I’m near the close of my 30th year. I always try to take a few minutes around this time of year to reflect on the past 12 months and my entire life up until now. I always want to do better and grow in every aspect of my life. I want to learn from the past to use it for the future.
This year was–wow. Crazy. Absolutely insane. A whirlwind. Humbling. Then add a global pandemic in addition to all of that. I think I can honestly say that this past year was the hardest year of my life to this point.
Almost a year ago to the day our hearts came crashing down in an instant. Foster care was impossible at that moment. I was angry, frustrated, hurt, and so incredibly anxious. That day would lead to months of waiting. Months of defending our family. Months of sleepless nights. Months of living in the unknown. Months of fearing that every day was the last day we would be a family. It is in the valleys and dark places that we grow and the smallest ounce of courage deep down comes to light.
After the hardest fight of our lives, Tripp finally became our son. It was quite easily the best moment of my life. I didn’t even care that we finalized his adoption on our friends couch on speaker phone during a global pandemic. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that little boy is stuck with us forever.
The six months following that amazing day was spent at home. We laughed. We played outside. We did art. We just did life.
I’m so thankful for my 30th year. I have made mistakes and I have learned lessons, but I’m not done yet. I have so much more to offer and so much more life to live.
In celebration of my 31st birthday, I selected some of my favorite or most significant memories of my life to this point.
