Merry Christmas 2020
/This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you choose to purchase through links I provide (at no extra cost to you). Shopping through these links is one small way of supporting this blog, and for that - I thank you! For more information, see my disclosures here.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, FRIENDS!
Sending out Christmas cards around the holidays has always been one of my absolute favorite things - I started sending out my own cards even before I got married ‘cuz I really wanted to show up on my friends’ fridges and prayer walls and didn’t want to just “wait” until I was married for that to happen. But the more full this card becomes, the greater joy I feel every time I see it!
We still sent out some physical cards this year, but they were more limited so that we could save money - so we’re bringing back our year-in-review post this year and adding our Christmas card for all to see! Plus a bonus that you can’t really get from just one card… our sweet family photoshoot.
Gregory Family Christmas Photos - November 2020
OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
I know, I know… 2020 has been a hard year for absolutely everyone. There’s no point in trying to say otherwise. For our family, we had an extreme amount of grief, sorrow, depression, and heartache mixed into this past year. And really, it feels like our 2020 year started in November when Ollie was born…
JEN
The transition to motherhood has been so much more difficult than I had ever imagined. Most days I don’t feel like I’m a very good mom. I’m fairly confident that I was struck with some pretty serious baby blues (possibly even postpartum depression) and cried ALL. OF. THE. TIME. once Ollie was born. He and I had a lot of struggles with feeding and it wasn’t until around 2 months that we finally transitioned to formula and the joy of motherhood started to show up for me.
Just two weeks after Ollie was born, I lost one of my dearest and closest friends to her battle with cancer. Grief and sorrow from losing a close friend was unfortunately not new to me, but the pain of losing someone so dear and mixed with the baby blues made every day a blur for a while. And another two weeks later I was back to work full-time and trying to balance my desire to be good at everything - this new motherhood role, my existing job role - I felt like I wasn’t good at any of it anymore. But at the same time, I was filled with great joy - to know there was this sweet little bundle of energy that God has gifted to us to care for and raise, and also our sweet ministry, a position that I had always known that God had called me to and designed me to be uniquely gifted for that role.
By March of 2020 it felt like we were finally getting into a groove of working and being new parents - Ollie was finally starting to sleep through the night and we were feeling more human. And then what we thought was going to be a meeting to evaluate how things were going in my full-time role and balancing motherhood turned into the unexpected loss of my job… we were shook. I was not prepared for that one. Honestly, even to this day I am still wrestling with the pain of that loss and the crushing blow to my identity. It’s been hard for me to understand where I even have value anymore. It’s clear that I held a lot of my personal identity and values in that ministry role that I felt that God so clearly called me to. And while I know that being a mother is important and is something that only I can do for my kid… it’s brand new, and it’s hard. I still have a lot of days where I feel unseen and really miss that role that still has so much of my heart.
Since Eric and I cannot financially afford for me to just be a stay-at-home mom, I had to start looking right away for a new job. But finding a position at the start of a worldwide pandemic, plus the financial burden of the cost of daycare, was all quite overwhelming. I had one offer for an office job, but it would have paid far less than what I had been making and would have required full-time childcare… and we just didn’t feel settled about that role. Over time, the Lord was gracious enough to provide the opportunity for me to start my own business and work from home as a Virtual Assistant. I am absolutely loving this new entrepreneurial role and love being my own boss! I set my own hours, I take breaks to bake cookies, I get to work most days in my leggings and slippers, and most importantly - I get to be home to care for our little Ollie man. GOD IS SO GOOD. I have been able to replace my previous income, all while working from home and caring for our little man, and get this… I work even less hours than before! If you want to read even more about my journey to starting my own business, you can read about that here.
Along with starting my own business, I have also been slowly working to build up this blog and provide an outlet for everything that I am learning about motherhood, being my own boss and starting my virtual assistant business, and adventures of our family throughout the year! Eric and I have big goals to be able to share some of our experiences working together in ministry as a married couple, the ups and downs of youth ministry, and even looking ahead to ever-evolving changes in the ministry world and our culture. I’m hoping to be even more intentional this year with sending out our blog highlights via email… so if you don’t want to miss out on any of our JenEric Highlights, make sure to sign up for those emails!
In the midst of all of the wrestling with all of this pain - I have been learning a lot more about myself. This spring and summer, Eric and I started reading and listening to podcasts about the Enneagram and it’s now very clear that I am an Enneagram One (the improver) and Eric is an Enneagram Nine (the peacemaker). It has been quite clarifying for us to have this “language” of the Enneagram to work through some of the identity issues that I am dealing with and be able to understand ourselves even better.
ERIC
It has been a year of challenging and rewarding transitions for me. Over the summer I transitioned to the role of Director of Student Ministries at Calvary Church. With that, it also meant transitioning to no longer working alongside Jen. So much of what has allowed me to be effective in ministry has been having Jen by my side, helping and encouraging me along the way. A lot of why we started dating was because we made a great team at work. Taking over the director role during a global pandemic was both the worst and the best time to do so. Ministry has often been confusing and complicated, but forced us to be creative and really think outside of the box! The highlight of the ministry year was seeing 11 students be baptized at an outdoor event we hosted over the summer. It is so encouraging to know that God’s work in people’s lives cannot be stopped! I have also entered into the final year of my Master’s degree (MDiv with a Youth and Young Adults Ministry focus). God-willing I will graduate this time next year! While it has been difficult juggling family, work, and school, I am really thankful for how I have been stretched and grown, both in theory and praxis.
The highlight of my year and the true blessing in hardships has been so much extra time with Jen and Oliver. Lockdown life before Oliver would have been so different, but with him being so young and all the trials we have had to walk through this year, I am so thankful for all the extra time I’ve had at home, pouring into my family. I have been so proud of Jen and all she has achieved in such a difficult year! Oliver is such a fun, goofy, joy-giving kid and I just love getting to hang out with him. Between him being our first child and the lockdown, I very likely will never get as much time with one child ever again and I don’t want to take that for granted! Being a dad and husband is challenging, difficult and so rewarding! Jen and I have grown so much individually and had to work harder than ever to be on the same page and continue to grow our relationship. My prayer for Jen and I is that we would continue to model God’s grace and love to Oliver, as we show grace and love to each other. My prayer for Oliver is that he would embody Luke 2:52 and just like Jesus, grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
OLLIE
For Ollie, 2020 has been the best year of his life! He really doesn’t know any different - and I’m certain he has been loving having mom and dad around so much. At the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic and the initial lockdown in March 2020, we had a brief scare with Ollie and had to stay in the hospital while they ran a bunch of tests. It ended up being an unknown viral infection and we are so thankful that he recovered quickly and that it was nothing more serious, but it was certainly a scary time to be in the hospital just as everything was shutting down and becoming even more restrictive!
It was such a joy to get to experience so much of Ollie’s first year of life at home together and at a slower pace of life. Time sure has flown by and our Ollie man is now 1 YEAR OLD and is still as active as ever! He is just starting to take some steps on his own and we are confident it won’t be long until he is running circles around us!
He’s starting to say some words and phrases and our current favorite is when he does this sweet little *gasp!* and follows it with a whisper of *what’s thaaaat?* - now if we could just get him to consistently say Dada or Mama. haha. From early on, we have been teaching Oliver a few words in sign language and he is really good at signing “all done” and asking for “milk” and saying “please.” He is also really good at saying “tickle tickle” and waving his hands around at you. And of course, Ollie’s personal favorite catchphrase for this year… “pickle pickle pickle.”
2020 IN PHOTOS
For those of you that have stayed connected with us throughout this year and have been intentional to speak into our lives and check in with us over such a difficult year… THANK YOU. Your prayers have brought comfort, courage, and hope in the midst of such a hard season of life for us. But we don’t want to dwell on those difficulties. Both Eric and I were just talking tonight about how the song “O Holy Night” keeps playing over and over in our hearts this Christmas season… to know that a weary world truly can rejoice because of Jesus - who He is and what He has done.
So let’s not forget that while we may feel weary this season… more weary and tired and heartbroken than ever before… we still have a reason to REJOICE. We’re thankful that we can look back on this year and see all of the ways that God’s hand has been at work in every detail of our lives regardless of the situations of the world around us, and we are looking forward to a new year and can’t wait to see how He will continue to lead and guide us.
It is our prayer that you will feel that same comfort, courage, and hope during this Christmas season and that your heart will also be rejoicing.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Love, The Gregorys
