2009 We'll Hardly Miss Ye
I was determined to get a Christmas letter out, but being the procrastinator that I am, I had plenty of excuses not to do so, many of which included lack of money for stamps, needing to lose weight before getting a family photo taken, and as well as not having addresses to people I wanted to send the letter to. But thanks to blogging, twitter and facebook, I won't have that problem now will I?
Dear Family & Friends,
2009 was a year we won't soon forget, and not always for the best of reasons. While many good things did occur, 2009 seemed to be a year that God was determined to test us, and is still testing us. I'm hoping December 31st will be my final so I can take some weight off my shoulders on New Years morning.
January 2009 found Matt and I still living with his parents, having recently survived 2008 which wasn't very pretty either. Matt had recently found a job working with Citigroup and I was still working from home doing freelance writing and other web work as a virtual administrative assistant. My time however was being consumed more often by the fact that Willow had puppies (thanks to a dog that jumped the fence) and the terrible mistake that Matt's mother made by handing us a copy of Twilight.
February was a breather in the year that would bring us many new trials. Matt finally got Valentine's Day right, and outdid himself so greatly that Valentine's Day 2010 will be pretty awful for him in attempting to top the year before. We also celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary!
As with every year, the month of March had me bleeding green.
In April Matt and I received word that we had a new niece up in Utah as Lily Jane was born to my older sister Tiffany. This is also the month I outed myself on the internet as having obsessive compulsive disorder. We also found a gas leak in the house!
May was amazing. The month started off with a 7 day cruise to Jamaica with some amazing friends! I also celebrated my 25th birthday and apparently made the transition to "closer to 30 than 20". I'm pretty sure it all went down hill from there. But there were some perks to be honest, like moving into our own apartment in Albuquerque.
In addition to spending the month of June unpacking and settling into our new apartment with two dogs that were used to having a large backyard, I kept one standing tradition. I also broke my toe.
In July I got a temporary job outside of the home which turned out to be completely miserable. On the plus side, we finally got to go to our new ward and meet the wonderful people at Church that would so dearly affect our lives in the coming months with many prayers, tips, advice and interventions that would help keep us emotionally and physically surviving.
In August, in addition to my daily panic attacks, I also had an injury that put me on bed rest for a week. I still don't know quite what happened, but I'm pretty sure it was an old injury just popping up to say hello. Thankfully the Relief Society took good care of us while I was out of commission.
September was the calm before the storm . . . where the only thing that disturbed the waters was my blogging.
October, October . . . I wish I didn't know you. October started with Matt deciding what he wanted to do with his life and our future, and shortly after unfortunately losing his job -- but not before Willow almost died in my arms leaving a permanent scar on my heart. October did however give us another new niece thanks to Matt's older brother and his wife, Leah Colette.
November was a slow recovery month for us where things didn't really get worse, but didn't get better. At the same time up in Utah, my sister opened her own baby boutique, of which I am completely proud of her for!
December found me back in the work force, training to become an assistant manager at the gas station across the street. Matt has found seasonal work with Kohls and we still struggle to make ends meet, but they are somehow being met thanks to God and good people. Willow has completely recovered from her episode in October, and though we miss seeing Matt's parents on a daily basis, we're happy to finally have a home of our own, no matter how small and cracked it sometimes feels.
I look forward to 2010, hoping it will bring peace to our world. It's bringing children into the lives of our friends and family and new roads taken. We still don't know what's going to happen in the future, but we're together, and we have God to guide us, family nearby, and friends who stand at our side.
2009 was rough, but we're almost through it and I certainly hope the storm has passed.
