2017 has been a year of real growth. Not only are our children growing and achieving new, exciting milestones, but our experiences have forced us to grow mentally, spiritually, and emotionally as well. It has been a busy year, to be sure, but that has been a major part of the growth. We have learned to prioritize. We have learned that some things are simply more important than others. We have learned that our God and our family must come first. Growth is not always easy. When things get difficult, it helps to remember that "there is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone." We have spent a lot of 2017 in the growth zone, but have become better for it.
Jonathon's call to the Bishopric in the midst of his busiest semester yet, perfectly demonstrated that principle. It took all of us working together to make it through those difficult months. Jonathon bore the brunt of the struggle, but I did everything that I could to relieve any bit of pressure that I could. Sometimes it was only making dinner for him at night so that he could eat quickly and run to his next meeting, but I did my best to shoulder some of the burden. The kids also contributed by learning to be more responsible for themselves, especially on Sunday mornings when Jonathon had 6 AM meetings, and I had to get up and have everyone ready for 9:00 AM church. They excelled in their new challenges, and even bore up well with having less "Dad Time" throughout the week.
Growth does not only mean challenges though. We had an amazingly blessed year as well. The fact that our kids are getting older meant that we were able to enjoy an amazing trip to California to visit my grandparents. The kids traveled so well and were able to do so many fun things while we were there. They bonded with great grandparents that they are lucky to have, and those memories will be precious. I miss having little babies at home sometimes, but these big kids are pretty darn fun as well.
The Christensen Reunion this Summer was another huge point of growth for me. It was the first time I have ever taken on a task of such large proportions. I was nervous that I wasn't up to the challenge, but by stretching myself, I learned that I could do it. Spending time with so many of my family members during those days was one of the greatest memories of the year and more than worth any effort that I put forth.
Lastly, working for my brother as a blogger and completing the two small books that I wrote and compiled at the end of the year were major points of growth for me. I have never really considered myself a writer. I have done some writing (heck, I even self-published an entire book), but I always felt like a fake, meaning that my writing really wasn't good enough to make me a legitimate writer. I still have much to learn and so much to improve on, but I have gained confidence in my abilities and feel that my skills are valued. It even led to an opportunity of working on another family history book this next year that I am very excited about. Again, I can see that growth and blessings are intertwined.
The history books will remember 2017 as a year of divisiveness for our country. Bickering political parties, a hostile President in Donald Trump, tensions with other countries, and the #MeToo movement that exposed so many cases of sexual abuse and assault were only a few of the headlines. While we certainly felt the weight of these worldly things, for our family, 2017 will be remembered as a time of pulling together to accomplish truly important things. I hope we will be able to look at how far we have come and how many blessing we have received in the process. I hope that we will see the beautiful things that have occurred and strive to make this next year even better.
Life is good, and we are blessed.
Christmas Card for 2017
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