2012.

I guess it's pretty normal to get to this point in the year and reflect on the past twelve months. I feel like the greeting card thing to do is to reminisce about all of the wonderful things that have happened. To list them one by one. And I want to tell you that this has been a year full of adventure, but the truth is that this year has completely exhausted me. This year hurt.

But still, I'm so thankful that it makes my heart swell.

My marriage is as strong as its ever been. The Navy threw us into a bit of a fight or flight situation, you know? But we fought hard and we're better for it. My little boy is healthy and happy and even though I look back on many days in 2012 and feel like I'm looking through a foggy glass, I can always see him and his sweet smile with complete clarity.

And through every high and low, every dark day and bright morning, I can see how closely God walked with us through all of it - whether I acknowledged him or not.

I'm still letting myself think through this all because I know there was a lot of good buried under the hard. But in many ways, I'm ready to put 2012 behind me. I want to take the happy memories and the lessons learned and store it up. I want to shed the rest and move on. With deployment on the horizon, I know that 2013 will be a beast of its own, but if God has used 2012 to teach me anything it's that we've totally got this.