2017: A Recap

This year was rough - I mean real rough.  Not that terrible things happened constantly, but enough absolutely horrible things happened within such a short period of time, that I was left completely worn.  The crazy thing is that it seems as if everyone I know dealt with some sort of tragedy that made 2017 really suck.

When I sat down to think about all the things that happened this year, I was honestly completely dreading it, until I started to write it all down. There have been so many incredible moments in 2017, that I can honestly say it's actually been pretty wonderful.

January: I did the Christmas Bird Count. We received engagement photos. I ran my first half marathon, went to Disneyland, threw a surprise 30th birthday party for Brian, and my bridesmaids got their dresses.

February: Baby Corey was born, I started aerial yoga, and began my 100 Days of Fitness Challenge.

March: I tried the "Gray Stuff" at Disneyland, watched Melissa get married, and went to the bridal preview at our wedding venue

April: I took Cobie and Brian to visit friends at Hartland Christian Camp, fed the homeless with New Hope Street Ministry, surprised Brian's mom with a spontaneous trip to Disneyland, helped clean up the Auburn State Recreational Area for Earth Day, bawled my eyes out at Zach and Emily's wedding, and had a bridesmaids night with my ladies.

May: I had photos taken in honor of 3 years of freedom from domestic violence, tried Disney Bounding for the first time, ran a Disney 10k, Brian got baptized, and Jadelynn graduated from 6th grade.

June: We found tuxes for Brian and our Groomsmen, figured out our table numbers, and enjoyed a night out with my bridesmaids.

July: I took a trip to Denver to work an event with for KING & COUNTRY, enjoyed the lake with family, baseball games, and FINALLY was able to complete the Vitruvian Man at Aerial Yoga. We celebrated the 4th of July and my friendiversary with Bri. Brian made our guest book. I traveled to Washington for a 3-Day Festival, our wedding invitations came in, and Meloney surprised me with a day out as I faced one of the most difficult months of my life.  Brian and I also escaped to Lake Tahoe to try to get out of the sadness we had faced through this month.

August: I had a night out with my girls at Aerial Yoga, 10 Year High School Reunion, Brian moved to our new home. I went to SoCal for Harvest Crusade, saw a Padres game, the eclipse, escaped a room with my sister, and went kayaking in the ocean. I also got my tattoo touched up and saw One Republic with Jessica.

September: After months of planning, we served 130 moms at our Single Moms Event.  Celebrated my Bridal shower, Jadelynn's 12th birthday, and hung out with Sarah and her bridal party to celebrate her.  We got the best dang couches in the world, and Lara and Kalie threw me a surprise Bridal Shower at work.

October: Jessica and I danced with The Fitness Marshall.  I did my hair and makeup run through for the wedding, collected thousands of pieces of soap for WEAVE.  We got the PERFECT wedding cake topper from Meloney, my wedding jewelry, my dad made a miraculous recovery after dying twice from a heart attack. We celebrated my bachelorette party, wedding rehearsal, Treat Yoself Spa Day with my bridesmaids, Welcome to the Family drinks, and FINALLY had our Wedding Day.  Immediately after, we headed to Belize, where our honeymoon was literally everything we hoped it would be. October did have some bumps, but overall it was a month of healing and new beginnings.

November: Meloney and I enjoyed Brett Eldredge and Luke Bryan. I helped build 1500 bikes for kids, ran another half marathon, celebrated Stacie and her Bachelorette Party in Reno - where I dominated against Bri (who wins everything) at Sumo Wrestling. The Eagles beat the Cowboys, I spent time with Meloney, Chris, and their little ones at Apple Hill and brought in my birthday with a game night, gifts, and cake with my husband and the best brother and sister in-love in the world!  My husband took me to The Melting Pot for my birthday dinner, and we celebrated Thanksgiving 3 times (my new family, first family, and with my Jadelynn family).


December: This month has been busy!  We kicked the month off by watching Jacob and Stacie get married, rang the bell for the Salvation Army, had winter summit with the Events Team, won the ugly sweater contest with the #GoldenGirls at the office. We celebrated our volunteers at a Volunteer Christmas party, went to Disneyland, watched the Eagles beat the Rams LIVE (thanks, Brian), explored Christmas lights with David and Christina, got a fire pit and market lights for our backyard, cut a million inches off of my hair, got our wedding video, saw the Impractical Jokers live, and spent 2 weeks puppy-sitting Eugene. Lara and I presented the first ever K-LOVE Share the Love Award to Destiny Church and Community Center. For the first time in our home, Brian and I hosted the 5th Annual Christmas party with some of our best friends.  I helped the Salvation Army in giving 2500 families a Christmas, brought Christmas to over 30 boys at the Sacramento Children's Home, and baked cookies with Nikki, and Corey. Brian and I went to another ugly sweater party, spent Christmas with my new family, my first family, and with my dad - which led to a spontaneous Oregon trip to pet baby tigers and other cool animals. We threw a surprise party for Jackie, beat ANOTHER escape room (17 down - #undefeated), and tonight I'll bring in the New Year with Melony, Chris, my nieces, Jadelynn and her sister, and my wonderful husband.

This year has been a year with lots of tears, an insane amount of restless nights, stress, broken relationships, and a lots and lots of really hard moments. However, a spark of hope was found through prayer and complete surrender of all of those tough things to God.  He came through with answered prayers, restored friendships, much-needed closure, and by giving me some of the most incredible blessings I get to call family.

This year I'm grateful for long drives, runs, talks, and experiences with Bri.  I'm grateful for my sister Tara, who has shown me that no matter what I am loved and that it's okay to take time for myself. I am grateful for Meloney and Chris, who have prayed for me, talked me down from really broken moments, whisked me away on adventures, and always seem to know the right thing to say. Adventure after adventure with Jessica and double date nights with Christina and David.  I am thankful my dad is still here and that we have the opportunity to create a real father-daughter relationship. I'm blessed to have the most incredible mom and to be getting even closer with my sister Jacki and with Jadelynn's mom, Tabitha.

Most of all, I am so so blessed to have the most incredible husband in the world. Brian is my biggest fan and cheerleader.  You have been more patient with me than I could have ever asked for.  You've cried with me, held me in silence when I needed it, and cheered me on and prayed with and for me when I felt like I couldn't take on any more. You are without a doubt, the greatest thing to have ever happened to me.  I love you more than words could ever express.

2018 is nearly here, and I'm moving into the new year with high expectations for a lot of new, wonderful memories to be made.

-jennilea

Cryfest - I Love My Job.

So I have the best job ever.  Over the last 3 weeks, I've been training in my new position as a Promotions Manager at K-LOVE and Air1.  It's still surreal to me that I am already in my dream job...my last place of employment (God willing).  This was the desire of my heart and God absolutely delivered!  Everyday, I get to wake up, happily go to work, and serve God through a ministry that has such a huge impact on the lives of our listeners - and on the lives of all of the wonderful people who work behind the scenes.

What are my duties?  I came from the Run-TNC Listener Services night crew, where I had the opportunity to take call after call from our listeners, and now I get to meet with them face to face at events.  We plan and schedule events we are attending, create spots, do giveaways, run social media (at this time, I encourage you to follow @air1norcal and @klovenorcal on Instagram), and so much more.  My favorite part though is that we connect with really incredible people.

Each month, all employees get together for a team meeting (field employees watch online).  At these team meetings, there is often worship, fun, and stories that we otherwise wouldn't hear.  The videos are made extremely well - and the stories are touching and often intense.  So much so that I end up crying at literally every one of them.  Without fail.  I don't cry often at all...so it's actually a little refreshing to be part of this cryfest.

What I love most are the things that make me cry though.  I love the stories, and the opportunity to pray and praise God for what He is doing in my life and through our ministry.  Immediately after the meeting, I posted the following to Instagram:

I just got out of our monthly team meeting/cryfest and I am just in awe. The things God is doing through K-LOVE and Air1 just amaze me...and I get to be part of that?! Today we got our photo book, which we get each year - sort of like a year in review thing. These aren't just books though; they are a snapshot of how God has been able to use this ministry in the lives of others. There are outreach and event stories, mentions of new stations and upgrades - but my favorite part is the listener stories. Reading about what God is doing in their lives and how they are being changed is just incredible. As pointed out in our meeting, these books help us to see what is happening all around the world as a result of this ministry. They help us remember our purpose. To wake up each day saying, "Hey God, I'm going to work. How can I serve you today?" I am blessed to be part of something so life-changing, not just for our listeners, but for everyone here at K-LOVE and Air1. ‪#‎ididntdothat‬ ‪#‎Goddidthat‬ ‪#‎bestjobever‬ ‪#‎blessed‬ ‪#‎klove‬ ‪#‎air1‬

I get to wake up every single day to work full time in a ministry.  I don't even have words to describe how fortunate I feel to be part of such a wonderful outreach.  I love and am passionate about every part of this job and can't wait to see how God uses me in this.  I am so grateful.

In other news:  I'd like to address the subject of cyber-bullying.  While it does happen to teens, for the most part, it isn't just limited to them.  Yep - sometimes, adults choose to attack others through their various social media platforms in the form of private messaging, commenting, and even cyber-stalking. Bullying is pretty disgusting no matter where/how it's occurring.  I found a pretty interesting article in Huffington post, explaining the "heartache of bullying" discussing a side that isn't often represented.  A very noteworthy quote:   "In many cases, bullying acts as a coping mechanism and a way to overcompensate for lack of self worth."  There is so much truth in that statement.  You can read more from this article here.

-jennilea