2014 in review

There's thankfulness when looking back on 2014. Emotions run the gammet: sadness of dear friends moving away, love of family & friends getting married, joy from babies being born, to pain of growth and changes. All in all this year can be summed up by the word magical. I fell like everything that happened this year had some pixxy dust on it. Especially when seeing the world through the eyes of a 2 and 6 year old. We got to experience things we thought were only dreams. Disneyland was a highlight and so was the MLS All Star game where kaden got to walk out with the best player out there, Tierry Henry. We have deeper friendships and a deeper love for Jesus. We pray that 2015 will be just as magical and that we will be a blessing to those around us. Here's our year in pictures. Of course when taking thousands of pictures in a year, picking just 12 is super hard. 

January: started it off with helping to organize the Multicultural Fair at Kaden's school. 

February: major snow storm kept us home for almost a week! So much fun sledding down our huge hill. 

March: we got to throw our beloved friends a baby shower. We love baby Jofa so much! 

April: three birthdays and Easter celebrations! Boba Truck came and catered Joel's birthday! We had a Disney themed birthday party for the kids...can't believe the kids are two and six! 

May: lots of soccer for this family! Kaden is still very passionate for the game. It was a wet spring! 

June: Joel and I celebrated our tenth anniversary by celebrating friends getting  married! 

July: we spent a week with my family visiting my brother in California. We had a magical time at Disneyland! 

August: Zach and Amanda were home for August. Lots of adventures wih them in August. We spent more time at Providence park then our own house. Lol! Kaden got a chance to walk out at the MLS All Star game with Tierry Henry! We also ended the month in Seattle celebrating James and Alice's wedding! 

September: we had to say goodbye to Zach and Mei Mei. Kaden started first grade! We also had a little getaway with the Missio staff team. We ended the month celebrating Dennis and Tammy's engagement. 

October: I worked like crazy this month. We had compassion connect's annual banquet. We tricked or treated at uncle Jason's office and then to multnomah village. The sun came out just for the afternoon. 

November: kaden ended another soccer season on his first development team. Then went straight to a futsal team. It was a great fall season watching him grow as a soccer player. We are so thankful for lots of family and friends. We hosted my family for the thanksgiving weekend and ate more then we should have. 

December: kaden and I got a mini vacation to California to meet baby Matilda. We had a blast doing Christmasy things with the family down there. We tree hunted and spent a lot of time just being with family and friends. We spent Christmas week in Seattle and brought in the New Year on New York time so the kids could go to sleep cause they are fighting off colds. 

We have so much to be thankful for. It was a wonderful 2014. Can't wait to see what all 2015 has in store for us. Much Iove! --from the Tos 

Lent Day 12: Kids' Closet

I wasn't setting out to clean out anything at this very moment but it was like a snowball effect. I went to put something away and kept going. The kids have this shelf on the side of their closet. I was really excited about it when we first moved in but it just became a place where things got tucked into. We had some board games, art supplies, clothes, and memorabilia just hanging out on the shelves. A lot of the toys were ones I was "hiding" from the kids for one reason or another. So those went straight to the donation pile. It was just a collection of randomness so a lot of things got put away in the right places and a bag of toys are getting donated. 

Lent Day 11: Kids' Dresser

Seriously any flat surface is a magnet for clutter to accumulate. Especially when it's in the kids' room. I think the thing that has been a lesson for me is not only simplifying but it's about maintaining. Every day I have a choice to put something on top of this dresser that can be put away later... Or I can take an extra second to walk it to the right place and put whatever it is away. Maintaining anything is harder and less fun than the initial cleaning and decrapifying. This isn't just forty days during lent but a continual daily choice if keeping things clean, organized and simplified. 

Lent Day 10: Keys/Mail Drawer

We have a dresser in our living room that is supposed to help us organize. It does most of the time but from time to time things just get shoved in to hide from the rest of the world. The top drawer holds our keys, mail and other important stuff we don't want to lose. It has become disastrous. So here is the before and afters. Much easier to find our keys now. 

Lent Day 9: Bathroom Drawers

During this process we had a reflection time at my office. We talked about letting God in all the areas of our lives and having him work through the messy stuff and redeem us. The question was asked if we let God into ALL of our rooms in our lives? Or just a few clean ones? As I'm cleaning out big areas that are more public spaces like my desk that's smack dab in the middle of the living room or the nitty gritty bathroom drawers that not very many people get to see into... I reflect on that very question of am I letting God into the nitty gritty or just the nice and pretty? I pray that you're finding that God loves us with an unconditional love that we can't comprehend. But he loves us right in the middle of our mess and not just when we appear to be put together. Here's some if my hidden mess that had to not only be decrapified but had to be wiped down and sanitized. Jesus wipes away all of our sins and makes us back to be what he intended us to be like. 

Lent Day 8: Desk

Oh my desk! I semi work from home and feel like it collects crap on it all week long and then on Friday I just move the junk around to make room for me to work and then the cycle starts over again. Piles of Kaden's papers that come home from school, church and his drawings. He has a memory of an elephant and asks for random drawings and I need to know where they are at all times. Random mail gets on my desk and not to mention other people's mail gets collected there too. The worst is there's that laundry basket of random office stuff (envelopes, labels, you name it) under my desk. It was all in the office until our housemates came back from china and it was a mad dash to clean out the office for them to stay all summer. Yes, the stuff hasn't really moved out of the basket since last July. There was also thank you cards from the kids birthdays, new address we have moved cards and maybe even 2012 Christmas cards in there. If you didn't receive one of those cards there's an envelope with your name on it, personal note written and never addressed or mailed. And since I was decrapifying it went into the recycle. Sorry. We love you, appreciate the gifts you have given our kids, hoped you had a good holiday season and we have a new address. Lol. 

I'm sure tucked away in a closet downstairs we have our wedding Thank You cards. That was 10 years ago folks. Guess what I'm not so good at? Hahah!!!  It's refreshing to have a clean organized work space. There's a few things I still need to do to this space but its a good start. Hope you are able to find one space to simplify and organize today. 

Lent Day 7: Bedside Tables

I think there's a magnetic pull for crap to accumulate on any clear flat surface. Hahah! Our bedside tables have drawers too so that gets filled with stuff. 

Throughout this simplifying process it's been trying to pray through why I'm holding on to garbage... Lots of drawings from the kids, broken toys, ripped clothing. As I look deep into my heart I know much of it stems from being an immigrant family. My parents came here to America with the shirts on their backs and my mom was 8 months pregnant when we arrived in her new home in Seattle. I don't remember lacking much as a kid and I certainly don't remember being "poor". My parents were loved on by the church and by an amazing sponsor family. They worked really hard and were able to now own a house, cars, too many tvs for just two people. Lol. I am very proud of my parents and the work and tears they put into giving their kids a better life. 

So with coming from this background I feel like I need to hold onto everything. Have memories/keepsakes for my kids to take with them. But realizing that I can't keep every single drawing they make. Every single article of clothing or toy. There's a few things like their lovies and first soccer jersey. But they won't care about that letter "A" they traced a hundred times in school. I do have to take out the recycling and garbage after each of these cleans cause the kids will pillage and take out the stuff I'm throwing away or recycling. 

Having clean cleared off bedside tables are amazing for my soul. It's the first and last thing I see when I am in bed. Hope you have a great Wednesday! It's been a full week of lent already!