Inside: Favorite books, most-viewed blog posts, lessons my daughters taught me and a cross section of blessings from the past 12 months.
Where did the year go? I feel like I’ve said this about the previous month in almost every Share Four Somethings post I’ve done this year, and it is equally relevant when I look at 2022 as a whole.
So much has happened this year. The world seems like a different place than it did even six months ago, and I often don’t know what to think about that.
Inside: What we can learn from the dawn as we reflect on 2022 and look forward to a brand new year.
Some years, I can look back on the word I chose for the past 12 months and notice—sometimes to the point of goosebumps—how relevant and timely it was for my life during that season.
Fierce and bold, for the last years of my parents’ lives when helping them stretched me in ways I had never even imagined before. Full for 2020, when the world seemed to be falling apart but my grieving heart was starting to recover from my personal “worst year ever.”
Inside: Comfort and encouragement for those who have lost a loved one in recent years and struggle with grief at Christmas.
Four years ago, keeping Christmas saved me.
In 2018, I spent many December days running around like a chicken with my head cut off—to see my dad at the hospital, in rehab and then finally in long-term care with my mom; to his lawyer’s office, his banks, the investment broker’s office and my parents’ home in a neighboring town; to the places I needed to go to keep my own household running through the holidays.
Inside: What I’m loving this month, a book about grief for Little Women fans, braving constructive feedback and a glimpse of my daughter’s awesome creativity.
As I write this, my family and I are driving home from North Dakota, where we spent Thanksgiving break with Randy’s family.
One of the things I love most about North Dakota is the hugeness of the sky. The orientation of my mother-in-law’s house provides a mostly unobstructed view of the sunrise and the sunset, and both were glorious the last time we saw them there.
That’s not all I’m noticing these days, of course. And before we turn another page on the calendar and move full speed ahead into the holiday season, I’d love for you to join me as I look back and identify Four Somethings that have steadied me in recent weeks.
Inside: What it takes to keep learning—no matter how old you are. Plus … one way to do hard things, why it helps to run into the wind, and how to respond to unanswered prayers.
Several weeks ago, I watched as my younger sister taught my 92-year-old aunt how to use the video feature of Facebook Messenger. Aunt Renate wanted to be able to video chat with her daughter in Mississippi; now she can.
Goes to show, you’re never too old to learn something new.
Inside: When time flies by and it seems like the world is spinning out of control, the Book of Isaiah offers comfort and encouragement.
I’ve been blinking so much lately it feels like I’m in a perpetual dust storm.
I blinked and it’s November.
I blinked and the vibrant fall leaves are blanketing the ground.
I blinked and Thanksgiving is two weeks away.
I blinked and my daughter turned 21.
I blinked and I turned—well, another year older.
It’s as if we emerged from some kind of weird Covid-19 time warp into a world spinning so fast we can hardly keep up. Add in any number of societal changes and challenges, and it sometimes seems as if our entire planet is spiraling out of control.