will next year be as good as this one was? better? or...worse?
i was joking with my dad tonight that we youngbergs like to worry about crap. not useful things, or logical things, but totally nonsensical things. you know, crap.
never fear: we are also pretty good at worrying about the rest too. we are nothing if not thorough. ;)
2011 was pretty dang good to us, after all. i wasn't all that excited about it at the beginning, as it truly tried our faith as individuals and as a couple. shay started the year having to choose between the new job he loved and was terribly excellent at, and continuing to choose to not work on sundays and do his best at keeping the sabbath day holy, which he is also terribly excellent at.
as a couple, and through prayer and counsel with each other and those who had influence over our lives, we decided that he would quit his job without promise of a new one and we would put all of our faith in the promises surrounding tithing and the lord's love for us. shay is, and probably will always be, much better at the faith thing than i am. i really like that about him though. :)
the spring semester turned out to be more than stressful. we struggled to balance our classes, and our relationship, and my job, and our callings, and life in general. i cried more than a few times and shay exercised the priesthood in our home as much as was needed. it made more of a difference than i probably will ever know, so i try to overstate my gratitude just in case. my husband's ability and willingness to worthily hold and use the priesthood is a blessing i don't have words to describe. as the semester got closer to ending, i broke down pretty regularly and wondered if maybe we had been lost in the mess of the universe. but again, that studly canadian was amazing and held the fort while i did my best to hold it together.
then, a week before the end of the semester, shay got a new job at a great company. and along with that job, a feeling of much needed peace settled in me and began to heal the stress fractures in my heart. my spirit began to feel a weak connection to heaven again, and i knew we'd be okay. we were really going to be okay.
as the months wore on, more and more changes happened. among those, we decided it was time for a new ward, new apartment, new start. we looked for and found an apartment where i felt at home, finally, for the first time since moving out. the apartment was built around the same time as the house i had grown up in, and much of the design was the same. i even arranged my kitchen just like my mom's and couldn't contain my overwhelming gratitude in the fact that i was finally able to relax in a place i felt like was my home. the first night in our new apartment, i slept better than i had slept the previous year and a half we had been married. it was so wonderful. and most of all, we felt like we had really been led to this place, which made all the difference.
we were blessed with much more direction in other areas as well. both of our jobs improved a lot and we were recognized for our efforts. we discussed many times how we really, truly liked where we were and what we were doing. we were both led in knowing what to do with school, and a few other investments we had been looking into. tender mercies flowed and the season of peace continued. though the down parts came, they weren't nearly the pits we had experienced before. we could feel the support we had previously needed so desperately. even as a few of my most treasured relationships changed and evolved through various circumstances, help was there and answers to many sincere prayers were given. i've really been blessed with the very best, most patient friends in the world.
2011 will be a year i remember as the year we came out of the refiner's fire together, and as a bonded couple walked into the light of testimony and peace. i couldn't ask for a better theme for our second year of marriage.
2012, i hope you're ready for us petrones, 'cause we're ready for you. you've got a lot to live up to though. ;)
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