2022. What a year. We lived in Montréal, Hancock, Myrtle Beach, Kittery, Greenfield, and now Phoenix with a dozen more states sprinkled in as visits. Each year is unique, but this one is far set apart as our year of adventure and change, and honestly intense destabilization. But we’ve learned even more to rely on the one thing that is truly stable and unchanging, Jesus. It’s been an incredible year and probably the hardest year for both of us too. We’re coming to realize those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Hard isn’t always bad and you never know what’s coming next, or how the thing that was hard will usher in something sweet and beautiful.

The most stark picture of that this year was having to leave our home in Montréal, which still feels so heavy on my heart even today. When we were looking back at what we wrote last year in our New Year’s journal, we realized that it was only days before New Year’s Eve that we made the decision to leave Canada. On New Year’s Day last year, we drove from our home to the border to beg Dan’s case to be able to stay in the country for a bit longer as his visitor’s visa expired that day. We had previously been threatened by a border official that if we attempted to extend his visitor’s visa he could be banned from entering Canada permanently. There’s much more to that whole story, maybe I’ll share more another time. Thankfully, they gave him three more months to get his affairs in order, and I gave notice to my boss two days later.

It was a tense beginning to the year to say the least.

But I remind myself that had all of that not happened, we wouldn’t have started travel nursing this year or maybe ever. Something that so felt tragic and unfair in the moment allowed us to step into our next big adventure that we will remember for the rest of our lives. I’m sure we’ll have more of those challenges, but I hope we can remember how it all worked out this year, not how we wanted it to when we were in the thick of it, but in perhaps an even more beautiful way.

We so enjoyed our last few months in Montréal. Dan still wasn’t able to work in Canada so he tried his hand at cooking a bit more. The ban on household gatherings was finally lifted after nearly two years the day before the superbowl; so naturally we packed almost 20 people into our little apartment for a superbowl party (complete with TONS of food and the American commercials of course). Those same friends rallied around us joining us for dinner, praying for us, and helping us pack up our home. After months of no success, Dan finally got an offer for a travel nursing contract the week that we left Montréal, which was a huge answer to prayer.

Unfortunately, the start of travel nursing proved rocky and we encountered many challenges with Dan’s contract including his pay being cut before he even started…twice. We were fine financially which is a bit miraculous in and of itself after some experiences I had with my job and after Dan’s six months of being unable to work. God provided every step of the way and we ended up having more than enough. Looking back, I remember how it felt like absolutely everything was just challenging us to see if we could have peace despite our circumstances, and we often didn’t. But we sure learned how to do it better and how to fight for that.

Everyone knows the story after that, all of the pieces finally came together and we made our way to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was absolutely breathtaking and we fell in love with the state and the home we rented there. Travel nursing is interesting because you just barely get to the point where you feel settled before you need to decide what comes next. Even yet, we felt more settled there than we had in many months. It felt like we could finally catch our breath a bit and process what had happened in the months prior.

Adjusting to working nights was tough for Dan, but all in all I think he took it in stride. In some ways I struggled with it more and at this point I think it’s mostly me deciding that he won’t take a night shift contract again if we can help it. I took up gardening, we made friends with neighbours and found a new church, and we both just basked in the warmth and sunshine of the Palmetto State. Many friends and family visited us which was so much fun, and we took multiple trips to other cities during our time there.

Our next stop was a bit closer to our next of the woods: Kittery, Maine. It had been six years since I got to really experience a New England fall, and I was ecstatic to get that opportunity again. Dan was blessed with a bit of an easier assignment and I came across a couple wonderful families to nanny for. We spent time with family and really came to love southern Maine. We took trips to Montréal and Colorado to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and then the wedding of one of Dan’s groomsmen. When the time came, we didn’t feel ready to settle back in New England quite yet, and so we set our sights on heading out west for Dan’s next contract.

Honestly, we were surprised that we ended up in Phoenix, which was our top choice of cities, and even more surprised that Dan was able to get a contract working days (without a pay cut, might I add). It’s been almost a month that we’ve been here now, and while we don’t think we’d want to permanently live in the desert, we’re loving it. We have a long list of places we want to see and things we want to do while we’re here, and we can’t wait to welcome in friends and family to visit. Next week we’ll be exploring Sedona for a day and then enjoying a luxurious dinner out as our Christmas present from my mom and stepdad.

A year ago we had absolutely no idea what the year would bring, other than the fact that we wouldn’t be able to spend it in Canada so that ruled out pretty much all of our previous plans. Today, we feel similarly uncertain what the next year will bring, but in a much more hopeful and expectant way. It may be destabilizing, it may not look like what we want or expect, but such is this life and we’re beginning to not worry so much about all that. We’re grateful for the year we’ve been given, for the way things worked out in the end, for the adventures, and for all of the friends and family who came alongside us in the good and the hard.

Happy New Year