Question #1 of 10 - What Went Well This Year? (2016)

In 2016, these are some of the things that went well:

1.  Mitchell completed grade 11 and started grade 12. He continues to be a 90%+ average student.  I am so proud of his accomplishments and look forward to what God has in store for his future.  In November he was accepted into a Bible College located about 3 hours from where we live, so he'll be starting his post-secondary education there in September of 2017.

2.  Tyrone completed grade 9 and started grade 10.  He is now officially in high school and is taking the credit courses he needs in order to obtain a grade 12 diploma a couple of years down the road. Ty's transition from grade 9 to 10 has gone way more smoothly than Mitchell's transition did a couple of years ago, for which I AM SO GRATEFUL.  Ty is also excelling in his classes and rarely do I have to remind him about getting his school work done.

3.  My last 6 months of work (January - June 2016) at the Hutterite Colony school where I worked for 6 years were some of the best work months of my life.  I was affirmed and encouraged by my boss, colleagues and parents of students, making me realize that my work there was worthwhile and effective.  That is probably one of the biggest reasons why it was so devastating to find out that this job was removed from my life at the end of June, due to budget cutbacks in the school division I work for.

4.  Our family summer stay-cations to various Saskatchewan-based attractions were definitely highlights for me.  We toured the Tunnels of Moose Jaw, visited the real-life town where the TV show, Corner Gas, was filmed (Rouleau, SK), explored the sand dunes in the southern part of our province, and visited a very unique "forest", full of crooked trees.

5.  God's provision always surprises me, even though I should not be surprised at how well He cares for His children.  At the end of June I was job-less.  During the first two weeks of July, I applied for over 25 administrative-related jobs, without so much as an interview.  In the meantime, God had already prepared a place for me to work; however, I was reluctant to accept another position as an EA in different school.  I took a risk and began working in a school with 800+ students and 80 staff members (my prior school had about 35 students and 4 staff members).  I can't say my transition into the new job is something that "went well" in 2016, but I am grateful to have employment, so the fact that I have a job at the moment is what "went well".

6.  I'm not sure how this fits into the "went well" category, exactly, but due to my job loss, God has revealed some areas in my life personally that need work--lots of work.  These areas span from my own personal growth to working on restoring key relationships in my life that have been damaged for various reasons.  I have been forced to evaluate many things about myself, and while I'm only beginning this process, I guess I would have to categorize this as a good thing, only because it is going to help in my transformation process into begin more like Mary and less like Martha.

I am sure there is so much more that went well in 2016, but these are the 6 things that stand out most in my mind.  When I think back on 2016, I don't view it as a "good" year.  However, I know it wasn't all bad, and of course there are many positive moments day-to-day that I have forgotten.  My journey is not always positive, but I'm slowly realizing that the difficulties I face are opportunities for growth and provide a catalyst to allow God to reveal more of His character to me.