recently + hopes for 2020

Hello lovely readers and hello new year....

While I had the best of intentions of publishing several posts over December, I am afraid the last month of 2019 exploded.
I found myself barely keeping my head above water with all the activity in our busy household!

Let's see...what did we get up to in December...

We were blessed to have dear friends stay with us for a weekend early in December.

The orchestra Nancy plays violin for, put on their Christmas concert on the Sunday, so our friends were able to join us for an evening of music.

We also managed to squeeze in a rather rainy beach walk and ice cream!

 That weekend we also set up for our annual gift market which ran for six days...

It was a crazy week as I was also still working.
By the time Saturday rolled around, we were pretty exhausted.

Around this time, my dear friend, whom I hadn't seen in a year and half, arrived from the States, and we spent as much time together as we could!

 ^Beach walks with one of my favourite people in the world.

 ^I am so grateful for the few weeks we had together!

The next day I started a new temporary job babysitting for a family vacationing at the beach.  

Initially I was only meant to work between 4-6 days, but I ended up being with them for ten days in total .

I loved every moment of babysitting for this family.

My job was to look after their six week old baby girl which I really enjoyed.

Plus, their house overlooked the ocean and I spent most of my days holding the baby whilst sitting on the deck watching the waves crash upon the shore or reading a book.

I also celebrated my 23rd birthday in early January...

 
 ^We kicked off the day with homemade baked cheesecake and tea

 ^What a blessing to have this amazing friend celebrate with me!

 ^The two little ones enjoying their tea and cheesecake.

 ^This beautiful tea set was a gift from another dear friend!  
My collection is growing...{{smiles}}

 ^Cheesecake is my favourite, so of course I had to bake one for my birthday!

And this Sunday past my dad arrived home from China!

We just didn't think the day would ever arrive...

He will be home for a little over a month, so we are making the most of every moment.

After a short week break between jobs, I am now back with  Mia till the end of the month.

My heart breaks when I think of having to move on, but I feel so blessed to have this time with her.

Towards the end of last year a new position as an au pair for a sweet homeschooling family opened up.

From February I will be with this family for a whole year.

I am excited about this opportunity as I feel it is a good fit and will really help me put some more roots down.

I have so many hopes for this year, one being taking my interest in child photography to a new level.

Thanks to the extra work the Lord provided, I was able to save what I needed for a new camera. 

The lenses and other necessary equipment will have to follow, but I am thrilled to be making the first step.

I have wanted to start doing photography as more than just a hobby for years now, but only now does the time feel right.

Apart from au pairing and photography, I intend to grow my vegetable garden (we are still enjoying fresh cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, herbs and zucchini every day!) and spend more time sewing for pleasure.

I intend to fill my bookshelf and my mind with good, wholesome books and cut down even more on screen time.

 ^The best place to clear my head...the ocean

My hope is to take things a lot slower this year and to create a healthier, gentler way of life.

This year will bring about many changes with my dad returning home for good in July.  Pray for him please as he makes this transition and looks to the Lord for wisdom and guidance.

I learnt so many valuable lessons in 2019 - things which I intend to take with me into 2020.
I will be sharing about this soon, so stay tuned!

~

Dear friends, as we step into a new year, I pray that the Lord would have His hand upon each of you.

I pray that He would lead and guide you and draw you closer to His heart.

Thank you for joining me on this journey - I am excited about a whole year of blogging ahead!

With love,

Kelly-Anne
 

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