowers. Picked strawberries. Had a thrip infestation in the lettuce house, completely cleaned it out of all lettuce, let the temp rise to 115 to kill the thrips, and then replanted. Picked some more strawberries. Started picking my flowers. Picked strawberries. Played a bunch of croquet with the fam. Picked strawberries. And… um yeah, picked some more strawberries.
August – Now I could continue with the picked strawberries every other sentence, cause we still continued to do that every day, but I’ll refrain. August was spent picking lots of berries, lots of flowers, lots of tomatoes, lots of peppers, lots of cucumbers and zuchini and finally lettuce again the end of the month. It also included lots of gorgeous sunsets, going to Sight and Sound, finding a baby bunny and letting it ride on my picker for the day, then releasing it, a new cousin. Welcomed a new sister too! Elisa has been such a joy to our family!! <3<3<3 Stephen turned 17.
September – Kaleb turned 14. Continued picking strawberries. Had campfires. Picked lots of flowers. Deidra turned 3. Had some really tough days with strawberry picking. Had a birthday party for my Grandpa. Drank lots of warm drinks on cold mornings in the fields. Kaleb got baptized. Had quite a puppy adventure! 16 this time!!!! (sadly only 6 survived). Baby snuggles. Had some really good days with strawberry picking. Celeste turned 9. Talks and laughs with sibs on pickers when we were tired of picking. Enjoyed the cooler weather but still warm sunshine!
October – Lots of baby smiles. Some more straw-berry picking. Lots of puppy snuggles! Lots of flower arranging! Selling chicken barbeque with Youth Group. First day of school. Took a CPR class. Spent some beautiful mornings harvesting flowers. Had a wonderful vacation at the cabin. Spent some beautiful afternoons and evenings picking strawberries. Packed OCC shoeboxes, Enjoyed romping around with puppies as they grew. Choir practices started again. Decorated for fall. Took family pictures. Picked berries in the dark! Said goodbye to the warm days and tried to enjoy the sweatshirts and warm drinks. Picked the last of my flowers before they frosted. I am grateful to have been able to sell over 400 bouquets this year!
November – Enjoyed games, thrift shopping, rock wall climbing, more puppy romping, fall parties, Sight and Sound again, TURNED 16 and STARTED DRIVING!!!! Enjoyed more baby smiles. Said goodbye to the dear puppies. Enjoyed a bunch of photography, Picked the last of the strawberries, and had one last strawberry pie!! Had a wonderful thanksgiving!
December – Hello final month of 2020!! Enjoyed helping some grandparents, some scrapbooking, Christmas decorating. Card making. Lots of snow! Took lots of fun pictures. Made Christmas cookies. Christmas shopping. Christmas gatherings. Going to the cabin with family. Hot chocolate and candy canes. Lots of cute expressions from Elisa. A lovely Christmas with a little snow squall. Lots of great books to read!
And that’s 2020!!!
Girl, take a deep breathe. Realize how special that breath just was. Every. Single. Breath. Is testament to God’s great love for you. If there is anything the whole pandemic should have taught us I hope that it is how blessed you are to still be alive. Do realize how many people die a day? People are dying all the time. And most because of things other than Covid. People die in car accidents, from cancer, in freak accidents, shootings, disease. (plus almost as many babies are killed in abortions as people die.). I don’t want to plant fear in anyone’s heart, but just stop. Stop, breathe and realize God’s sovereignty. He’s in control. NO. MATTER. WHAT. Don’t take your life for granted. Don’t fear. We are all going to die, so just be wise, trust Him, and live life to it’s fullest!!
In a world that’s growing darker, may our light shine brighter!!
Love you all!
Happy New Year!!!
~Autumn
Bursting Through The Darkness 