6 Things I Learned This Winter

I’m so excited to take part in “What I Learned” hosted every quarter by, Emily P Freeman: an author, podcaster, and co-founder of Hope*Writers an online community for writers. Honestly, winter was crazy for me and my family, because we just moved into our new home in Colorado. Thankfully, we were able to get our stuff unpacked quickly. However, it takes time to settle in after a big move. Ever since the New Year began, we've been honing in on a good routine for our family, which has given us time to work on homeschool while my twins are napping.

6 Things I Learned This Winter

1. Photoshoots in the snow with small children aren’t ideal. 

For Christmas, my brother-in-law, Josh, and his girlfriend, Katya, came to visit for for holidays. We were so excited, because Josh’s plan was to propose while he was in town!! Josh told Katya the plan was to take family photos, which was just a cover for the surprise engagement. The morning of the proposal it was really snowing outside, so we all got bundled up and headed to do our photoshoot. Honestly, it was freezing cold and in most of our family pictures my poor girls aren’t very crying and upset. We were happy to be there for Josh and Katya, but I won’t be doing another winter photoshoot anytime soon.

2. I can’t listen to true crime podcasts when I’m home alone. 

Every week, I listen to The Popcast with Knox McCoy and Jamie B Golden. Back in January, they released an episode called, “True Crime in Pop Culture”. They recommended lots of different true crime podcasts, books, and tv shows. I started listening to true crime podcasts before when we lived in Hong Kong, so I was excited to have some new true crime recommendations from Knox and Jamie. So, I downloaded some new episodes and starting listening. It’s safe to say, I listened to way too many true crime episodes, because by the end of the night I was scared and couldn’t go to sleep. From then on, I’ll decided to limit my true crime podcasts to when my husband’s home, so I’m not scared to death!!

3. “Let’s Take the Long Way Home” by, Gail Caldwell is a MUST READ. 

During one of my Hope*Writers Tuesday Teachings, Marion Roach Smith taught us about writing memoirs. She also recommended some of her favorite memoirs one of them being, “Let’s Take the Long Way Home” by, Gail Caldwell. I was so thrilled to find this book on Hoopla and started listening right away. I couldn’t put it down and listened to the whole book in just one day!! The way Gail shares about her friendship with Caroline Knapp is incredible. I gave it five stars on my Goodreads and can’t wait to read Caroline’s known memoir called, “Drinking: A Love Story”.

4. Taking care of myself, by making my writing a priority again. 

Last year, I joined Hope*Writers to gain support from a writing community as I write my very first book. It’s an exciting time and my girls can’t wait for my book to be finished, so they can buy it. They’re so funny. I’m thankful to be able to make my writing a priority again as I write on my blog, email my girls, and write in my book. I am a writer and I’m thankful to God for helping me to remember who I am.

5. Don’t question Colorado’s ability to produce snow. 

Recently, my family moved to Colorado. In the first week, we snowed for four days straight. I love snow! Honestly, I was excited to have so much snow which welcomed us to our new home. Then, things seemed to taper off and we didn’t have as much snow as I thought we would in the coming months. We didn’t even have a white Christmas. What’s the deal? So I started thinking to myself, “Come on Colorado can’t you do better than that?” In just a matter of weeks, I’ve learned I should never mock Colorado, because in February we have had record snow fall and for over two weeks. My bad!! I will do my best to not question you again. #snowfordays

6. The stomach bug sucks. 

We’ve had an unwanted visitor the past week, the stomach bug. I did not invite him into our home, but he came to visit and wreak havoc upon our lives anyway. Everyone was sick, no one was spared. Each time I thought it was over, I cleaned and sanitized everything praying this would be it for us. Only to be woken up at 1 am to find, someone else was throwing up again. So many sleepless nights and caring for my girls allowed them to “share” the stomach bug with me, my husband, and my sister-in-law. I tried my best not to get mad, but there comes a point when you’re just over it. Praying for healing for my sister-in-law Hannah and that this stomach bug would leave our home, never to return again.

Now it’s your turn, what did you learn this Winter?