It’s time to say good-bye to 2014 and hello 2015!!!!!  Another year come and gone.

This time of the year tends to make me pause and think about the past year.  The successes and the failures.  Both help us to learn and grow after all.

– Our goal of homesteading did not become reality in 2014.  A failure or success?

– Hubby had some challenges at work that caused us to step back and re-evaluate.  With old challenges behind him, he walked into the challenges of a new job.

– It was a wetter and colder than normal summer.  My tomatoes suffered, but our garden still provided us some good produce.

– We bought our first rain barrels.  At first we thought we would have a dry summer, but instead it ended up  wetter than normal.  The rain barrels were constantly full and received little use, but we have them and will continue to set them up in the spring.

– I learned that dandelions are so much more than a weed.

– We began the process of reinstating our foster care license the end of May.  On July 31st I picked up two little boys.  FS1 and FS2 have been with us ever since.

– In between everything else we did a little traveling visiting Ohio for a Guatemala adoptive families weekend.  A few days later we were on the road again for a drive out to Denver, CO for a few days of sight-seeing, visiting friends and enjoying a show.  Our time in Denver was memorable and then we were off to the Dallas, TX area for Thanksgiving with family.

– After 2+ years of talking, planning, and trying to make a decision, hubby and I finally decided that it made much more sense for us to stay in Central IL and have begun looking for our homestead property.  It’s certainly not the location we had on our radar, but somehow making this decision has given us a sense of freedom and peace.  I think no homestead in 2014 may end up being a success afterall.

While there were more events over the last year, this is a good recap of 2014 and now we look forward to 2015 and all the adventures that await us.