2016 // Year // Review

2016.

The anticipation for a new year is a breath-taking, agonizing wait with an unsatisfying climax. It never quite gets "there".

This year did not disappoint because I chose not to be disappointed. I chose joy. I chose peace.

It was a year of firsts. As I suppose many years are. Beginning with our first trip to Hawaii and ending with our first Christmas and New Years Eve in Houston, the whole year has been full of new experiences and challenges.

Challenges are just opportunities to strengthen our faith and try something new or previously not considered. Challenges are not set-backs, but an opportunity to move forward towards God's plan. When God closes a door, He does so in order to turn us around and show us all the doors we couldn't see before because we were too busy staring at the one door.



This year's challenges involved more change than anything. We changed churches. Kevin changed jobs. Kevin lost his job. We began this year facing a dry spell of four months. Four months of a 100% commission job with no commission. We end this year facing the unknown. We end this year knowing God will be good to us and that He is good to us. We end this year praying for change to come quickly. We end this year on our knees. We end this year grateful and joyful because God gives us the hope and promise of good.



Joseph was nearly killed by his brothers, sold into slavery, jailed.
Yet he rescued his family and moved up the ranks in Egyptian government.
God is good and does good.
David slept with another man's wife, lost the son they conceived, and killed her husband.
Yet through that same woman, came Solomon and further down the lineage came Jesus.
God is good and does good.

This year, God has blessed us in such amazing ways.

We witnessed milestones. Ephraim ate solid foods for the first time. His first tooth broke through and he went to the dentist for the first time. He took his first steps and stood for the first time. Ephraim had his first Valentines day and Easter. We celebrated our first anniversary. I celebrated my 21st birthday. Kevin celebrated his 24th. Ephraim had his first birthday. Ephraim continues to grow in his love for the Lord, he prays every night and before every meal. He grow in his love for books and music, playing the piano and reading books to himself. He learns new habits and words. Everyday he does something new.

We vacationed. We rung in the new year in tropical paradise with my family. Ephraim went in the ocean for the first time when we were in Hawaii. This year, we did our first road trip to San Diego. We drove straight through and it was a memorable experience that I'm grateful we did and am excited to do again in the future (though perhaps at a bit slower pace). Ephraim visited the zoo and the Wild Animal Park for the first time. We road tripped to Dallas. We visited the Grassy Knoll and remembered.

We served. We began the year organizing Disciple Now for the youth group and even had sorority sisters help with it. We worked together for the first time and it was in ministry (youth for him and children for me). I helped start a full-on Sparks AWANA club. I led Sunday School (for kids and for youth) and Children's Church for the first time. I worked for the first time vocationally and I am so grateful for the experience that it has given me. I directed, and choreographed my first musical. I was a chaperone for camp for the first time and had the amazing opportunity to get to do so with my husband and our son. We participated in our Easter Passion walk together and Ephraim had his first Easter. I helped organize VBS. We went to our first church conference. We found a church home together, then we had the blessing of doing it again and it was an even better fit. God opens much better doors when we walk away from the ones He closes.

We grew closer to each other and we grew closer to God. We grew as a family and as individuals. And we continue to grow as we add another member to family in May.


God's promise for us is good. It doesn't mean we will be the most successful by the world's standards, but He is good.