A Year in Review: 2009

I remember when I was a kid, my dad always said time was "flying." As a child under the age of ten, I had a hard time grasping the concept of time flying. A week seemed like it was an eternity. The older I've gotten (I know, I know... 24 isn't old... but it is older than 8) the more I understand what he meant. It honestly feels like 2009 was about a month long (excluding those 12 weeks of nausea at the beginning of this pregnancy).

Anyways, each year, I write down very random stuff on our wall calendar, in my planner, and in the form of lists. Consequently, I can go back and tell you random facts about our year. For instance, we went to Outback on January 16th to celebrate our 25 month "anniversary." I can tell you that my third grade class took the ITBS during the week of March 23rd. I had my final report cards ready to go home on May 20th, even though they weren't due until the 22nd. Does any of that stuff matter? Probably not to anyone else, but it's really neat to go back year after year and see what happened when. Like, I can tell you the date that David and I met. I can tell you the date that he first said "I love you!" Those are things that are worth remembering.

After looking back on our year, here are the dates that stand out the most:

• January 19-22: Annual Bible Conference @ church. David & I met at this meeting 8 years ago!
• May 23: David J. & Kimberly got married. All the Brown kids were married off and my in-laws officially became "empty nesters."
• May 30: Jamie (my maternal grandfather) went to be with his Savior! A sad day for our family but a joyous day for him.
• June 17: Grandma (paternal) went to be with her Savior. We were very unprepared for this.
• July 24: The day we found out that we were going to have a baby & the day we shared the news with our parents/siblings!
• August 24: The day we got to see our baby for the very first time!
• September 21-29: David's mission trip to Guyana. 11 people claimed to trust Christ as their Savior during this week!
• November 16: The day we found out our baby was Riley Grace not Jackson David.
• December 16: The day we celebrated our 3rd anniversary!

While 2009 had some sad times (deaths of my grandparents), it also had many joyous times. We have spent every day since July 24th praying for and anticipating the arrival of our first baby! Since that day, we have beefed up our family devotion time, doing our best to read the entire Bible aloud to Riley before she arrives. Now, we're enjoying making some changes to our house in preparation for Riley Grace, gearing up for the 2010 Bible Conference, and counting down the days until April 3rd (93, I believe). The David Brown family anticipates a wonderful 2010, hoping and praying that we will bring honor and glory to our Savior, Jesus Christ, in more ways this year than we ever have before!

Happy New Year from us to you!