LOOKING BACK AT 2017

2017 both flew by and dragged all at the same time.  We had some truly amazing experiences and opportunities.  We also uncovered some hard things that live inside of us and are spending a lot of time and energy trying to make sense of the people that we are.  And the world seemed to be a little nuts, which certainly was not fun to watch, or live in.



Here are the highlights (and notable happenings) of the Spenst 2017!



Lily turned 8, and we celebrated with a Pajamas and Pancake Party.

John and I had a mini-getaway before we headed to CFA Seminar in Texas this year.

We spent part of Spring Break in Branson with friends!



We welcomed a new biological sibling for William and Violet into our extended family that has grown to include some dear friends.  This still makes me 😭.

William and Violet turned four, and we celebrated with a Fiesta Fourth Birthday party!

Violet had her adenoids removed shortly after their birthday.  It has made a HUGE difference for us all, and we are so thankful!

We won a trip to Aruba with CFA- such a gift.

We celebrated our CFA's 10 Year Anniversary.  Cannot believe we've been in Little Rock selling chicken for 10 whole years!  We had a party for people who have been with us for at least five of those years.

One of our biggest 2017 highlights was our trip to Rwanda.  It was beyond amazing and truly an unforgettable experience.  We are so thankful the Lord allowed us this opportunity!

We joined my family in NW Arkansas for a long weekend.



Everybody started back to school for another year that seems to be going well.  I'm so thankful for the places that God has our kids for the time being.



We celebrated the massive milestone of having all of our children potty-trained!!!



Bella turned seven, and we partied with unicorns to celebrate.



John and I traveled to Houston and took in a Dodgers/Astros WORLD SERIES game!  It was such an amazing experience, though they lost the series - we got to see a game they won!



For Halloween, we were the Spenst Sweets, which I particularly loved.

Our college besties visited in November, and we had SO MUCH FUN.



Our Thanksgiving was a sweet one with lots and lots of family.



And, we had one of our best Christmases ever.

I'm always blown away when I look back to see all that one year holds.  I love to see all of the ways that God works, and I am truly so thankful for the good and the hard.  It is all shaping us.

Looking forward to 2018!  Happy New Year!

DECEMBER FUN OVERLOAD

Well, the other reason that I haven't blogged much this month is that we've pretty much partied every other night.  Not really - but, we have certainly managed to cram a lot of lights, parties and fun into this month.  And even still, there is a long list of things that we didn't get to.  It may be clear that I am overly ambitious.  🤦🏻‍♀️ Also, I really did try to scale us back some, so we have successfully watched a lot of Christmas movies on the couch cuddled up under our fuzzy plaid Christmas blanket sipping hot chocolate.  (though with two active twins, it doesn't usually stay that simple for long!)

I'm gonna do a quick re-cap basically in bullets.  In the past, almost each one of these would have gotten it's own blog post, but that was clearly in another era.  I feel lucky to be getting them into this month at all. 🤣

- We visited the Santa in the mall, which everyone was excited about - though not all their faces show it.

- My Book Club celebrated the holidays with festive food as we discussed What Alice Forgot - one of my favorite books!



- CFA Central AR Operator Christmas Party.  We all gathered in Hot Springs for a delightful night of games and delicious food.  We really are privileged to work with some fantastic people!



- The next weekend, we hosted our team CFA party on the UALR campus.  We had a blast eating and exchanging gifts and giving away door prizes!  Also, we are saying goodbye to some dear friends who have worked with us for many years now and are moving away. 😥

- Even though the girls all took turns having a really high fever for a lot of days in a row, we managed to make it to their class parties at just the 24 hour mark for two of them.  And William especially loved when Santa visited their school.

- We visited the NLR Inflatables House that is always a sight to behold!

-  Our D-group went out to dinner and then exchanged gifts and basically laughed a ton.  I love these peeps!



- We had Christmas with Gran Gran who we adore!

-  We caroled at an Assisted Living facility which turned out to be such a sweet time for all involved!



-  We hit up Garvan Garden Holiday Lights with friends.  From Rwanda to Hot Springs, the Heads and the Spensts sure have a good time!

- We rounded out the month with dinner at Local Lime after Christmas.




When I look back over the month, I am blown away with thankfulness for the people that our life contains.  We are so fortunate to know and love so many treasured friends, family and co-workers.  Celebrating Christmas with each of them has been our joy - though sometimes a bit chaotic.  I am looking forward to a slower pace in January, but I sure do love a good party, and December had a bunch!

CHRISTMAS DAY 2017

To say our Christmas Day was magical is an understatement.

The kids were up around 6:15, but the girls took the twins into their room and read books, and they didn't come wake us up until 7.  Merry Christmas to the parents!  We did stockings and had cinnamon rolls before opening presents.

(I had a stocking full of Izard with custom wrappers decorated by the kids!)

We celebrated advent and talked about peace and Jesus and the gift that Christmas really is.  We opened presents which contained a truckload of excitement from the kiddos.

(gotta love that middle child photo bomb!)

We told the kids about our upcoming Disney trip by letting them unwrap the Lego Cinderella's castle and then giving them the cookies that told them we were going.  They were so excited!  And so are we!



Most of our day was spent in pajamas, building Legos, watching Star Wars in preparation for Disney, eating cinnamon rolls and getting a visit from Grandparents.

Eventually we put on actual clothes, delivered cookies to the neighbors and took a chilly walk in the woods.

We had a few tears, but overall, our day was filled with comfort and joy.  It was unexpectedly delightful, and I never ever ever want to forget the beauty it contained.  I'm so thankful for the gifts we received - first in our Savior who came down for us and then in each other.  There are so many hard things in life, and this day, we managed to skate above and around those with our little family.



Hoping the rest of your Christmas break contains rest and maybe a little fun as well!

To see Christmas Eve Highs & Lows, click here!