Sunday, January 31, 2010

Decade in Review

I first saw this on Brietta’s blog and I thought it was a great idea. I meant to do it at the beginning of the month but……well better late than never right! If you haven’t taken time to reflect on your last decade I encourage you to do so, it's good to remember where you came from.

Decade in Review

2000

  • I was a Junior in high school
  • In April I broke my leg playing soccer (the day of our prom)
  • The relationship I was in ended (right after I broke my leg)
  • It was a rough year but it was the year I whole heartily committed my life to Jesus and haven’t looked back since, so it was a good year too!
  • It was the year I decided (prayed) that the next guy I dated was the guy I was going to marry

2001

  • In May I graduated from Winnebago High School
  • I decided to further my education at Evangel University in Springfield, MO (I wanted to go here since I was in 8th grade, I attended a volleyball camp and loved it)
  • I also decided to play volleyball while attending Evangel
  • In August met and became good friends with Seth Goodson, he was a freshman at Evangel too.

2002

  • This was a year of major prayer for some promises I felt God had given me.
  • I went home for the summer and worked
  • Tori decided to further her education at Evangel University. I was thrilled!!

2003

  • I went to Harvest Fest with Seth (Spring Fling was Evangel’s talent show that everyone takes dates to)
  • In April Seth & I started dating
  • The same week we started dating Seth decided to transfer to Elim Bible Institute beginning the next school year
  • In the summer I worked at KAA a Christian inner city sports kamp. (Yes, I know I spelled kamp wrong it’s just how you do it at KAA) Seth, a few of my siblings & a bunch of my friends also worked there!
  • In August Seth & I started our long distance relationship
  • I started what would be my last semester at Evangel, although I did not know that at the time.

2004

  • I made the decision to not go back to Evangel (didn’t know why just felt like God wanted me to take a semester off. I’d find out “why” later)
  • Worked a bunch of different jobs at all hours of the day & night.
  • In April Seth proposed to me and I gladly accepted.
  • We once again worked at KAA that summer
  • On August 14, 2004 I married the love of my life and became Mrs. Seth Goodson! We moved to Lima, NY. I worked as a nanny while Seth went back to school full time for his junior year & worked part time making playgrounds.
  • Surprise! In November we found out I was pregnant.
  • End of December I started having problems and was put on very strict bed rest.

2005

  • In early Feb. I miscarried, I was 16 weeks pregnant and we were devastated.
  • Mid April on the same day, while we were in two different places, Seth & I both felt great breakthrough in how we were dealing with our loss. It was a turning point in both our lives.
  • In June we found out I was expecting again. We were excited but scared.
  • Early July I started having the same type of problems I had with my first pregnancy and was once again put on strict bed rest.
  • God taught us some significant life lessons during this time.
  • In August Seth became the Children’s Pastor at Elim Gospel Church.
  • I got to see Brett Favre play although it wasn’t at Lambue as I had hoped it was still awesome! (He was still on the good side – aka a Green Bay Packer!)
  • Gideon Uriah was born November 20, he was 14 weeks premature. A warrior from the beginning he came out crying (Doctors said this is rare in premature babies). Our lives would never be the same.
  • On December 21 I held my son for the first and only time.
  • God taught us some significant life lessons during this year and the year that followed. Even though it was hard, we were/are grateful for this season in our lives.

2006

  • We started out this New Year saying goodbye to our little warrior. Gideon fought a good fight and his time had come. January 1, 2006 was the hardest day of my life as Gideon, my son, died in my arms.
  • We bought a puppy! Getting Gamba was one of the best decisions we ever made. He helped us heal in so many ways.
  • I don’t remember much about this year. I know there were many, many tears but there was also a lot of healing. God proved himself faithful and trustworthy. Just like a rope doesn’t become one until it’s pulled tight from tension such is true for a husband and wife, this is the year Seth and I became one.
  • We bought our first house. We are still in it and filling the rooms nicely just as we had hoped!
  • On December 27 we found out I was once again pregnant! We were very excited but very scared. It was a time of leaning into what we knew to be true about God, that He is faithful and that His grace can carry us.

2007

  • I was put on bed rest for the first 6 months as precaution. So, the beginning of this year was pretty boring for us. PTL, no pregnancy problems!
  • Jericho Joy was born August 27th. Our arms and our hearts were full once again.
  • I fell in love with being a SAHM!

2008

  • We took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class at our local church. This new found knowledge brought financial unity and stability to our marriage.
  • We publically dedicated Jericho to the Lord. (Having lost two babies prior to her with every baby dedication I saw at church I wondered if that that would ever be us.) We can trust God’s faithfulness!
  • They offered Seth the Youth Pastor position & he accepted.

2009

  • Seth officially became the Youth Pastor in March.
  • In May we were happily surprised to find that I was almost 12 weeks pregnant and due on Gideon’s birthday!
  • Seth lead a missions trip to NYSUM
  • In Oct we put our house on the market. It has not sold yet but we still believe it will happen!
  • Haven Hope joined our family on November 7th and we are so blessed to have this little bundle of joy!

Looking over this last decade brings me peace, seeing how God is ever faithful covering every bit of time with his grace and presence. Like I always say sometimes life is hard, but God is always good! I’m excited to see what He has in store for 2010 and the next decade of my life.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

what a wonderful story! I loved reading about it all and God's faithfulness you your family.

Were you really "suprised" as in didn't know you were pregnant even though you were 12 weeks?

The Growing Goodsons said...

@sarah Yes we reallly were surprised. We weren't shocked because we had been trying, I guess the biggest surprise was not necessarily that I was pregnant but that I was almost 12 weeks! Jericho was 18 months old when I got pregnant for Haven. I was still nursing Jericho and never had a period between them, I figured I wasn't ovulating yet. So even thought we were trying I didn't think too much of it. I thought I might be pregnant (I can usually tell within 2 weeks of getting pregnant) early on in the pregnancy but the pregnancy test came back negative but I was 5 weeks pregnant! We choose to believe the pregnancy test. I think deep down if I would have really listened to my body & heart I would have known I was pregnant, plus I was totally showing already, I usually start showing by 4 weeks, it's ridiculous!

When I was pregnant for both Grace & Gideon I took a pregnancy test before I was 6 weeks and they were negative, both times, but I didn't believe the tests, I knew I was pregnant so I repeated the test 2 weeks later and sure enough I got positive results.

I still don't know why I believe the pregnancy test for Haven except that we were praying we wouldn't find out till I was almost in my 2nd trimester so I wouldn't have to go on bed rest and that's exactly what happened! Really I believe it was a "God Thing" He really is so faithful.

Sarah said...

As crazy as this probabl sounds I ran accross your blog because I was looking for a picture to illustrat the heavy heart I have been experiencing. It doesnt seem to fail, Feb 1,2,3 have been horrible das for me for years. Domestic violence one year, I lost my daughter the next, and so on and so on. I noticed we had that date in common in that we share that date for loss. i just wanted to connect with ou and say that though my heart is heavy it goes out with you in your time of sadness.