Bring on 15

Goodbye 2014! You have been one of the most difficult years of my life. You brought me more tears and struggles then I can remember in previous years. However since this is your last day, I would like to part with positive thoughts between us.

Thank you for teaching me so much about my instincts. You have shown me what a true friend is and exactly what a snake in the grass looks like more than once.

Thank you for testing my faith. You truly pushed me to the edge a few times, but I never let go of my faith that it will all turn out just fine. I am not sure if that was the result you wanted, but that's the one that won. With just a quick glance at 2015's calendar shows me the hard work, pain and suffering in 2014 will make 2015 amazing.

Thank you for all the success with my job. It was a very stressful year for me trying to make everything work out between my job and my family. Somehow we made it work and boy did our YRF team bless a lot of people through our work. You also showed me how to balance work and family and I will take that into 2015 and the future years.

Thank you for showing me what exhaustion feels like. This was a very important lesson for me to learn. I need to be exhausted to learn how to take better care of me so I can take better care of my family. Just one note, you could have kept that number of complete exhaustion times to a single digit number, it's all good though.

Thank you for bringing Stitch into our lives. That little furball is a sweetheart and fits perfectly into our family.

Thank you for our construction crew for our forever home. They are all working so hard for our family. Some of them have even become like family. Thank you for bringing the skills and passion to our team and helping us build this house.

Thank you for the random people you placed along our path. From the amazing woman at the San Antonio airport who has blessed us beyond belief to YRF donor who loved one of our ideas so much she brought it to life herself and blessed so many to my super cute Girl Scouts that I have the privilege to lead, you have brought several wonderful people into our lives this year that are wonderful blessings for us.

Thank you for #badass van. Chaz needed that upgrade more than we realized. Thank you for Help Our Military Heroes and this blessing they gave our family. 

Thank you for the people who joined our team to help me fight for our home. I could not have fought alone. They all gave me the courage to stand up and voice my opinion and get this house under construction.

Thank you for every donor who has donated to help us build this home. So many have given money, products and/or their time. We are thankful for each one of them and we cannot wait to celebrate our teamwork together in just a few months.

Thank you for people just wanting to help. We heard so many no's this year from so many non-profits. They had so many reasons to tell us no. It was heartbreaking to be told you "aren't injured enough" or "you aren't insolvent" or "your wife has a job you can afford it" again and again. Just when we gave up hope you brought new friends to our team. Thank you to 9line, America's Fund, Independence Fund and CPT Kyle Comfort Foundation for helping without strings or criteria. You all just wanted to help us get to the new home and we are so thankful for your contributions to our home.

Thank you for the Chase for Chaz. Our friends worked so hard to get that race together for our family. It was wonderful that day to look and see all the people who came together to help bring us home.

Thank you for all of the judgmental people who deemed themselves experts on our situation with such little education. I am thankful for their comments because it has shown me the fight is far from over for our wounded and America needs a serious education.

Thank you for our care team. We love our FRC. We love our team at the Murfreesboro VA. From our AW2 rep to our nurse case manager to Chaz's medical staff to our VA Caregiver Program team we are one of the VA success stories and we are proud to sing their praises. (It may be that they all realize they have to deal with me one way or the other, but hey whatever works right?!)

Thank you for backing me into a corner and make me cry too many times to count. Each tear filled me with more energy to get things done. Each tear made me fight harder. Each tear made me seek the positivity rather than letting the negative take root.

Thank you 2014 for all of these important lessons, plus the ones my lowly caffeinated brain cannot bring forward right now. I hope that we can share these lessons with others and make 2015 our best year ever.