Looking Back

The year is almost over and it is time to look back and see what we have learned and where we plan to go in the coming year. This time of year I always look at how blessed I am in the past year and that even through the hard times God is teaching me something.

This year was filled with good and bad memories but looking at those memories as life lessons will give us all a better understanding of we have learned and how to move forward. I can't, nor would I, recall every thing that has happened but I will try to hit some highlights of both good and bad.

Of course some of my favorite memories are the ones when I, we, go to travel. We got to go to some pretty awesome places this year (check past blog posts) and enjoy living in Europe. A couple of my favorite places are Germany when I got to see where my parents lived when I was born and Scotland. But we got to visit several other countries and enjoy the culture that is around us.

I have made some new friends and said goodbye to several friends too as they moved away. That by far was one of the hardest this year. Saying goodbye to several good friends is never easy and I'm thankful to still be in touch with them and hope we see each other again.

Another wonderful blessing this past year is that Phill and I are in pretty good health and thankfully our families are too. We might have a few scares here and there but God watch over us all and everyone seems to be doing better. The other side to this is that we have gotten answers on why Phill coughs all the time. For those that know us well know that Phill has been "sick" or with symptoms of not feeling well for one reason or another for a very long time. We have seen a handful of doctors to try to figure out what is going on and we think we have finally gotten some solid answers. I don't want to go into it to much but am thankful that we might have a solution to all of this and I pray in the next couple of months Phill will finally feel normal again!

The few life lessons that I am still working on is not angry or upset with our infertility journey. It is still a trying time for us but we learning to be grateful in the moment. There is a reason God has us on this journey and we may not see why just now but one day we will. This, however, does not make it any easier. It still stings seeing friends become mothers for the first time or second or just again. It still stings every month we were not successful yet again. There is a lot of pain there but it has taught me to be even more grateful to spending our childless life together as a couple. To continue to learn and grow together so that when we become parents we will be, hopefully, at a good place in our marriage (even though that is always a learning aspect of life too ;)).

So for now I will just continue to work on other things. This next year is going to be a very busy year for us. Phill and I will be moving back to the States to start the next chapter of our military life. I will still be in school and will have about a year and half left. I will also be looking for work when we return if I cannot find something before hand. Our boys will be adjusting to a different lifestyle then what they know right now and that will be a challenge depending on if I am working from home or not. Phill will be back in the "big blue" which means we will have to get use to long hours and deployments. But we are excited to hopefully be closer to family and be able to see them after being gone for a long time.

This all might just be highlights of this past year but I would not trade any of it for something else. Each memory and moment has taught one thing or another. God has richly blessed us this year to still be alive a whole and together. Big changers are happening in 2019 but for now we will enjoy the last few hours of 2018 thinking back on blessed we are and that we are ready to take 2019 on! Happy New Year!