2014, The Roller Coaster Year

I know I'm extremely behind on blogging, so this is my pitiful attempt to catch up. I decided it'd be easier to recap 2014.

2014 was a roller coaster year, with incredible highs and lows:

• We (Michael) started a big garden/fruit orchard in our yard and we enjoyed the first year's yield.
• We submitted our application to adopt a baby and had fun making the announcement on Mother's Day.
• We celebrated 7 years of marriage.
• Shortly thereafter, we had to say goodbye to our furry son, Fred, and put him to sleep.
• We enjoyed an amazing plant-based McDougall vacation in Costa Rica
• We added a new furry child to our family, Maddi, whom we adopted from the humane society.
• On September 9th, we came home to a horrific scene of Maddi's leg being stuck in the door to the washing machine, badly broken...most traumatizing thing I've experienced yet. Thankfully she is fully recovered now.
• In late September, Michael's mom, Lisa, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and told she had a month or two up to a year or two left to live. She didn't want treatment for the first couple months because she wanted to enjoy her quality of life. She had been treated for cancer two times previously in her life and knew how awful treatment could be.
• In mid-November, her pain worsened to the point that she wanted to begin radiation treatments to help with the pain. But by early December, it became clear that she was not going to survive this battle. She could no longer walk or care for herself.
• On November 18th, Christine turned 30! On the 19th, we got the greatest call we could hope for: a birth mother chose us to adopt her baby that was due in mid-December!
• Because we would be expecting a newborn baby and dealing with Lisa soon to be passing away, we felt extremely overwhelmed with life, but tried to take care of as many things as we could before receiving the baby. We sold or moved Lisa's stuff, sublet her apartment, adopted her dog, and took ownership of her car.
• We felt the body of Christ like never before! We were so touched and awed by the outpouring of love and support from friends and family. Dear friends threw me a baby shower on December 7th. Friends and co-workers generously gave baby gifts and items to us that they no longer needed or bought from our registry. We had everything we needed to receive a newborn, plus a network of friends who were happy to care for our pets while we went to the hospital to celebrate her birth and bring her home.
• On December 19th, we welcomed EVY into the world and our lives!
• Lisa got to meet EVY before she passed away on December 27th. We hadn't seen her that energetic in some time, so that was a beautiful moment.
• The memorial service for Lisa was so special and a beautiful way to remember her. We're sad she is no longer living, but we rejoice in knowing that because she trusted in Christ and Christ alone for her salvation, she is in heaven with Him, fully healed and at peace.

Although there was lots of heartache in 2014, there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for, you just have to focus on what you have and not what you don't have. Our faith has been greatly strengthened through this year and we look forward to what 2015 has in store.