A Year in Photos

2022 brought many changes for our family. Sometimes, all I remember about the year is the packing and moving and the whirlwind of work that went into making that happen.

A year ago in January, we began seriously looking for a house in Connecticut. In the year since, we finished remodeling and selling our 1860s farmhouse, bought land and a townhouse in Connecticut, remodeled the townhouse and moved in, started the kids in a new school, and finally, started clearing the land and building our farmhouse here in CT.

My consumption of coffee makes a lot more sense after writing that paragraph.

I spent the last few days sorting through all the pictures on my phone from the last year… and though it feels like all we’ve done for the last 12 months is roll our stuff across the country like dung beetles, it turns out we’ve had many other adventures too. Here’s a few:

WINTER brings days at home soaking up what we know will be the final months in the house we love. We spend evenings around the fireplace, build many a fort, and pray hard over our next steps.

In February, we escape to Florida for a reprieve from the New England winter and some time away with family.

SPRING brings the first walk on our new land in Connecticut. We begin dreaming about building a farmhouse and raising our family on some acreage.

The next few months are busy with packing the house, finishing all the left-over projects on our current home, closing out the school year, and settling where to live while we build.

SUMMER is a blur of activity.

We take in all our favorites things around our beloved town one last time… swimming in the lake, walks around the common, burgers at Howard’s, and stopping at the corner store for ice cream.

Our house is finally on the market, and we are off to Maine for the 4th of July.

In the mix, Darren and I celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary, and the kids have their birthdays.

Near the end of summer, we go camping in Vermont. We arrive on Aletheia’s 5th birthday and start setting up camp.

That evening, Roman takes a hard fall off his bike, and is transported by ambulance to the hospital. A CT scan is run, and he walks away with a bad concussion.

Had he not been wearing his helmet, the whole situation likely would’ve ended differently. I look back at the pictures surrounding that day and I’m so thankful.

AUTUMN sweeps in. We settle into our townhouse just days before the school year begins.

We close on our house in Massachusetts.

A week later, we are on a plane flying to my parents’ house in Missouri. It’s the perfect break after an exhausting summer. Darren and I even sneak away for a couple days to ourselves thanks to my mom and dad.