{Mr. Frank & Riley – 2001 – I love that smile!}

Being at his funeral made me think about what’s really important in life.  It caused me to evaluate my priorities and gave new meaning to any New Years resolutions I was thinking about attempting.  It brought me back to what’s important to me:  loving and following Jesus and trying to be more like him, loving my family well, and investing in relationships – really loving the people God’s put in my life.

It also made me think about my grandmother a lot – probably because I had just days before come across a letter she had written me during the summer of 1997 while I was working as a summer missionary in East St. Louis, Illinois.  I cried and cried after I read it because I loved her so much, and it made me miss her terribly.  She was a feisty lady with a lot of spunk and also a lot of love for her family.  She, too, loved Jesus very much.  In her letter, she told me about being in the hospital with her “skippy” heart and how her friend Corliss had moved to Huntsville – of all things.  She also said this:

Katie, you can’t begin to know how very proud I am of you.  You are “filling the shoes” that I would even yet like to be filling.  To cause 1 soul to be saved is worth a whole lifetime.  And I know that with your sweet, happy and loving personality you are a positive influence on leading others spiritually.  I am praying for you and the other missionaries  as well as for those you are casting a Christian influence upon.  How glad I am that you can be doing what I would have so much liked to have done.

And then she signed it with an underlined I Love You.  And I know she did.

{My grandmother, Hazel, holding me – 1978}

{This picture was taken the last time I saw my Grandmother.  She had Alzheimer’s, but she recognized me & my sister.  It was truly a miracle & I’ll never forget it.}

{The day she met Riley – I love that we have these pictures since he doesn’t remember her (2001) – please excuse that awful haircut!}

I guess the reason I’m writing this post (besides the chance to go down “memory lane”) is to remind myself that how we spend our days matters.  One day, God willing, I’ll be a grandmother and then maybe even a great-grandmother.  The way I live my life doesn’t just impact and affect me.  It shapes my children and their children and so on.  The decisions I make are important & will last for generations to come.  I’m so thankful f or these two wonderful grandparents & the legacies that they left for our family.  We are blessed because of their faithfulness!

                          

Happy birthday, Cole!  We love you SO MUCH & are so proud of you!  You are a JOY and one of God’s greatest gifts to us.  We hope you have a lot of fun being nine!

                          

February brought a visit from Grandma and Grandaddy, a letter from Umalu in Uganda, more walks in the woods, my continued obsession with birds, and Riley’s 10th birthday.  And more praying about a possible move . . .

In March there was a trip to Memphis which led to a lot of praying about moving back.  All of that led to many reminders about trusting God & remembering His goodness and faithfulness.  We continued to adjust to being a family of five.

We couldn’t take many months like April.  It was FILLED with getting our house ready to sell.  We were tired physically & emotionally.  We enjoyed many a Sonic Happy Hour, the boys soaked up time with their neighborhood friends, & we got to enjoy the baby birds that hatched in our neighbor’s front door wreath!

May was pretty crazy, too.  We finished getting the house ready to sell, told our church family we were moving back to Memphis, and the house went on the market & sold in 12 days.  Our local Starbucks hosted a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and we were excited to participate.  It was also the beginning of the locust invasion (SO loud & annoying!).

At the end of May I went to Haiti and came back wrecked in early June.  We immediately left for our annual family beach trip & had fun watching Yohannes experience the sand and ocean for the first time.  We took a family trip to Memphis, got to see the house God provided for us, and went to a Redbirds game where we won a free pizza!

July was filled with packing and packing and packing.  I also got to meet my Australian blog friend, Sharen (and her husband, Dave).  She was even more fabulous in person!  Then we packed all our stuff into a big, yellow truck and said goodbye …. and I cried a lot …. but was also excited about our new adventure.

The first day of August was move-in day, and we spent the month getting settled into our new home and Midtown.  Riley and Cole started school at Snowden (really tough first day but eventually got much better), and Yohannes started preschool.  My mom came to visit, we spent a lot of time at the local parks & took a trip to the zoo.

In September we celebrated Yohannes’s one year anniversary of being home!  Our friend, Elissa, came to visit for Labor Day & we rode the trolley downtown and explored.  I’m pretty sure that was also the month I got addicted to Pinterest & decided to get all crafty and stuff.  We had an interest meeting for Mercy Hill Church and began our first Missional Community group the following week.

We soaked up our amazing front porch and spending time outside while the weather was still nice in October.  We also hosted a Red Earth Trading Co. house party and did Halloween.  Brad’s goatee continued to get more and more “epic” (as many people have said), and I tried to actually make some of the stuff I had “pinned” on Pinterest.

In November we celebrated Yohannes’s 5th birthday with a Cars party at the park with a few close friends, I relaunched my newly rebranded photography business, and we visited family in Alabama for Thanksgiving.

And finally in December we were featured in Show Hope’s Miracles magazine, we enjoyed decorating the house for Christmas, Yohannes participated in his first preschool Christmas program, and we did the annual family Christmas card photo extravaganza.  We also celebrated God’s goodness and faithfulness as we watched our Missional Community group continue to grow in many different ways.  We drove back to Alabama to spend Christmas with our families, and unfortunately drove back home afterward with a sick child and a “throw up bowl” …. you know, just in case.  (Thankfully he’s medicated now and recovering nicely).

2011 was a BUSY, and at times HARD year …. but it’s been really, really good, too.  We’ve been stretched and strengthened in ways we hadn’t experienced before, and God has been so incredibly gracious and faithful to our family.  We are thankful to Him for ALL His gifts …. when we could see them and appreciate them in the moment AND when we couldn’t see them yet but got to experience them later.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Dunlaps!  Let’s go 2012!

                          

Guess what we got in the mail earlier this week?  Yohannes is featured on the front cover of Show Hope’s 2011 Miracles Book!  I knew they were using the chalk photo I took of him, and it was really fun to see it in print!

They also used our Christmas card picture from last year and featured our adoption story inside.

Show Hope is a wonderful organization, and we were incredibly blessed to receive a grant from them to help with adoption expenses last year.  They assist many, many families and children with adoption aid and orphan care.  We’re grateful for Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman (as well as all the Show Hope team) for the ministry they do and for how God used them to bless our family and help us adopt Yohannes!

                          

My dad & Joan are selling the property in order to move to Prattville for his new job (congratulations, Daddy!).  While I’m so sad that we won’t have this space anymore, I’m very thankful for all of the sweet memories we’ve made there.  As we walked down to the creek over the Thanksgiving holiday, I couldn’t help but get teary-eyed thinking about them.  It will always be a place I cherish and remember fondly.

Thanks Daddy (& Joan) for building such a wonderful place and letting it be our little home away from home!

                          

I just got a sneak peek of my new logo yesterday, and I can’t wait to finish all the rebranding work.  When Yohannes came home I took a break from photography, and I’m really excited about getting back at it!  {I’m sure my kids will be relieved, too, since they’ve been my primary subjects for the past year!}  See, he’s pretty much over it . . . .

                          

This was Yohannes learning to ride his bike without training wheels on Saturday…..

By the afternoon he had improved quite a bit…..

And this was him this morning before heading to preschool!…..

If there’s one thing I can say about this boy, it’s that he’s DETERMINED! When he decides to do something, he gives it all he has!

P.S. Stay tuned this week for a couple of great giveaways! More details to come soon…..