Tim and Olive's Blog

Originally, I had hoped to host a phenomenally epic 40^th birthday party and invite tons of friends and family to celebrate. If you’re reading this blog post, you would have likely been invited. As an extrovert, I get energized by being with people. For my birthday last year we hosted a chicken-wing tasting party and I invited our entire church to come. When I turned 30 we had a 30-hour birthday party and friends and family dropped by whenever they wanted over the course of two days.

Just as I did 2017, 2018, and 2019, I made it one of my goals in 2020 to read one book a month. I exceeded my goal to reach 20 (the extra time during this COVID year and my digital detox both helped). Here’s a list of my top 5 books from 2020:

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The first book that I read in 2020 ended up changing my life. Sounds dramatic? Let me explain and I’ll let you decide. In January, I picked up Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life (affiliate link) by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It was a book Tim had asked for last Christmas but its pretty teal cover called to me and I stole it before he had the chance to crack it open. Little did I know what would come as a result.

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For 2019, my reading goal was two books a month. This year, my goal was 3 books a month. I exceeded my goal this year by completing 38 books (with a few more partially read). This doesn’t include all the books I read aloud to my kids at bedtime. (Hello, Next Best Junior Chef Books 1, 2, and 3, and Unusual Chickens books 1 and 2 – all of which I read out loud twice…!)

Looking back, what surprised me is that 16 of them were audiobooks. I never thought I would enjoy audiobooks but thanks to our library’s audiobook system, I’ve been able to “read” while I paint. A win-win.

Now at year’s end, I’ve compiled my top 5 picks for 2020. Since it’s hard to rank them, I’m listing them by category:

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At the beginning of 2020, I (Olive) was looking at the year to come, and thinking about what I wanted to invest in.

I was really challenged to take the artist part of me seriously, to not just treat it as a hobby, but to pursue it as a career. I realized that if my life were to end and I looked back at my life, I would really regret not living into that integral part of who I am.

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In the morning on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, after a relatively uneventful night where I fell asleep to the sound of my dad’s steady breathing in his palliative care hospital room, I suddenly noticed his breathing sharply slow. I hurried over to his bedside and gently caressed his head, watching intently. His inhales and exhales were irregular and drawn out. Inhale. Long pause. Exhale. Another long pause. Inhale. Even longer pause. Exhale.

“Is this the
end?” I asked him. “Is Jesus coming for you?”  A small tear glistened from the corner of his
eye. Here we are, at the edge of
eternity. As I watched, a change occurred in his irises and I saw his
spirit leave. “I love you, dad,” I whispered. I looked at the clock.
7:51am.

I leaned my head on
his chest.

All was still.

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We get asked about book recommendations from time to time so here’s a compilation of books that have helped us as we navigate parenthood and seek to be intentional about our lives.

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Just as I did 2017 and 2018, I made it one of my goals in 2019 to read one book a month. It was the first year I exceeded my goal to reach 13 (partly spurred on by the voracious reading of my wife who read 30 books). Here’s a list of my top 5 books from 2019:

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For the past few years, we’ve kept a sticky note on our fridge to track which books we’ve read throughout the year. This year, I set myself a goal of reading two books per month. Thanks to both kids being in school as well as discovering audio books from our local library, I managed to exceed my goal and read 30 books! Here are my top 5 picks, listed in the order of which I read them:

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“What will you be doing for Advent this year?” a friend asked me. She knew that for the past three years, I have engaged in an Advent Photo-a-Day practice, reflecting on a prompt word each day and capturing it in a picture.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “It hurts too much. My heart is still tender from the grief of my dad’s passing.”

In previous years, the season of Advent had been a source of
joy and consolation for me. I looked forward to the anticipation and the
gentle, dark time of waiting. Advent had always been a time of finding hidden
beauty. This year, however. This year was different. I couldn’t even think
about Advent without tears welling up and my chest feeling like it had
exploded. Or maybe imploded. Oh, what a raw place.

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