This post was supposed to be called “The 12 Books I Read in 2019” but I mis-counted how many books I read this year. Whoops! In my defense, I read 5 books in December, 2018 during the long lonely hours by myself at the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle as we prepared for Oliver’s transplant so that is probably why I added wrong!

Fun fact: I graduated cum laude from Western Washington University with a degree in English Literature before my dental hygiene days! I used to read a ton as a kid and then read enormous stacks of books for college each semester. After college (especially during dental hygiene school and then having kids) I read way less…pretty much only my Bible.

I have been keeping track of the books that I read in a notebook since I graduated from college. The genre of books I have been reading has shifted significantly since having kids too.  I used to read quite a bit of fiction and now it is mostly nonfiction.

I’m making another goal for 2020 to read 12 books but I’m planning ahead exactly which 12 books I want to read in order to hopefully be able to actually make my goal this year!

Here is a quick summary of the 10 books I read in 2019!

1. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway: It was interesting to read about the siege of Sarajevo which happened in 1994. I had actually never heard of this event in history before reading this book. It was a fairly dark book to read (especially during Oliver’s hospital stay) but I’m glad I read it.
2. Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers: This was a pretty classic Francine Rivers book, perfect to easily pick up and put down in the hospital. There is a sequel to this one that I did not read.
3. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen: This was a memoir of Susanna’s time in a mental hospital in 1968.
4. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai: I had been wanting to read this one for a long time and I’m glad I read it!
5. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman: This book was really funny, entertaining, and sad at the same time. I read it in less than a week because it really kept my attention!
6. For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay: I loved this book! The author references Charlotte Mason quite a bit. I thought this book was going to only be relevant for parents that want to homeschool but it wasn’t! It had so many great thoughts and ideas about raising and teaching kids. I definitely want to reference back to this book often.
7. Don’t Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Hubbard: After moving back home from Seattle with Oliver I kind of went on a parenting book kick since I was finally able to more traditionally “parent” after being apart from Eliza so much for 6 months. I didn’t agree with everything the author wrote but it was an interesting perspective.
8. The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie: This book was a great read! It discussed the importance of reading aloud to kids of all ages. The author gave tips for helping kids to think and process what they are reading/having read to them. The book probably didn’t quite have to be 288 pages but other than that I would definitely recommend it! It inspired my goal of reading 1000 children’s books to our kids this year.
9. Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins: This is a memoir of a homeschool mom. I bought this book but probably could have gotten it from the library. The author’s last couple chapters where she sums up what was truly important in life after homeschooling nine kids were my favorite!
10. For the Love of Discipline by Sara Wallace: This book is probably my favorite parenting book I have ever read! I will probably buy it and reference it again. The first half talked about the “why” behind discipline and the second half of the book had practical tips for behaviors.
11. It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lisa TerKeurst: I’m so glad I read this book when I did! I wrote a whole blog post about this book here.

That’s it! First up on my list for 2020 is to finish Risen Motherhood. If you have any book recommendations, I would love to hear them! I love seeing other people post what they read through the year too because it gives me inspiration and more motivation to meet my goal! Happy reading!

We had probably one of the best Christmases ever this year being at home. We were 2 weeks in to a 6 week hospital stay for Oliver’s transplant on Christmas last year. We still have to be extremely careful that Oliver does not get sick so he still was not able to attend every Christmas event, but we modified things so he could do as much as possible!

Some highlights:

1. The Lighted Christmas Parade! This was Oliver’s dream come true! He loves anything to do with tractors, trucks, etc. and he also loves lights. He was so fascinated by the lights and tractors. We were able to watch from a not very crowded spot so Oliver wouldn’t be in contact with anyone else.
2. The Nutcracker! Eliza and I got to see the Nutcracker Ballet at Mt. Baker Theater with family and she LOVED it! She couldn’t stop talking about it the next day. I’m probably always going to be just a little bit stressed out going into crowds/busy places and hearing so many people coughing and sneezing and this was no exception but thankfully Eliza did not seem to catch anything from going!
3. Matching Christmas Pajamas! I was going back and forth of whether or not to buy matching Christmas pajamas and I’m SO glad I did! We wore them so many nights and almost all day on Christmas day. The kids loved matching and I want to continue this tradition in years to come!
4. Bringing Eliza to church for the first time in nearly a year and a half. We always need a babysitter when we go to church because Oliver can’t be in crowds. I wanted so badly to take our entire family to Christmas Eve service this year, but we just couldn’t risk it with Oliver. Instead we took Eliza to church the Sunday before Christmas and kept her in the row with us wearing a mask. She loved the worship and fell asleep on our laps during the service.
5. Getting to have Christmas parties with friends and family. We even hosted Christmas for my side of the family!
6. Spending a quiet Christmas morning with our family. We made breakfast, opened gifts, and then were able to have a quiet day at home in our Christmas pajamas. I was so incredibly thankful for this gift.

We don’t know what 2020 holds for us, especially for Oliver but we are so thankful for the huge blessing that Christmas this year was. We will continue to celebrate that Jesus came to save us so that we can spend eternity with him, no matter what comes our way.

I have never been a huge Halloween person but I wanted to celebrate this one because of how different it was from Halloween 2018!

Halloween 2018 was spent in the hospital with Oliver. He was admitted for his round of induction chemo and stayed until his blood cell counts recovered. He was inpatient 4 weeks straight. He was also in isolation because of a cold so he was not allowed to leave his room to walk around the halls. Even a cold can turn life-threatening for some phases of cancer treatment so the hospital is very strict about keeping sick kids away from other children in the cancer unit.

Oliver (13 months) dressed up as a Nebraska Football player during his first inpatient stay in October, 2018

Oliver still can’t be out in public because he is immune compromised from transplant, but he was able to dress up and spend some time with his cousins! I wasn’t able to be with Eliza last year on Halloween since she only came down to Seattle on the weekends so this year was extra special since I could see how excited she was to Trick-or-Treat!

Eliza and Oliver both dressed up like bumblebees. Eliza decided to switch costumes with Oliver last minute so he ended up with the more girly looking costume. We went downtown Lynden with Eliza for trick-or-treating which was CRAZY busy! Eliza had a blast though! She was exhausted by the end and even said “Mom, I think I got enough candy, can we go back to the car so I don’t have to walk any more?” (Side note: Eliza does seem to have more energy after finishing chemo – she dropped her afternoon nap about a week after finishing her last chemo treatment!)

Woods Coffee was giving away free kids hot chocolates on Halloween!

At night we were not planning on going around our neighborhood for trick-or-treating but we have a perfect neighborhood for it so after dinner we bundled up the kids and went to about 5 houses. We pulled Oliver in the wagon to watch and let Eliza go up to the doors to knock. Eliza was so excited that the neighbors were giving out treats! When we got home she asked, “Will tomorrow be Halloween too?”

Things are still so uncertain right now with Oliver but we are trying to fully take advantage of every family moment we have at home together! I would say Halloween 2019 was 1000x better than Halloween 2018!