I've always been one who journals, though not always consistently. But as I get older, the non-journaling gaps of time become smaller and smaller. Probably beginning with my time in Jerusalem. Life got really crazy and awesome and full from that time forward. Let's see. A quick recap:
-Major spiritual growth and development in Israel sparks a desire to serve a mission
-In the 3 weeks I was back in the country before returning to school, turn down a relationship proposition from Boyd, since I had another romantic interest and a focus on serving a mission.
-Return to school in Idaho and begin preparation. Receive mission call in December 2009 to the Chile Santiago East Mission
-Return home to Ohio to spend time with family and get ready to leave in April
-Get a job with a family friend's company to make a few bucks and pass the time
-Start hanging out with Boyd a whole lot, strictly as friends. Since neither one of us really had anyone else to hang out with.
-3 weeks before MTC report date, get the craziest spiritual experience of my life in which I get an undeniable feeling that I'm supposed to pursue a relationship with Boyd
-Finally accept it even though it makes no sense, and it makes my parents think I've lost my mind
-Ask for a 6 month postponement so I can still keep the mission option on the table
-Meanwhile, my job has become super meaningful and begins to totally reshape my career goals, along with being introduced to the therapy world through my time with Boyd
-Months go by, we become pretty serious, Boyd gets a job in Arizona and asks me soon after to join him, as his fiancee
-I come to AZ and we decide to not waste any time - we get married after about a 1.5 month engagement
-I excitedly enroll in a 2 year Occupational Therapy Assisting program to earn an Associate's degree
-3 weeks before classes end, our sweet baby Boyd Davis IV joins us in the world - a miracle baby after assuming we would need fertility help with Boyd's history of super intense chemo therapy
-Marriage is an adventure in and of itself, being married to someone with many similarities, but mannnyyy many differences - different love languages, different ways of communicating, etc
-Motherhood is also a crazy adventure that includes the greatest physical hardships of my life, including natural childbirth and several months of excruciating pain from breastfeeding.. but also the absolute greatest joys
-My capacity to love increases exponentially as I grow more into my roles of wife and mother
-I slowly become a more organized and dependable person - things I've struggled with for my entire life
-Boyd finishes a second master's degree and is beginning to pursue healthcare management, instead of patient care
-Blessed with a second pregnancy which will bring us another beautiful baby boy
-I continue to struggle and strive to achieve a closer relationship with God, to increase my faith, to live more purely as a woman and servant of God day to day
Which brings us to the present day!
Boyd recently started journaling regularly for the first time in his life. He's been doing it on his computer rather than hand-writing it, and that has made a big difference for him as far as increasing his desire to actually do it. He feels it flows more easily and takes less time daily. I've always really liked hand-writing in my journal. It feels personal. My handwriting reflects my mood, it's a bit squiggly and messy if I'm in the car or on a plane. I can doodle and use different colors and make little notes in the margins. And it's easy to put in my bag so that I can pull it out and jot things down whenever I want to. However... I do tend to put it off since I write a LOT. And then it builds up and I have more and more and more to write by the time I devote myself to a journaling session. Sigh. So, I'm going to give online journaling a try for the next year. Since it's the beginning of 2015, I figure that it's a good time. Even though I'm only halfway through my current notebook, which really bugs me... but I will continue to use it as a note-taking and random jots journal, when I can't access my computer.
But as I said, a new year, which is bound to hold a LOT of new things. (And this is definitely faster and easier on my hands thus far. Both big plusses.)
So here we go! :)
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