Reflections on the New Year's past

As hubby and I rang in the new year (sans kids, they were at grandparents!) we reflected on 2007 and decided it had been a pretty good year.  And it has been a long time since we have been able to say that the year past was a pretty good year.  Most of our New Year's lately have been Good Riddance.  Those readers that know me know that I am optimistic to a fault.  I have been accused of bouncing into a room and ruining a good "bad day". So it is particularly disturbing for me to look back at several years worth of "Bad years".

2003: Moved to Houston.  That was good but certainly a huge transition.  Within a couple months of getting here the situation at church deteriorated and it became clear that all was not what we expected when we took this Call.  I turned 30 and started running.

2004: Ran a half marathon on January 18th. Major accomplishment!  Church continued to deteriorate.  Hubby was more and more stressed by it.  As a couple we grew closer but life was hard on us.  Found out middle daughter had some serious problems with her bladder and chronic UTIs.  The medical merry-go-round started for her. 

2005:  Ring in the New Year! with an ectopic pregnancy. Quote of the moment when the registration lady at the hospital asked me if we'd met our deductible yet ON JANUARY 9th! Given middle daughter's issues the year before the ectopic pregnancy was about 10 days too late for that part to go right.  Things do not improve at church but hubby gets a big raise and a promotion. At least if work stinks he gets paid well for it! By May I had a second ectopic.  Although unplanned (it happened in that unsafe time after a vasectomy), it broke my heart more than any of my 3 previous miscarriages.  

2006: Ring in the new year ready for things to get better. January 18th a plane crash and our world crashed around us.  While the ectopic pregnancy broke my heart, Frank's death took it out and stomped on it and devastated people I love.  Church deteriorates further until it becomes almost intolerable. Hubby looks at employment ads and starts asking around about going back to Geology.  Again, our life as a couple and a family seemed to be strong and even strengthened it just wasn't a good way to get there.

2007:  Church improves dramatically all at once and almost like there was a plan all along.  Hubby is rewarded for his faithfulness simply by knowing he stuck it out.  I got into nursing school.  Dealt with some minor medical issues with the girls but they were easy to deal with and actually seemed to fix the problems they were designed to fix.  We did a lot of stuff to our house that we had wanted to do for a long time.  Major improvements in our living space.  Maybe that is shallow but it was soooo nice and represented stability!

2008: Who knows....but I feel pretty certain we can handle just about anything.