In the last year or so...

- Big J came to live with us, rent free, while coping with his divorce, moving out about 8 months later
- Little J came to live with us, along with her cat and hamster, first with the notion she would go back to C after rehab
- C was kicked out of several rehab centres, we went to court to get legal custody of Little J and won
- we adopted P, foster pup whose mom was also in rehab, initially intending only to foster but falling in love
- we struggled to sell the old house as the market collapsed and got stuck paying 2 mortgages for almost a year, but finally sold it
- Shawn was laid off from Company R and had 4 months of unemployment until Company K hired him
- I was laid off for the summer from my teaching position, and rehired in September
- I started work on my Masters degree
......


In the past year, things have been difficult, off and on, in a lot of ways. Stress. Chaos, uncertainty, instability.

And we've come through. Shawn and I are close as ever. Little J is thriving.

There have been a lot more milestones than I've listed. Learning to ride a bike, learning to swim, making a permanent home out of the temporary space, making friends, becoming closer with family, travel...

In spite of the hard things, we're fine. We're closer, we're stronger, we're happy. When you get through hard things together you are pulled together in new ways.

Because we've been knocked around a lot, allowed weaknesses to show, and still survived, I have more faith, rather than less, in our abilities and our love for each other.



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