year in review - Ashley Zin

Hey friends! I can’t believe it’s the last month of 2023 already. How did we get here?? I’m really thankful that you’re joining me for another coffee date. This one I’m writing by the light of the Christmas tree and it’s just the best. Today I’m linking up with Bella from Over the Teacups so don’t forget to go and check out her post as well. 🙂

If we met for coffee, I would ask how your holiday season is going so far? Are you able to cherish the advent of what is to come or are you feeling more heaviness this year? It’s interesting how these seasons where we are meant to really feel God’s presence can sometimes feel like the opposite. We can feel further from God. If you are feeling this way I am praying that you are able to go to God with those feelings and that he meets you there.

If we met for coffee, I’d share that this year has been such an interesting one for our family. We unexpectedly switched churches in the middle of the year and I can feel God stretching and growing my faith in such a different way than he ever has before. It feels both exciting and scary as I am digging deep into wha the Bible says about different topics, such as salvation and women. Have you ever done deep studies on these topics? If you have, let’s chat. I’d love to have someone to talk to about what I am learning.

If we met for coffee, I would share that I’ve been thinking about other things that have changed this year as we are nearing the end. I’m both so thankful and still surprised that we actually have grown a lot in community this year. We joined a playgroup for homeschooling and have grown closer to the moms and kids in the group and I’m still thanking God for it. It has been a long process of finding a community where I have felt like I fit in. I know because of how hard of a journey it has been that there’s no way it’s not from God.

If we met for coffee, I might as well continue our theme of things that have changed over this past year. The last thing that comes to mind that has changed is my vision for how and what I want to spend my time on when it comes to work. If you’ve been around for a while then you know that I have struggled for years to figure out what to pursue as far as working from home. I’m so thankful to finally have found something that I’m excited about but also that seems to be working. My homeschooling Youtube channel and Etsy shop has been really fun to work on throughout the year. I also have felt so much less pressure this year to finally “succeed” in work because I know that it is a long game and I’m happy to be sacrificing my job to stay home with my kids.

If we met for coffee, I would say thank you so much for being here and for making it this far into my ramblings as to what I’m thankful for this year. While my blog is not something that I’ve spent a whole lot of time on this past year, I’m always thankful to have this home to come back to and I’m thankful for you for being here.

So I must say, going into 2016 I thought it was going to be the best year yet, seeing as I was going into the year on a high, just having gotten engaged. On the other side of the year however, this has definitely been one of the most challenging years of my life. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t a good year, but it was definitely filled with some of the highest highs and a lot of the lowest lows. Getting married has literally changed everything.

J A N U A R Y

The first have of the year was filled with all things wedding planning. It literally consumed all of my free time. In January I found and ordered my wedding dress! We also celebrated both mine and Tommy’s birthday. Tommy took me out to a really nice Italian restaurant and bought me the sweetest gifts. I also began working basically by myself this month at my old job, Hudson City Savings Bank, because most of my floor was laid off.

F E B R U A R Y

February we had our engagement party, hosted by both of our moms. This was a really fun time, having both of our families together, celebrating us.

M A R C H

In March we took our engagement pictures, which came out so nice. I also was laid off in March and started another job exactly a week after I was laid off. Tommy also started working at the quarry this month. This month was filled with answered prayers!

A P R I L

In April, God answered another huge prayer of ours, and blessed us with the awesome condo we now live in. I was really struggling with my home situation and was super stressed out because of it and God answering this prayer really showed me that He does care about the little details of our lives. I also had my bridal shower this month, and we went on both our bachelorette/bachelor parties!

M A Y

May was a HUGE month for us because we got MARRIED this month! It was such a dream come true to marry my best friend. We left from the wedding and took a limo into NYC where we stayed for the night and flew out the next morning and spend a week in the Dominican Republic. Soo wishing we could go back to that now!

J U N E

I honestly don’t think we did much of anything in June. We needed some much needed rest from the craziness of planning a wedding. We finished setting up our home and started to get used to our life as husband and wife.

J U L Y

July was another quiet month because we were still recuperating and getting used to married life. We celebrated 4th of July with my family at a state park and spent the day hanging in trees. 🙂

A U G U S T

In August, Tommy and I went to Wildwood with my mom, brother and his girlfriend for about a week. It was a nice little trip with lots of family time. We also went down the shore almost every weekend this month after because we realized that we had spent most of our time inside this summer.

S E P T E M B E R

In September Tommy learned to surf! It was such a cool day and really awesome for me to be apart of. The rest of the month was pretty quiet. Tommy took me on a really fun mini golf date to celebrate being married for 4 months and bought me a new pair of boots.

O C T O B E R

We crossed off one of our fall bucket list items and went apple picking in October. This was such a fun time, I even blogged about the day here.

N O V E M B E R

In November we celebrated our first married Thanksgiving! I also surprised Tommy with a wetsuit and a trip to Ocean City, Maryland this month. We had a nice little trip, and can hardly wait for it to warm up again so we can go back!

D E C E M B E R

We celebrated our First Christmas being married. Spent tons of time with family. Baked lots and lots of cookies. Exchanged presents. We also visited the tree in NYC with my brother and his girlfriend, and my cousin and her boyfriend.

It’s hard not to look back on this year with gratefulness in my heart. Even though it was a little hard, and there were lots of changes, God still showed up and brought so much joy to my life this year. I cannot wait for 2017!

Let’s Have Coffee | December 2023

Year In Review: 2016!