More and Less

…What I mean to say is, this is more or less a new year’s journal entry. And only a week into the new year! Aren’t you proud of me for my promptness?

Everybody does their share of reflection as the old year falls away like a dead skin, and we get to put on the new year like a brand new piece of clothing never worn before, and I am no exception to that. The past few years have held a lot of change for me, as you will have seen if you’ve been following this blog since its beginning, but I feel many things culminated in 2022…the one big thing being that I got married!

For fun, and posterity, let’s do a little recap to recall some of the highlights of the year:

January ~

• Anthony and I visited my sister’s family in Virgina and took a cold plunge on New Year’s Eve in the stream outside their house. (I guess that was technically still 2021.)
• I started working in the B I G C I T Y as a court reporter after a year off, this time as a freelancer.

February ~

• We both had our birthdays, and we shot (and thenceforth cooked and ate) a few rabbits.
• My dreams came true with an Andrew Peterson concert on a bright winter evening.
• A friend helped me with my measurements and I ordered my wedding dress, custom made from the Ukraine, even though Anthony and I weren’t engaged yet!

March ~

• I took a trip to Wyoming to spend a few days with Grace and her family, such a gift.
• Anthony and I drove to NY and I got to introduce him to my dearest friends and show him around my favorite town in the whole world.

April ~

• Anthony asked me to marry him! I responded in the affirmative.
• I began selling my sourdough bread at a local farm.
• Molly came to visit just before Easter — we went to church together, ate Greek food and watched My Louisiana Sky on my roommate’s projector, just like when we were little.

May ~

• Anthony and I planted our first garden together!
• I watched a friend’s house and dogs while they were away for a week, and broke their sliding glass door, of course.
• We got another batch of chicks.

June ~

• Everything everyone talks about is wedding-related at this point…
• And speaking of weddings, Anthony and I took another trip to NY, this time for my cousin Henry’s wedding.

July ~

• The ladies in my family surprised me by coming to the bridal shower my church friends held for me!
• I picked LOTS of berries, canned peaches, and made pickles from our cucumbers that kept growing and growing.
• I moved out of my apartment in the city, said goodbye to all the noise and fumes.
• …And the month ended in a wedding. ❤

August ~

• We spent our first week married in North Carolina in the beautiful blue ridge mountains.
• We came home and started watching TURN: Washington’s Spies, which is notable enough to be mentioned because it was THAT good.

September ~

• I kept canning, and freezing, and canning.
• We bought a car, our trusty little Civic.

October ~

• I started the GAPS protocol and focused on healing my food allergies and hormone imbalances.
• I sold my Ranger to my parents and drove it back to NY, spent a few days with my old friend and housemate Mariah, and then my cousin and her family came back with me to visit us Ohio people for the weekend.

November ~

• Hunting season again, like clockwork, and Anthony shot a deer.
• Thanksgiving with my side of our family, which featured lots of games, and exploding jar of kimchi and GAPS pumpking pie.
• I began work at the new coffee shop nearby.
• We put our garden to rest, covering the soil with leaves so lots of worms will want to live there. 🙂

December ~

• Anthony and I tried to hide presents from each other and succeeded.
• Christmas GAPS treats! Bone marrow fudge and baked apples!
• I had so much fun decorating our little apartment with boughs of pine branches, dried greenery, and wreaths.
• Christmas brought the coldest days of the winter so far, and we both got super sick just in time to miss every family gathering…but the chickens survived the cold and we stayed safe and warm, and all was well.

The other exciting news of the year — in December we purchased a piece of property! Anthony and I both have a passion for land and managing it well, so this was something we both really wanted to do, but we didn’t expect it to happen so soon after we got married. The Lord provided an opportunity for us to buy a property that hasn’t been in crop production for 15 years, which is pretty rare around here, and has several resources including a pond, a few acres of woods, and a broad wildlife habitat. Hopefully, and Lord willing, someday we will build our house here, plant our garden, and raise more animals.

Life is a long story full of color, good and bad times, and plenty of sorrow — obviously these are the highlights, and life isn’t all perfect or even enjoyable a lot of times so don’t be fooled. The past year held more challenges than expected, some things I’ll be walking through for a while yet, but I’m so thankful for a view of the world in which God is sovereign, I am not in control of everyone’s happiness, or even my own body, and I have the love and support of more people than I can even call to mind at this moment. When I look back, I am filled with gratitude.

Looking forward is beneficial too, of course, and while I didn’t make resolutions, I have compiled a list of a few things I would like to do more of in 2023, and some I hope to spend less time on — hence the title, more and less.

More:

• Listen to music! This should be easy, right? Lately I’ve listened to so many podcasts and audiobooks that it seems like I hardly ever just listen to music anymore. I realized how sad this was the other night when I put on Bob Dylan as I was cooking supper…and I remembered how important music used to be for me! I truly think music enriches one’s life. I want to bring back worship music into my daily routine because it helps noticeably to get my mind focused on the right things. Consuming information via podcast is helpful, but I think I’ve just overdone it lately.
• Have people over! This will happen organically, I think, as we build our community here and as I make more friends in a place that is still new to me. I dearly would like to have supper guests more often, host some psalm-sings or hymn-sings, and enjoy once again the “drop-in” kind of friendships that I was so blessed by in college.
• Raw egg yolks! I eat one every day. Try it and see how you feel! Tell your friends!
• Call my family more! It’s a worthwhile use of time. I see my parents and sisters a couple times a year, which is not enough to keep a good relationship alive, and I want to preserve the special relationship I have with them. As a friend recently put it, we no longer have to rely on the pony express — we can call anytime.

And now for the Less:

• Rushing. I am very prone to being late, and I’m not really sure of the reason why, but I do feel like I spend a lot of time being in a hurry…my best guess is because I’m always trying to do a lot of things at once. I am going to make an effort to NOT overcommit, not try and cram my days full of tasks, and spend time on doing fewer things but doing them well. This is going to be very hard for me!
• Scrolling. Social media is a pit for so many of us, and I’m definitely not above saying I have a problem with it. I’m not going to quit instagram, but I do think there need to be some limits — maybe not logging in on Sundays, limiting to just one time in the evening, or something like that — not really sure yet. Would welcome any suggestions of things that have worked for you to keep your consumption in check.
• Worrying. I mentioned that this year has brought some unexpected challenges, and I’ve spent a lot of energy on worrying over hypothetical situations that I don’t have any business worrying about. One of the simple solutions to this, I know for sure, is simply to spend more time in God’s word. My fears get much, much smaller after simply reading my Bible.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:7

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. ~ Proverbs 12:25

Some more things I’m looking forward to: a bigger garden, making new friends, continually healing, learning to love my husband well, a fun farming conference, working on our own land, and who knows what else may come our way…

And with that, I am going to sign off and wish all of you, my readers, a happy, healthy, joyful, colorful new year. I am thankful for you!

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD! ~ Psalm 31:24

❤ Emma