2016 Year in Review

I like to keep track of things - how many books I read, how much our garden produces, and how much money I save by couponing. So, here are my totals for those things in 2016:

Top 10 Books of 2016

In 2016 I read 96 books and 35 cookbooks. Here are my top 10 books for 2016:


Fiction

The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin
A Robot in the Garden by Deborah Install
To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Non-Fiction

Seinfeldia by Jennifer Armstrong
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist
A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel
The Marvelous Pigness of the Pig by Joel Salatin


Cookbooks

Learn to Cook 25 Southern Classics 3 Ways: Traditional, Contemporary, International by Jennifer Brule
Homestead Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Our Hearth to Yours by Eivin and Eve Kilcher
Eating in the Middle: a Mostly Wholesome Cookbook by Andie Mitchell
Rise and Shine: Better Breakfasts for Busy Mornings by Katie Sullivan Morford
Savor: Rustic Recipes Inspired by Forest, Field and Farm by Ilona Oppenheim
Scratch: Home Cooking for Everyone Made Simple, Fun, and Totally Delicious by Maria Rodale

2016 Coupon Savings

In 2016 we saved $2,277.43 by couponing! We went down slightly from last year, but still I'm super happy it's over $2,000!

2016 Garden Totals

Squash - 21 

Zucchini - 12
Tomatoes - 216
Grape tomatoes - 63
Cucumbers - 543
Okra - 863

We got a lot less squash and zucchini than last year and about 100 less tomatoes. But with more plants we got a lot more cucumbers and a lot more okra than last year. Every year is different with a garden!

From our garden we canned:

11 pints of tomato sauce
10 quarts of tomatoes
131 pints of pickles

From outside our garden we bought peaches, a bushel of green beans, a bushel of Golden Delicious apples, and a gallon of apple cider to can:

11 half pints of peach butter

19 quarts of green beans

10 half pints and 12 pints of apple butter

16 half pints of apple cider jelly

Mark Kano and Mike Garrigan Concert

The week after Christmas we were lucky enough to get to see two of our favorite musicians play at the Evening Muse - Mark Kano and Mike Garrigan. I've been a fan of Mark Kano and Athenaeum since I was in college. They don't play as much now, so when they do I definitely try to go see them. It was a great mix of Athenaeum songs, Collapsis songs and both Mark and Mike's solo stuff. They are just so incredibly talented and it was such a great show. Here are a few pictures:



I was also able to record two of my favorite songs on my phone. Here is one of my favorite Athenaeum covers of Little Red Corvette by Prince:


Here is Comfort by Athenaeum:

Christmas Pictures

We had a very full and busy Christmas season this year. For the first time in over 10 years I didn't have to mail ANY Christmas gifts! My Mom and Stepfather came up for an early Christmas with us and took gifts back with them to family in Wilmington and my Dad is back in Charlotte so we got to see him on Christmas Day too. Here are pictures from Christmas this year:

Christmas decorations at our house:


Early Christmas with my Mom and Stepfather the weekend before Christmas:


Chad started a new job working for our church a few months ago, so that changed our Christmas Eve traditions a little because he needed to work most of the Christmas Eve services. We had our Christmas Eve traditions the day before Christmas Eve. These pictures are from our Christmas Eve service at Meck and Christmas morning at our house:


On Christmas Day we had lunch and opened gifts with Chad's family:


Later on Christmas Day my Dad, brother and my brother's girlfriend came over for gifts and dessert - homemade pumpkin pie (forgot to take a picture of it):

Christmas Traditions

We have two Christmas traditions that we look forward to every year - our friends Christmas party and seeing the Behold the Lamb of God concert. We've been doing both about 10 years now and they are some of my favorite Christmas activities. Our friends Christmas party started when we were all in a small group together and even though that small group ended we all stayed friends and always spend 4th of July together and have a Christmas party. These are some really great friends and I'm so happy that even as our lives have all changed a lot we still make the effort to continue this tradition. Here are the pictures from this year's party:


Our other favorite Christmas tradition is seeing the Behold the Lamb of God concert. We were first introduced to this concert at our church and our church hosted it for 8 years until it got too big for our church. This year unfortunately the concert didn't come to NC, so we decided to go to Richmond, VA so we could keep this tradition. It was going to be a short trip and it was frigidly cold, but we stayed in a great hotel and the venue for the concert was beautiful! The only downside was that when we left our hotel to walk to the venue we somehow started walking the wrong direction and didn't realize it for about 15 minutes, so by then we were rushing to get there and were slightly late. Thankfully we didn't miss too much and had seats at the end of a row so we didn't have to climb over anyone. Other than that it was a great trip and I'd love to go back and see more of Richmond sometime. Here are our pictures from that quick trip and Christmas tradition:

November Events

We were supposed to host a bonfire birthday party for our older niece Kathryn a few years ago, but it didn't work out. So, when she asked us this year we said yes, but then because of a serious drought there was a burn ban in place so we couldn't have a bonfire. Thankfully Kathryn and her friends weren't deterred and instead ate pizza and watched movies in our basement. You would have never known we had a basement full of teenagers as all the kids were very well behaved and polite. Here are some pictures from her party:


For the most part we had a pretty mild fall, but there was some nice leaf color and it seemed to last longer than in years past. Here are some pictures I took on some of my walks this fall:


This year for Thanksgiving my Dad came with us to Chad's family Thanksgiving now that he's back in Charlotte. It was a really nice Thanksgiving and I know my Dad enjoyed getting to see Chad's family that he hadn't seen for a few years. Here are our pictures from Thanksgiving:

November Mountain Trips

In early November we took a day trip up to West Jefferson, NC. It's one of our favorite places in the mountains and we had a great time going to some shops and to Mt. Jefferson. Here are the pictures from our day trip:


Every fall we try to take a weekend trip to the NC mountains and this year we went someplace we hadn't been before - Hot Springs, NC. It's about an hour outside of Asheville and is known for a hot springs natural spa. We found a great cabin to rent right outside the downtown area of Hot Springs and booked a soak in the hot springs spa. The town is pretty small and overall I wasn't super impressed. Most of the people we encountered seemed pretty redneck and EVERYONE smoked. The actual soak in the hot springs was nice, but the staff were all very young and didn't really explain things very well to us especially since we had never been before. While it wasn't a bad trip, I don't think I'd go back there. But, the cabin we rented was GREAT! It was basically a tiny house and had a fantastic view of the French Broad river. I wish I could pick that cabin up and put it in West Jefferson! Overall, I'm glad we went, but I wasn't super impressed with the town of Hot Springs, NC. Here are our pictures from that trip:

October Beach Trip

We try to go to Wilmington to see my Grandmother every year on her birthday. This year she turned 91 and my Mom and Stepfather were both back in NC, so it was definitely a good birthday for her. Here are some pictures from that trip:


We also got to visit the library where my Mom works now in Burgaw, NC:


And of course any time we're in Wilmington we have to get out on the beach. It was really beautiful weather the weekend we were there:

October Apple Picking Trip

In October we went for a quick day trip to Morganton to get apples and apple cider. We found a great apple orchard called Apple Hill Orchard a few years ago and try to go every year. This year we got a bushel of apples for making apple butter and a gallon of apple cider. This year I made jelly for the first time with the apple cider and it turned out great! I'm excited to do that again next year. Here are pictures from that trip:

Neighbor Dream and Interpretation

So, in my last post I explained a VERY brief version of the issues we had with our neighbors and how that finally changed for the better. Since that post was already so long I decided to do a separate post with the dream that I had and our friend's interpretation. But, first I want to state that obvious: this is super weird. While I totally believe God can speak to us in any way imaginable, I never knew anyone before our friend Debbie who had dreams that she felt were from God and I REALLY never thought I would ever have a dream like that! It was pretty unbelievable at the time, but also REALLY cool to feel like you're hearing directly from God. So, here's the dream and our friend Debbie's interpretation:

The Dream:

OK, so this morning at 5am I was woken up by our neighbor's dog Buck barking (he's the one mostly tied to the deck). I don't have to get up until 6am, so I was praying about the situation and trying to go back to sleep. Well I guess I did go back to sleep and I dreamed this:

Chad and I were in the house and it was early in the morning, but it was light out. We saw Scott and Julie walking toward our house and they were both dressed much nicer than normal (she had a dress on). We were watching them, but they couldn't see us. I joked with Chad that maybe they were going to a house closing since they were dressed up and that's very rare. We realized they were going to leave a folder near our door, but when she put it down it blew open and the papers started blowing away. Chad stepped out and they both seemed surprised that he came out. They told us that they were moving on May 31st. While Chad and Julie were gathering the papers Scott was trying to make small talk with me, but I don't trust myself to say anything to them (I don't have ANYTHING good to say to them...) so I went back inside. Chad came in and the folder was a bunch of random papers, some childhood pictures of us (which was weird because they wouldn't have had any pictures of us) and a small plastic container with a lock of hair from David Douglas (David Douglas originally owned all the property in our neighborhood and when we moved in he still lived nearby and he and Scott were kind of friends, but DD was crazy and probably had dementia because he didn't make a lot of sense most of the time. He died about 2 years ago). The papers had hand scrawled notes and the only 2 things I remember reading were that they were moving out on May 31st and a note attached to the container with the hair saying that it was from David Douglas. The handwriting was bad and almost looked like a child wrote it. In the dream I remember being so happy they were moving, but Chad and I didn't talk about it and then I woke up.

I remembered your message about any dreams, so I'm HOPING this is a sign from God that they will be moving in May! I've never had anything like this happen to me, so I'd like your opinion on this. Do you think it's a prophetic dream? I'm hoping so, but either way it definitely helped me feel better today and have hope that they will be gone soon.

The Interpretation:

OK, so here we go. First of all, your dream begins in the early morning with light. This means a new day is dawning, a new beginning. You could see Scott and Julie, but they were not aware that you could see them. This tells you that God will be revealing some strategies/insight about them that you normally would not have about them. They are dressed up. They have made preparations for a formal appearance...and low and behold that's just what happened. To me, it's almost like when generals would meet up on the battlefield to surrender--they would wear their finest clothes and surrender. Let's work with this analogy a bit. When a general surrendered, that general would go to the other commanding officer's territory and surrender. He would usually bring official papers that were signed, declaring that his side was giving up. He would usually bring a gift or a token. (More on that later). There would also be a declared date as to when the enemy would be withdrawing.

I think the lock of hair from David Douglas is very significant. David Douglas used to own all the land that your subdivision was built on. Ownership can be a form of authority over an area. You mentioned that David had some kind of dementia, or mental illness. That is almost always a sign of demonic influence. (Not that he was possessed, but tormented). So, here you have a man who had ownership of a large territory that was also tormented by the enemy.....just because a territory is sold doesn't mean that the demonic influence moves after that sale. They will sometimes remain. (Our house is almost 100 years old, and I can tell you, we are STILL moving out the enemy from this territory. We've made a lot of progress, but our rule over this area was done little by little).

I find it interesting that shortly after you moved in, you started having problems with your neighbors. That is exactly what happened with us. There was resistance and I remember you saying that you two were thinking about chucking it all and moving away. That tells me that God landed you right in the middle of your promised land. This place that you are dwelling in, God has specifically reserved this territory for you, for this time and season. When the Israelites were in the promised land, all they did was displace the enemy, little by little. The fact that you are experiencing resistance and fighting the enemy means you've arrived. You're there.

Now, a new day has dawned. The enemy is surrendering and they've even brought a lock of hair from the head of the previous ruling "authority" of that territory. (That's the token I mentioned earlier). They also had baby pictures of you and Chad. To me, that means, God established this territory for you and Chad for this specific season from the time of your birth. Doesn't that just bake your noodle?!?! smile emoticon May 31st will be important, obviously. It could mean that the 31st is the day of surrender, or it could be a tipping point. Once that point is reached, there's no going back. I know for sure that the enemy is reaching his end. He's out of tactics. You're here and you're not moving. His strategies have failed and he has no other option but to surrender.

New Neighbors

I haven't said anything about this on here or on Facebook, but a few close friends and family know we've been having problems with our next door neighbors for the past 2 1/2 years. When we moved into our house in 2012 we really felt like we had found our dream home. A brick ranch with a full basement on 3 acres in Harrisburg - literally our dream come true. Scott and Julie who lived next door to us were the closest to us in age and Julie was the selling real estate agent for our house. We became friends with them - Chad and Scott were both interested in hunting and Julie even came to my book club for awhile. When we moved in they had 2 old dogs, one of which died not long after we moved in. Fast forward to February of 2014 and they had 5 dogs - 3 German Shepherds, 1 bird dog who pretty much lived tied to their deck, and 1 of the original old dogs. They never did anything with any of the dogs - no training, rarely walking them, hardly spending time with them, etc. The German Shepherds lived in a pen with an electric fence and they did bring them in at night and MOST of the time they brought Buck in (the one who was tied to the deck all the time). Sometimes, not often but enough to make my blood boil, Julie would take the 3 German Shepherds for a walk and leave Buck tied to the deck - howling and barking the WHOLE TIME they were gone. It killed me to see how they treated him - and really all the dogs because they never did anything with them. After living beside a barking dog kennel for 4 months Chad went over to talk to them. Julie wouldn't even come outside and Scott said "You're just gonna have to get over it." Chad said that wasn't going to happen and he wanted to work with them as friends and neighbors, but if we had to we would call the police. After that we never spoke with them again - they unfriended us on Facebook and blocked our cell phone numbers (even though we NEVER called them to complain about the dogs).

We did have to call the police probably 5 or 6 times and could have called dozens of times. The 2 1/2 years after they got all the dogs were probably the worst time of my whole life so far. Almost daily I was woken up by barking dogs. Because of how their house was positioned the barking was SO LOUD that we could hear it over the TV. We had to buy a white noise machine so we could sleep and not be woken up at 5am by barking dogs. Literally EVERY SINGLE TIME we opened the door and went outside the dogs would all run to the fence and bark like we were trying to kill them - and believe me I really wanted to. We contemplated moving, but I felt like that was "giving in" and I figured no one would buy our house once they saw all the dogs next door. It was an incredibly difficult time for both of us.

But, something good did come out of all that evilness. Because of how bad everything was Chad and I got serious about praying EVERY DAY. I'm not going to lie I prayed just about every way - for them, that God would rain fire down on their house, that Buck would escape and find some decent people to live with, that they would move, etc. I felt so bad for Buck tied to the deck all day every day that I did pray specifically for him every day too. I knew that our praying wouldn't necessarily mean they would be gone, but we both prayed and had close friends and family praying as well.

Then we had a good friend of Chad's tell us she had had a dream that she felt like applied to our situation, so that was pretty cool. This friend often had dreams where she felt like God was speaking to her. She asked if either of us had had any dreams and I was like "No, that stuff doesn't happen to us!" then on December 15, 2015 I did have a dream - Buck woke me up at 5am with his barking and when I fell back to sleep I dreamed that Scott and Julie came over to our house and told us they were moving on May 31. I contacted our friend and told her and she gave me an interpretation for some of the details of the dream that didn't make sense at the time. That dream honestly gave me a LOT of hope because I really felt like God was telling us that the end was in sight with this situation. When they put their house up for sale in March 2016 I thought maybe it would sell and close on May 31, but then that date came and went and nothing obvious happened. Their house was on the market for 6 months before it finally sold. I still don't know what May 31 was about, but someday maybe I'll find out something that was significant that happened on that day. So once their house went on the market I prayed EVERY DAY for 3 things: 1) that the new neighbors would be Christians, 2) that they wouldn't have any dogs, and 3) that they would turn the dog pen into a garden area. When our new neighbors moved in at the end of September we met them and they are a little younger than us and have a one year old son. I don't know if they are Christians or not, but the day we met them was truly and answered prayer - they don't have any dogs and don't intend on getting any AND they are planning to turn the former dog pen into a garden and the dog house into a chicken coop! It was really an awesome moment to see my prayer answered in these new neighbors. A few months after they moved in they bought some fruit trees and bushes and planted them in the new garden area.

While I would have never imagined or asked for this horrible neighbor situation, but it really did change us for the better. I don't believe God created the terrible situation, but I do believe that He used it to change us for the better. I pray now more than I ever did before this and more specifically because I saw God answer multiple prayers during this time - for specific things that I prayed for. I am more of a pessimist, but during this time Chad had a much harder time with this than I did. I was surprised to find myself encouraging him and feeling more positive about a terrible situation, which was not my nature, but how God used me to help Chad. I am also a fighter. I refused to give in and let our neighbors "win" by moving or showing them how much we were suffering. While that might not be the most Christ-like attitude, it did help me get through this. It sucks when you're in the middle of it, but God can do some of His best work in us when we go through terrible times - if we allow Him to help us and change us in the process. When this started I had no idea when or if it would end, but now that they are gone it's really cool to look back and see all that God did through this.