Thursday, January 14, 2010

2009: A Year in Review

I have seen a number of "year in review" posts crop up in the blogging world lately, and have loved seeing the highlights of 2009 through the eyes of my friends. The year 2009 sort of has a stinky smell to it for a lot of people, but I have also seen a lot of meaningful experiences and blessings in the lives of my blogging friends who go back and look through their photos of the year. Here is our version...

January
In January we celebrated the inauguration of President Barack Obama. We are still celebrating his inauguration. We trust that despite bumps along the way, with his sound character and intellect he will make the best of his years in office.


February
In February I was privileged to attend the 100% natural labor and delivery of my friend's daughter. My friend has told me time and again since that day that she apologizes if it was traumatizing for me to watch someone go through that much pain, but on the contrary, for me it was just another tribute to the amazing tenacity of the human body.


March
Although last year's calendar for the spring months is packed with school events and assignments, and we were running around like social chickens with our heads cut off, the most beautiful photos in our March gallery are of food! Our old apartment had superior lighting, and I needed an outlet from school life, so I cooked. A lot.


April
In April, at our church's General Conference, Marcos' father was called as an Area Seventy over a portion of Northern Brazil. We flew to Utah for the special occasion, and loved being with Marcos' family for a long weekend to support Pai and his new calling.


May
After two years of graduate school at UNC, I finished my Masters in Social Work in May. I miss learning in a classroom every day, and I miss seeing my friends, but life without papers and assignments has been dreamy since then. My mom came from Hawaii and my dad and Emili came out from New Jersey for the occasion, so we finally had visitors to share North Carolina with.


June
June was full of socializing, job hunting, symphony on the lawn, and outdoor movies, relaxing and having fun with our friends. I also started working part time for a photographer and friend named Rebecca, which I continued through the end of the year, while Marcos kept up his work for his start up company, designing a medical diagnostic tool.


July
In July we went camping with the Whittiers in the Blue Ridge mountains (the Appalachian side of the state), and we crashed the Prouse's family reunion by joining them at the beach house on the Outer Banks! (See below picture of Marcos at the Hatteras Lighthouse). Thanks for having us along, folks!


August
In August, two important things happened. We moved into our new apartment, and found out we were going to have a baby (we didn't break this news until 14 weeks later). Somewhere around this point, I gave up the disappointing search for a job in the field of Social Work. At least for now.


September
The month of September was spent in Europe. You're probably sick of Europe one million photos later, but having tasted of the goodness, we just can't get enough. Marcos is already dreaming of going back...


October
In October, Marcos' brother Danny, his wife Marie and their little girl Kaitlyn came to visit us. We loved showing them the Outer Banks, Duke Gardens on their Anniversary, and we enjoyed their company to the max. At the end of October, we had our first ultrasound and found out that our baby was going to be a Giovanna.


November
At the end of November, we drove to New Jersey to celebrate Thanksgiving in the greenhouse with my dad, Emili and her family. We also spent our traditional Saturday after Thanksgiving in New York City, and managed a family caravan adventure to Philadelphia as well.


December
We stayed home this year for the Christmas holidays, so the month of December was full of meaningful time spent with friends and loved ones. One of our most unique dinner invites was to a Joseph and Mary dinner, hosted by our friends the Austins. We ate by candlelight, and the entire meal was pita breads, hummus, cheeses, Mediterranean olives, grapes, baba ganoush, broiled fish, etc. which we ate with our hands to remember the travels of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. It was definitely a tradition to keep alive.


And those are the highlights of our year. We have a feeling that 2010 will be a good one, so Happy New Year everyone!

4 comments:

Kim said...

Seriously Metta, that is the most unflattering half picture of me from back in June. I do believe this is the 2nd time it has graced your blog. Jason got such a kick out it the last time it was posted. Don't you have any other pictures from that night? :)

Damaris @Kitchen Corners said...

lovely post. o much to celebrate and be thankful for.

Robbie said...

Love it! What a great year it was, with so many cool things happening for you. I didn't know what you were doing for work until now, and now that job is over, but oh well. :) I should've asked sooner if I really wanted to know!
I know 2010 will be fun to write a post about as well when next January comes around!

Drew and Alicia said...

We made your year in review!! Last year was an exceptional year of great friends! We sure wish we were still around for more fun.