Our lucky sign for 2018

Hello! Hello! Hellooooo!

Here we are on the other side, crossing over into the new year. We had a lovely, unplugged, chilled-out break over Christmas and New Year’s spending time with family back in my hometown.

I kept the social media updates to a minimum to allow myself to just ‘be’ in the moment of whatever moment I was being in. I might have less Instagram-worthy moments captured for posterity. But I hope the memory of the feeling in the moments that meant the most have been imprinted more deeply instead.

I used the down time to breathe and reflect on the year that had just gone.

I remember the year before was a year of hard knocks.

I think after that tough year, last year was kind of a ‘breather’ year for us. We were still reeling a bit and recovering from the blows from the previous year. So last year was a year of sitting back and taking it easy for a bit.

Not that we were lazing around.

Hubs had started a new job and was getting his feet stuck right in.

Nathan and Grace were enjoying new enrichment classes like taekwondo and dance.

I had a big garden project underway for my family day care and working hard to keep every detail of the business in order for a major audit we had in our service last year.

But I think the difference is that I was not trying to ‘do everything’ or chase after picture perfect moments.

I found myself allocating more time for reading and thinking and defining myself.

Allowing myself to explore different ideas and values.

Learning to be comfortable in the midst of uncertainties.

And I’m still learning.

So even though overall 2017 had not been a ‘blow your socks off’ kind of year. It’s been a good year of breathing and stretching.

And we still did have our fair share of ‘blow your socks off’ moments…

Hubs has dubbed this as our *lucky sign for the new year:

This magnificent six-petal Christmas Rafflesia

We snapped this picture to share a bit of our luck with you. May 2018 be a rosy, blooming, and fortuitous one for you just as we hope ours will be!

(*Some info on just how incredibly rare it is to spot this nearly extinct jungle flower in bloom)