One the eve of my 33rd birthday, I can really only think of gratitude and humor at the year I am moving beyond. While it hasn’t been an easy year, it has been better than some, and though full of insane life transitions, I would say I have been gifted with some good Bettger resilience, some extremely wonderful community, and just a little (or a lot) of grace and gifts from a good God.

So let me “name the ways”:

• I am so thankful for my angels… my wife, Kat, and my absolutely perfect son, Brendan, Also, that little guy who is on the way for January. Thank you for not making Mommy’s asthma flare up. (notice I didn’t mention the dog… though, Coco, you aren’t all that bad)
• So thankful for the friends and community, not just in Bend, but around the country. There are countless ways that we have been supported this last year, even just in meals, potlucks, a place to hang out, moving couches, cutting hair, watching Brendan. And then there are the men from Illuman. Supporting my own calling, my leadership, my giftedness, and my journey. And those in my spiritual direction community who have done more of the same. And for friends in MN… so good to reunite after all this time.
• I am thankful for our old house, while even though we couldn’t wait to get out, gave us good shelter, room to grow, and allowed us to live on less income.
• Thankful for our tax return, because without it, we wouldn’t have been able to make this trip to WI and MN for 5 weeks.
• And for this trip… a time to rest, to be away, to transition and to spend more time with my family than I have in 6 years.
• So thankful for my family, especially my parents who are the best grandparents I have ever seen.
• Thankful for the chance to offer spiritual direction. It truly is a calling, truly is a gift, and to be able to join others on their journey of discovery and challenge, well… it doesn’t get much better than that. Finally certified this last year, and I’m so glad it took as long as it did.
• Thankful for the books, so many I can’t even remember them all, but most definitely for the whole series of Game of Thrones (all 7000 plus pages of you) that got me through the winter and through school bus driving.
• I am thankful for Kat’s family. The inlaws… for always challenging me to be better than I am and to live into my potential.
• Thank you, to Mother Earth, for holding us, feeding us, hurting us, and carrying us.
• Thankful to my chicken that gave her life, even though violently, so we could eat. I will never forget that experience.
• And yes even thankful for the school bus job. After all, it has to be the last job before moving to a new city.
• So grateful for the upcoming chaplain residency, and for the opportunity to experience the next stage in my “delivery system”
• Thankful for the Lord’s timing. It is just too ironic, synchronistic, or whatever you want to call it, to be anything else.

There are so many more, I could write for pages. Nevertheless, I can’t wait for what is to come. And just as with any given day, I look to the future with a mix of anxiety over the details and anticipation for the surprises, this next year will surely contain its fair share.