Our Best Nine
In case you haven’t noticed, your social media hasn’t been plagued with squares of smaller squares highlighting everyone’s past year…and in case you’re wondering why, it has to do with Instagram no longer allowing it to happen. ;) But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look back on the past year and create our own! Since 2013, I have done just that. (You can take a look back at the others HERE.) So in honor of my NINTH year recapping our Ham Fam adventures: Here is our “Best 9” from 2021!
9 - LEAH JOY. What a JOY it was this year to watch Brad’s little sister, Erin, and her husband become momma and daddy to our sweet niece, Leah Joy! Erin shared with us that she was pregnant in March, so it was a year full of celebrating her and her growing baby, including a fun gender reveal and baby showers! Leah was born October 21, and we loved getting to be with her and her parents throughout the all the holidays!! Bryleigh and Will have loved getting to hold her, but no-one is quite as obsessed with her as Carson is!! He’s no longer the baby of the family.
8 - EMMITT LAYNE. One of our hardest moments of 2020 was saying goodbye to Emmitt Layne. We all loved him so much, and he was the very best little snuggler. I got him in January before I met Brad in June of 2007, so he’s been around our entire relationship. He was here when each child came home from the hospital. We experienced a lot of firsts this year without our little pup, and while we are so anxious to have another one, we are making the most of our pet-free days by focusing on each of the kiddos medical issues and taking trips without having to find puppy-care. ;)
7 - BRYLEIGH GIRL. Our Bryleigh turned 7 right at the beginning of 2021 and a big year followed! She lost her first tooth this year - at school lunch, then had the second one pulled, and then lost the third AND fourth right at Christmas time! She’s grown in her reading as she went from 1st to 2nd grade this year, and her love for school is back, including riding the bus there and home!! She’s had quite the year with her own health journey as well changing doctors and adding new ones. There were HOURS spent with a new ophthalmologist, we found an amazing new GI doctor, met with a sleep doctor, and continued with her sweet neurologist. While we still don’t have all the answers, we are seeing progress and are so pleased with how far she’s come. Two of my favorite Bryleigh memories from the year were her Bookclub birthday party and getting to watch her as she started tumbling classes.
6 - PUBLISHED. In October of 2019, I took a big step in following a dream I’ve had my whole life, and a call I know is from the Lord - to write as He leads me. Brad gifted me a membership to COMPEL Training for my birthday, and while I haven’t used it to its full extent, I have submitted for almost every challenge they had and taken some of the classes they offer over the last year. I also launched my website in hopes to start my platform where I will write and share on a more regular basis. (Here’s to hoping THAT happens in 2022!!) One of the pieces I submitted with Compel was for a devotional book that Proverbs 31 Ministries puts out each year, and mine was selected! It is such an honor to have my first piece published, and I’m hoping that is only the beginning!
5 - WILLIAM BRADLEY. I think I underestimated the “speak it into existence” thing when I dubbed our boy “Wild Will” from the time he was in my belly and we knew he was a HE, but boy has he tried to live up to that name! He is all boy, strong-willed, and I’m not sure what description is “beyond loud,” but that’s what Will is. He is so incredibly smart, and we are excited to see how God will use every bit of how He created William for His glory…but these days are TOUGH. We’re digging in our heels and clinging to Jesus, trusting that He will give us the wisdom we need. This year, Will finished up his Fox class and started his last year of preschool at ECC, and he played soccer for the first time (which he LOVED).
4 - MY HEALTH. To say our year revolved around our health would be an understatement. Looking back on the calendar, we had (at least) 40 appointments over the last year. It was a year spent focusing on getting some of my life-long health struggles figured out, which led to a complete hysterectomy in May and working closely with a neurologist to get my migraines under control. My year included an MRI, one major surgery, and one ER visit, but we are ending the year with a lot of hope for 2022.
3 - CARSON MERRITT. I am getting emotional just writing this, but what an incredible year of growth Carson has had. When I wrote this post last year, Carson couldn’t walk, barely talked and he still wasn’t eating, but we have seen SO much growth in the last year. Carson had a total of 72 hours of therapy!! We are so blessed with an incredible team that have been so helpful along this journey. Beyond Carson’s development, a highlight for him this year was his 2nd birthday when we were able to celebrate him WITH friends and family after being in lockdown last year. We are hopeful for the year ahead and all that God has in store for our sweet C!!
2 - SNOW DAYS. When you’ve experienced a pandemic and all that came with it, you think you’re done with the shocking moments, but somehow…they still happen. We got SOME snow, a light beautiful dusting, in January, and everyone had fun with it. Most probably even wished for more…but I don’t think they quite got what they were expecting when the “more” we got shut most of Texas down for DAYS. There were power outages, road closures, and pipes bursting that led to homes being ruined. We were blessed in our neighborhood and maintained power the whole time, and we didn’t experience any water damage. My parents lost power, so they came and stayed with us! It was quite the experience and definitely one of the most memorable moments from 2020!
1 - DISNEY WORLD. The highlight of our year was definitely our trip to Disney!! We started talking about going on this trip in 2018, booked it in 2019, rescheduled it in 2020, and finally got to go in 2021!! It was certainly worth the wait. It was SO fun being there with our Armstrong family, especially Bryleigh and Will having Tate and Olivia to experience it all with. It was HOT, and it rained SO much, but I don’t think there was a single thing we really missed out on due to the weather! They had also lifted some of the Covid protocols right before we got there, so we were able to enjoy it without masks, lines were open, and fireworks started back while we were there. (If you’d like a good look at our trip, be sure to check out the video we created for my parents’ Christmas present this year: Happily Ever After - Disney Trip 2021)
BRAD’S BONUS - I have to highlight what would probably be Brad’s top moments from 2021, and that is his dive into Camp Gladiator. He ended the year with 114 check ins and is looking forward to smashing that number in the coming year. There were lots of virtual workouts that the kids joined in on and lots of new friends made at the in-person workouts. He even competed in the 2021 CG Games!! Here’s to a healthy B-Dad in 2022!!
