At the beginning of my 2024 Year in Review, I wrote this:
I’m caught in the in-between I suppose, confident I’m going somewhere and fully aware I’m not there yet.
2025 marked the shift from the in-between to the beginning of something new.
(You can read all my year in review posts here: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2014)
As I reflect on the year, I am grateful for the way that God is shaping me as a man, husband, father and leader.
He is writing a beautiful story in my life. It’s not always what I expect, but it is good, and I intend to give Him all the glory for it.
He alone is the thread that ties everything together, from the highlights of the year to the hope of years to come.
I’m usually “verbose” in my reviews, but this year I’ve kept it a little more focused and brief (and it’s still almost 5,000 words!).
Let’s begin.
2025 Highlights (Personal and Professional)
Bible Reading
This year marked my 6th year in a row daily reading through the Bible in a year.
The Bible is the living and active Word of God.
It is the wellspring of life. It is the foundation for truth.
When I wake up each day, I have an important choice to make: will I fill myself with the poison of the world, or will I drink from the true source of life?
6 years ago, I did not have this perspective. I committed to reading the Bible whenever I felt like it during the day. And to be sure, reading it at any time is always profitable and good for you.
But I would find myself beginning the day poisoning myself with the Greed from Twitter/X, or the Envy of Instagram, or the Pride of LinkedIn, or the Escapism of YouTube, or the Anxiety of the News, or the Hurry of my inbox, or some other form of Selfishness – all before my feet hit the floor.
It’s not that any of those things are inherently bad. But I need the antidote, the remedy, the clean filter first, which then better enables me to be in the world but not unconsciously drink the poison of it.
That is God’s Word, the Bible.
More than years past, I have found myself aware of the great necessity to not just read and pray through the Bible daily but to begin the day reading the Bible and being on my knees in prayer to God through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Truthfully, this has been one of the most challenging fights I’ve faced. It is such a simple exercise in theory but exceptionally difficult in practice.
Maybe in 6 more years it won’t be as much of a fight. But even if it is, you will find me continually reading through God’s Word and striving mightily by his power within me to push back against the deceitful cares of this world.
Fun Trips
Travel continues to be one of the ways we reset our souls and reconnect with each other. Admittedly, Laura sometimes has to pull me into this mindset, but the effect is always the same: we have new space to breathe, to laugh, to let down and to remember who we are together when life isn’t running steam full ahead.
St. Augustine
In March, Laura and I went with a group of friends for a brief weekend trip to St. Augustine.
We had a great time touring the oldest city in the US, experiencing the culture and enjoying great food.
It was much colder than I believe we all thought it would be, but we bundled up and made the best of it!
France
In April, Laura and I went on a celebratory trip to France. She was already going with her aunt, and the timing worked perfectly for me come at the end of their trip and experience France with her for a little over a week.
We had an absolute blast traveling across the country, spending a few days in Paris, then Annecy, the region of Provence, Marseilles and back to Paris.
We were blessed with exceptionally good weather the entire 9 days we were there. Almost every day (with the exception of the final day) was sunny and in the low 70s. It made walking, sightseeing and adventuring the most pleasant it could possibly be.
Paris was what I thought Europe to be in my imagination: the beautiful architecture, rich culture, exceptionally good food, and celebration of the arts.
Annecy is France’s version of Lucerne in Switzerland, with a splash of Venice in Italy. I loved spending time in this vacation town that has a stunning lake surrounded by the majestic French Alps. Our best and most warm weather was during our stay here, so we spent the majority of our time outside biking, boating or walking around the town.
Annecy ended up being my favorite part of the trip, largely because of how much fun Laura and I had together. We were adventurous and carefree: biking around the lake, wandering through the little shops in town, and exploring the farmer’s market where we couldn’t resist bringing home a few jars of incredible fruit jam. One evening, we sat beside the river that winds through the town, sharing the most amazing steak dish as the sun slowly set. I wish I could’ve captured that moment and bottled it up.
From Annecy, I drove (with much trepidation) into the Provence region, where we stayed at a wonderful resort on the top of a town and enjoyed touring centuries-old wineries around the area. One was still active from the 1200s!
We then took a train to Marseilles to spend a day visiting the Calanques (the monstrous cliffs at the edge of the sea).
Marseilles was my least favorite part of the trip. It is rich in history but dirty (and a little shady).
And, the trip on the ocean to visit the Calanques was well…interesting. We both believed we would be on a big boat with others for a short viewing trip, only to realize we had a booked a 4-hour excursion on a tiny dingy boat with one other couple. 💀
We survived the rough ocean, with all of us getting seasick at some point or another. But the view was amazing, and I am glad we did it.
Finally, we took a train back to Paris for a final day of sightseeing and exploring before heading back home.
We made so many wonderful on from this trip and look forward to traveling more of the world again in the near future. 🥰
Niagara Falls
We took a long weekend trip with our friends up to visit Niagara Falls at the end of June.
It was the first time I had seen Niagara (or been to Canada).
We stayed on the US side and drove into Canada to get the best view of the Falls. What an impressive, powerful part of creation!
We took a boat tour directly into the Falls and got absolutely drenched (even though we were warned, it’s hard to anticipate getting that wet). We enjoyed lots of great food (“Buffalo wings” anyone?) and walked around Niagara-On-The-Lake, a quaint town about 30 minutes outside of the Falls.
It was brief but fun!
Midwest
In mid-late July, we went as a family on a trip to the Midwest. We flew out to Madison, Wisconsin and then drove to Chicago, St. Joseph’s, Grand Haven and Detroit before flying back home.
For the first part of the trip (Madison and Chicago), we enjoyed spending the time with our friends. We took Miles to see Coldplay, his first concert, at the Badgers stadium.
We then drove to the Wisconsin Dells and spent the day at “Noah’s Ark”, which claims to be the largest waterpark in the US.
Then, we drove down to Chicago and spent a few days touring the city. We accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, including a boat tour, the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Navy Pier and eating at the original Lou Malnati’s. We even let the little boys ride the Ferris Wheel all by themselves (and they loved it!).
From there, we drove to St. Joseph’s to spend time with a dear friend.
After St. Jospeh’s, we drove up to Grand Haven, anticipating spending a few days at the beach but found ourselves in the middle of the Coast Guard Festival, which turned out to be a delightful surprise. The patriotism was on full display, and the long, lazy, warm summer days were life-giving to our souls. It was fun staying out on the beach until 10pm at night to watch the sun disappear behind the lake.
From there, we drove to Detroit to visit the Henry Ford Museum and spend time with our friends and one of the church plant partners for the 23 Project. It was wonderful worshipping with them at their church (Rooted Church) and learning more about their heart for gospel renewal in the city.
Finally, we flew back home to get ready to start the new school year.
Disney World
In the middle of November, Laura and I took the kids on a trip to Disney World 🥳, entering into the arctic tundra of Florida. An unexpected cold front pushed temps down into the 20s with a bitterly cold wind, but it gave us the benefit of keeping the parks relatively crowd-free for most of the trip.
With the boys at 8 and 5, they were great ages to enjoy Disney. We visited all the parks, stayed out late most nights, ate at Ohana (😋) and rode the Monorail more times than I can count. If you asked the boys, they would probably say the Monorail is their favorite ride.
Beach / Lake / Mountains
We also enjoyed time at the beach, the lake and the mountains in 2025. Here are some pictures from those places (in no particular order).
Professional Change
In early 2012, I was building WordPress websites for clients.
I had recently released a third party theme for the Genesis framework, and in that theme, I solved a painful problem for theme developers: including plugin dependencies within themes.
That solution led to a presentation at WordCamp Atlanta, where I met Syed Balkhi at the Happiness Bar (I think it was still called the Genius Bar back then).
After talking on and off throughout the year, we partnered together in 2013 to build OptinMonster. There were bumps along the way, and it almost didn’t happen, but we managed to launch, iterate and improve it to being the #1 most powerful conversation optimization toolkit in the world.
That launch kicked off more than a decade of fruitful partnership in a host of other products and businesses.
What began as something small eventually grew into something bigger than I ever imagined. Never did in my wildest dreams did I see something develop so large and influential. I figured I would be there for decades upon decades.
But three years ago, my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away a couple of months later.
It rocked my world.
Over the course of the next few years, I found myself struggling to balance the demands at work vs. my presence at home. The struggle was both internal and external.
Eventually, it became clear that I was not the man I wanted to be at home, and I came to a fork in the road. A decision had to be made.
With much prayer and discussion, I made the incredibly difficult decision to leave Awesome Motive.
I love the people there. They are some of the best people in the world. I wish each of them great success in all their work.
I count Syed as a dear friend and continue to enjoy calls with him. He is one of the smartest people I know, and I am confident that AM will continue to grow and thrive in my absence.
I’m still cheering everyone on from the sidelines and cherish the memories I have made along the way. I pray that any good I have done there will continue to be a source of blessing for decades to come.
Personal Growth
My typical year has about 300 or so journal entries in it, and 2025 was no different.
As I reflected back on my entries in 2025, I saw a profound change in the way I wrote and the content of the entries.
I spent far more time talking, celebrating and praying with God and less complaining or venting about the details of my life.
I’m a work in progress, but I pray who I am now and who I am becoming is more and more pleasing to Jesus every day.
There are a few notable areas of growth that I have seen this year:
- I am now consistently working out 4x per week. I believe this is the sweet spot for me, and this is the general rhythm I want to carry on for as long as I am physically able.
- I spent far more time in prayer than in years prior. In the past, I thought of prayer as an important part of who I was and the work I did. “Man of prayer” might be an apt description. But in the last year, I have been transforming into a “praying man”, where prayer is the work of who I am and the work I do. It is not uncommon to find myself spending hours in prayer, talking with God, discovering His plans & purposes, and then working with His strength to align my heart toward those and away from my own.
- I am much more present at home and with others. I still have growth to do in this area, but it is noticeable, and most importantly, it is evidenced by Laura.
- I am investing in learning once again. Sowing and reaping is an unavoidable rhythm of life. I’ve spent much of the last 7 years or so reaping from time spent sowing. In 2025, sowing season returned as I took on new challenges to learn, grow and expand my sphere of knowledge. I don’t know how long this sowing season will last, but I am grateful for the opportunity to sow once again that I might be fruitful in the future.
New Beginnings
Sometime after I officially stepped out of AM in April, I was presented with an opportunity to buy a business that closely aligned with my personal values and mission: Notebird.
Notebird is a software that helps churches, temples and other non-profit ministries track and organize pastoral care.
I also had the opportunity to buy another niche software that would push me to learn. It’s called Accelerator Keys, and it enables Microsoft Office power users to use Alt key shortcuts on their Mac.
I still like software, and both are at a size that I am able to oversee myself. I am enjoying using both of these as an opportunity to develop my skills and explore AI more deeply.
While it’s not necessarily new for Laura and I, it is new in that we announced officially that we are the founders of the 23 Project Foundation.
To date, we have partnered with 10 pastoral sabbatical recipients and 9 church planters as they plant churches to advance the good news of the gospel in their cities.
In fact, I will be down in Orlando, FL the week that this review goes live to spend time with our church plant partners and pray over them as they kick off 2026.
My earnest prayer is that the 23 Project will be the most influential catalyst for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ in the 21st century. I do not yet know how this will be accomplished, as the vision is quite expansive, but it is such a small thing to an infinitely big God. I believe it is pleasing to Him to come in humble faith and ask humanly impossible things of Him, no matter what His response might be.
I am actively praying for committed prayer partners to join us in praying for the 23 Project sabbatical and church plant partners. If you are a praying person and want to play your part in the expansion of the kingdom of Christ in this way, please click on the link above and join today.
I purchased my first commercial real estate property this year (with a NNN lease structure).
This was an entirely new endeavor for me. A dear friend helped me walk through the process of analyzing deals, and I had a wonderful CRE broker to help me navigate the process of the offer, due diligence, contract negotiations and closing.
I found the entire process thrilling, and I am very happy with the asset I have acquired. Regardless if the tenant stays or leaves, I have great property on hard, signalized corners on high-traffic highways with multiple points of ingress/egress and great visibility. This gives me confidence of sale/lease potential now and in the future.
But what was most interesting about this first property, though, was the way in which it came about.
In February, I had been looking at properties for about a month with no luck. I was discouraged.
I came across a particular property that I liked, but the price was too high.
I journaled this on February 12 (with the amounts and names of people redacted or altered for privacy):
Father – I believe it meets the criteria, and I believe you’ve put a number on my heart: {offer}, with a settle of {amount}.
If this is a green light, confirm it by John and Doe’s positive approval of the property.
I am putting these numbers before you in faith. You will work it out. I believe it, and I believe in your power. My faith can only be exceeded by your ability to go beyond what I can imagine.
I long to watch you work. Work in this, for my good and your glory. You will make it plain, and I will follow and glorify you.
I reached out to both, and they both gave their stamp of approval on the property. I shared both numbers God had placed on my heart, knowing that they were much lower than what the seller had it listed for (20-30% less than list).
My broker told me flat out no, he won’t take it. You shouldn’t even make the offer.
So I said ok, no worries, and I left it at that. But I left knowing that the specific numbers had been put on my heart through prayer, and I was curious as to why the impression was so strong.
I moved on from the property, journaling about it once or twice in the days after that conversation, but nothing more…
Until April 25, when I got a text from my broker: “Potentially a big move in pricing on {property}. Give me a call if you would like to discuss.”
I called him, and I discovered that the seller was trying to move fast on a speculative deal, needed to close quickly and was willing to take a haircut on price to do it.
So this is what I wrote in my journal after that phone call (with some things redacted for privacy):
Wow Father – the {property} in {location}, they want to move fast and close fast at a discount. Originally listed at {price} and now I might be able to get it for less than {amount}.
Father – I see this as you at work, and I believe you will work it out so that it is mine.
I love you. I love to watch how you work. It is amazing and incredible, your power and might on display. I feel like I have a front row view to the most amazing thing in the world and I just want to know you and experience you more and more and more!
Thank you for being so kind and loving to your servant. I do not deserve this at all, your steadfast love and faithfulness are better than life. How could I ever do life without you?
Walk before me and be pleased to reveal more of who you are to me Father God!
I told my broker to submit the initial offer, with a settle on a particular number. Both of those numbers were the ones God had placed on my heart back in early February.
Completely unknown to me, both of those numbers were very meaningful to the seller (the initial offer and the final sale amount).
I went under contract the next morning on the property for that exact amount I wrote back in February.
It’s amazing how God works. I wrote this right after it went under contract the next morning:
Father – this is your work, and I give you all the glory and praise. I can’t wait to tell the story of it to others so that they know your power and might, and that 2 Chronicles 16:9 is a promise, not a probability: your eyes search to and fro throughout the whole earth to strongly support those whose hearts are blameless toward you.
I long to be a faithful servant to you. Please be near to me. I love your blessings, but I love you more than what you give. I love to watch you work and for your power to be on display!!!
Since that day, I’ve been waiting with patience and joy to tell this story. All glory, power, honor and dominion be given to Him and Him alone.
I am never guaranteed anything in life. I come with humble thankfulness for His overflowing provision to me and my family.
But more than that, it is that I get to be near to Him and discover more of who He is, and that is the greatest gift in life.
Thank you Jesus for making this gift freely available to me through your death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the grave. You are an Wonderful Savior and a Great King, and I love you with all my heart.
Other Highlights
Here are some other important highlights from 2025:
- Gro-Rite Garden continued its incredible growth. Revenue tripled from the previous year, and based on forecasts, it’s likely to do that again in 2026. The product is incredibly good. We effectively solved the assembly process in a simple way. Those who experience the magic can’t help but tell others about it, and word is beginning to get out in a tangible way. I believe 2026 will be a big year as we stock more inventory and launch 2 additional bed sizes to meet customer demand.
- I went on a golf trip with a group of guys in April. It had been a couple of years since doing one of those, and I forgot how much fun it was. I love the camaraderie and fellowship you have with one another on the course. I can’t say I played particularly well, but I had a wonderful time while there.
- We said goodbye to our two dogs, Copper and Emie. We got Copper and Emie during our first year of marriage, and while Copper hasn’t lived with us for the last 5 years (he was living in “retirement” with Laura’s parents), They had been with us since the first year of our marriage. Both of them lived to be 13. Copper passed away in the spring, and Emie passed away in the fall. They were sweet dogs that grew up with us as adults and shared many important life milestones along the way. I miss them both.
- I flipped 2 residential houses. I had never done this before, and I was a little nervous at the start. But, as it turns out, the same principles that apply to buying software businesses also apply to flipping houses too. Once I internalized this and developed my investment criteria, I partnered with a friend who knew the residential real estate world well. Both of the flips were successful, with the first one taking 91 days from purchase > renovation > listing > closing, and the second one taking only 33 days. My IRR was 29.8% and 96.2% respectively, which feels pretty good. I hope to do more of these in the future if the opportunities present themselves and the conditions are right.
- Besides the Bible, I read 6 more books in 2025. The one I enjoyed the most was Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes. I am a fabulously slow reader, taking in maybe 5-10 pages at a time. Maybe it is my ADHD, or maybe it is something else. I would like to read more, but I physically struggle to do it (like, I get sick to my stomach after reading for a certain period of time). A book a month would be amazing, but I’m happy with finishing any meaningful number of books at all.
- I’ve developed a deeper relationship with my Heavenly Father. I love reading His Word through the Bible. I love talking with Him. Most mornings, when I wake up, I either go outside or to the couch (weather-dependent), get on my knees and say, “Good morning Father”. I talk with Him like I would a friend. I share what’s on my heart. I listen. Sometimes, I write notes for what He is impressing on my heart. I say it back to Him and converse about it. And at the same time, I have a healthy fear of Him. I know I can approach the throne of grace with boldness and confidence in Christ, and I do. I daily take advantage of that right Jesus secured for me on the cross. But I am intimately aware of how big, mighty and powerful He is, and how small I am. So while I approach the throne with boldness, I come with a humble heart full of awe and respect for the Majesty of the Universe.
What do I want 2026 to look like?
My word for 2025 is thankful. I have so much to be thankful for, from my health, to my family, to my provisions, to my church and to my relationships.
The word is rooted in Colossians 4:2:
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
I want to continue to grow as a man filled with a spirit of humility and marked by a simple obedience to God’s Word and His good commands – not because I have to, but because I love Him and desire to please Him with my life.
I have many different goals for 2026, including additional ones for my personally, my family, my businesses and more. But, these are some of the top priority goals for the year:
- 1 rep max of bench press at 225 or more. I am pretty sure I could get this now, but I’ve been doing the Wendler 5-3-1 program for about 8 weeks, and I’ve got 4 weeks to go before I test. 245 is not out of the question!
- ✅ Do 50 push-ups in a row. I actually did this on January 1, so it gets a checkmark!
- I am getting up between 5:15-5:30am 4x per week. I find that the extra 30-45 minutes in the morning before everyone else wakes up make my day go so much better.
- I am going to bed between 9:30-10:00pm 4x per week. This one is difficult, but I would really like to do it.
- I have met with my doctor to review my MRI scans. I had a full body MRI scan at the end of summer in 2025, and while nothing major showed up on the scan, I do want to meet with my doctor to discuss all the results and take any next steps he recommends.
- I have a rhythm of weekly dates with Laura. Time together like this is life-giving for our marriage, and I want our weeks to regularly include unhurried space to connect, laugh, and simply enjoy one another. I don’t expect this rhythm to form overnight, but my hope is that by the end of 2026, it’s something we can look back on as a steady and meaningful part of our life together.
- I have a rhythm of a once-a-month special time with both my boys. They’re reaching an age where shared time like this really matters, and I want each of them to feel known, loved, and valued by me. This is a small but intentional way I hope to build that into their lives.
- I have a rhythm of dedicated prayer time on Wednesday mornings. The older I get, the more I realize I am so helpless and incapable of doing anything fruitful on my own. Indeed, Jesus says as much in John 15, that apart from Him I can do nothing. I need dedicated time in prayer if I want to do anything of lasting value for Christ. I say Wednesdays specifically because it fits well into my rhythm of life, and I believe it gives me the best chance to actually do it with regularity.
I hold all of these goals with open hands, working hard to achieve them while knowing my identity is firmly rooted in Christ, not in my ability to accomplish all that I set out to do.
BONUS: My Favorite 2025 Pictures
These are some of my favorite pictures from 2025!
Thank you for reading my 2025 year in review. If you enjoyed it, comment below and share it with your friends.
And I’d love to know about your 2025. How was it? What do you want 2026 to look like?
To a year filled with thankfulness and gratitude,
Thomas
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