A Year In Review – 2014 – Part 2

In the previous post I had written about some of the parts of our year that made it a particularly difficult one. Despite the challenges 2014 faced us – or me – with, I cannot deny that through the anxiety, sadness, and troubled times emerged some beautiful moments and realities, as well.

At the same time we were moving, Craig and I celebrated 10 years of marriage together. Certainly, we’ve had our share of ups and downs, like I suspect most couples have. But the beauty of the life we have begun together is a product of those exact ups and downs. How could we grow in flesh, spirit, and love together if we would not be willing to venture through all that life could throw at us? Success, ease, happiness – these make us comfortable and do not force us to confront our potential differences. Failures, challenges, sadness, and grief – these bring out the darker parts of us*, the parts that surface out of anger, frustration, and anxiety. This is when we can learn the most about the other and then choose to encourage, support, protect, and lift up the other. The point is, I believe, for each of us to raise the other one up. In this way, together we grow. And it has been a truly beautiful journey.

We celebrated our “10 Years of Love” together with friends and family for whom we are so very grateful.

We are grateful for the joys each of you has brought us, for the support you gave us throughout the years, for taking time out of your busy lives to be a part of ours. Thank you for joining us at our celebration, for traveling from as far as New York (Shout-Out to Uncle Lulu!), the Bay Area, and even from just a few hours away in SoCal. Your presence meant the world to us and we feel blessed to have you in our lives. Truly, while our move away was a move toward a dream we’ve had for our family, it was still a bittersweet time to say our goodbyes to so many of you.

And the move! Well, most of you know how difficult that was for me. But over the weeks and months of moving in, we discovered what a gem of a place we moved in to. I remember, stepping out of our church in L.A., I’d always think or say how much I wished we’d have a community that we could belong to. I was never one for cliques, but I always longed to be part of a group of people with whom we shared values, interests, and goals. Now, I may be jumping the gun here (and you locals can leave your comments below!) but it seems that through some miracle we landed right into our dream community. By the first few weeks of having moved in we were sincerely welcomed into a thriving and active group of young families, all of whom we met through our local church. The ladies here have treated me as if I were an old friend and made me feel so welcome into their long-established group. This community has shone a bright light on these last few months, helping to bring me out of the not-so-bright months that came before. For this I am ever so grateful!

We finished the year celebrating Christmas here in our new home with my family. My parents, sister, and brother-in-law generously came up here to spend the holiday with us, and it helped make our first Christmas away from our old home so very special. We got to keep some of our old traditions, like Christmas Eve with Nagyi and Papi and hungarian fish soup (yum-yum!), and have hopefully started some new ones, too. So many of our future happy memories come from the traditions we get to celebrate with our loved ones, and I hope we can continue with both the old and new for many years to come.

And as the days of 2014 came to a close I felt a joy and hope for the future that has left me greatly inspired. Despite the giant pumpkin in my belly, I feel invigorated and cannot wait to see what lies ahead for us in this New Year!

*For the record, my hubby has great control over any dark side he might have, as I have not yet seen it!