2012 has had many changes in
store for me and our family that I simply wouldn’t have been able to fathom at
the end of 2011. On New Years Day, Dad
had a motorcycle accident that halted everything normal for a number of weeks,
even months. Huge praises that
everything is great now, with restorations to mind, body and relationships
along the way; but on the heels of that shaky time, life seemed to be about to
implode for me, a great mess of stress and confusion as I struggled to balance
family, my volunteer calling to missions, who I wanted to be, and life in
general.
At the end of May, my desperate prayers
for what to do were answered in a most unexpected way, after I surrendered to
myself and opened my heart to the possibility that it might be time for me to
move in a different direction. In a
matter of weeks of that surrender, amidst the terror and grief of change, I was
offered a full-time job at Shiloh Christian in a unique position of assistant
band director and administrative assistant, a job that had not existed until I
inquired about the possibility of it. I
miss missions still, and hope that the opportunity will come around for me to
help again, but I am in love with my job, on some days even questioning the
ethics of being paid for something that makes me so happy to do! The physical adjustment has been draining
with increased fatigue, but I have been able to balance that by taking better
care of myself both physically and mentally.
And the family has been so good to jump in and help; I couldn’t be more
blessed during this time.
Below is the Tollett Family 2012
Year at a Glance. Read more about our
year and my journey at bethtollett.blogspot.com.
Tollett
Family 2012 Year at a Glance
Dec 31
I got the call that Dad had a motorcycle accident that morning. After a little tense waiting and calling back
and forth to see how bad it was, my New Years Eve plans¹ changed pretty rapidly
as Wes and I headed to Little Rock to join Mom at the hospital.
January The first
couple of weeks were spent getting Dad out of the hospital and into rehab. The
March Malawi mission trip Wes and I had planned to go on got canceled, making
my decision to not go in the wake of uncertainty with Dad’s accident an easy
one. Wes held down the fort at home in
my absence, and once I was back, he started our previously decided plan of weekly
“date night”² with the kids, a great
time of one-on-one fatherly connecting we hope to pick back up on this year.
February Dad was able
to finally come home, but tensions remained high as the recuperation process
ran its course. Even though my March
trip was off, I was busier than ever with summer team planning and training. We did manage to take a fun and much-needed
fishing weekend getaway³ (I was sort
of social, working in the same room with others counts, right?) with the most
unlikely candidate in the family winning the ‘most fish caught’ prize.
March We went home
to Nashville over Spring Break to spend some time with family. Tyler went on his first mission trip to
Indianapolis with his church music group, Motion, and had a great time singing,
dancing and sharing the gospel with other kids. (You can see a photo album of that journey
on Facebook, by liking Motion NWA and
viewing the album INDY 2012.)
April Life was in
full throttle, things were crazy busy, and I was desperately trying to get a handhold⁴
and figure out what I wanted to do with myself.
May School was
wrapping up in a rush and we were looking forward to summer. We went on our annual family camping trip
which was a complete blast for all in the family except one. ⁵ I had a hard
conversation with a friend, sent a completely random email, and unknowingly started
on my journey to “something new”⁶.
June Summer was a
blur of Branson vacation, kids camps and swimming lessons. I was holding the secret of my new job until
everything was final⁷.
July
The girls and I spent a week at Nashville and I started my new job at the end
of the month. My first couple of days
were spent cleaning the band hall (Hazmat-style, I swear you do not want to
know the things I touched) and Hannah told my in-laws that mama was “at the
school at her new job picking up trash”.
(When I got home, they cautiously asked me if I was a custodian.)
August
School officially began mid-month. We
started a brand-new routine in our family as I became a full-time working mom
of 4 kids. Tyler was asked to be in the
High School band a year early to fill a spot from someone who dropped. (Yeah, I was proud, and yeah, he’s good at playing
the trumpet). Emily started her last
year in elementary as a 5th grader (We keep putting the book on her
head but she keeps growing up anyway).
Lauren started 3rd grade with a swag that only she can pull
off (she has a brat-pack of friends, kind of like a preppier Breakfast Club). And Hannah started full-time K4 (she loves it
and refuses to miss school, even when Pappaw comes to visit and asks if she can
play hooky).
September-December It’s been a complete blur, but in a good
way. Night band practice and Friday
night football games for me and Tyler, lots of big upgrades and all-night work
for Wes, early to bed for me, after-school football practice and games for
Tyler, gymnastics for the girls, early to bed for me, competitive team
gymnastics with multiple practices a week for Hannah (yep, we are keeping an
eye on her, little miss precocious), early morning workout groups for Wes, early to bed for me, basketball practice and
games for both Tyler and Lauren, choir and Awana for the girls, early to bed
for me, Motion and Home Groups on Sunday nights for Tyler, early mornings to
school for all of us, early to bed for me…(I think I might have repeated myself
somewhere in there…)
I’m not going to say it’s been
all hugs and puppies…there have been lots of adjustments, hard work, long days,
continued tears and introspection⁸…and it certainly didn’t go the way I had
planned it to be at the start…but 2012 has truly been a most unexpected and
blessed year⁹.
Love to all and a very Merry
Christmas,
Wesley,
Beth, Tyler, Emily, Lauren and Hannah Tollett
¹Not the Blog I was Expecting to
Write
²Date Nights
³Chasing the Lure
⁴April Showers Bring May Flowers
⁵Unhappy Camper
⁶The Next Step
⁷A Job Made Just for Me
⁸Getting Rid of the Vermin
⁹Ready for 2012
