Good morning, Cyberspace! Christmas is over. We have begun that ethereal stretch of time between the rush and chaos of the Christmas season and the gleeful, optimistic joy of the New Year… But right now, everything is quiet. Everything is hushed. The world is waiting, and we are waiting with it.

2025 was… Well, in perfect honesty, it was pretty bad. I’ve had some doozy years, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like 2025 took everyone for a bit of a ride–not just me–and from what I’m seeing on the internet, there aren’t too many people out there who are sad to see 2025 go.

I know I’m not.

Out of curiosity, I took a look at my 2025 goals post which was posted way back in the stone ages (aka 2024), and…yeah. I’m not too surprised that I hardly completed any of the missions on there. (okay, okay, I completed NONE of the missions on there. I can’t really say I’m surprised…)

I started with the best intentions, of course. But this year took some MASSIVE turns that I didn’t see coming. Some of them were pretty awful…and some of them–a small but important pile of them–were incredibly sweet and good.

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GOODBYE 2025 – THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

GOOD – I GOT A NEW JOB!

I never thought I would leave the world of libraries. Unfortunately, life and bills happen, and sometimes you have to make really difficult decisions.

This past year, I was doing some light research and discovered that Arizona State University has a partnership with none other than Starbucks: those enrolled in ASU’s online bachelor’s degree program can get their tuition paid in full while working at the coffee shop. Not only that, but they had health insurance.

These two things alone made the switch extremely practical for me.

I applied, had THREE INTERVIEWS (THREE!!!!), and finally got hired at a shop nearby. The first week was… well, it was kind of chaotic. But I caught on fairly quickly and managed to start making friends with some of our customers.

(shoutout to the older couple that always came through drive through for their mint mochas! you guys made the afternoon shifts slightly bearable…)

BAD – MY TRANSMISSION WENT OUT

I would have said this was the ugly for 2025, but it’s actually not the worst thing that happened this year! (I know. Crazy, right?)

For the better part of a month, my car started doing this kinda awkward shuttering thing. It would hit somewhere between 30 and 40 MPH and suddenly it felt like I was trying to drive the Delorean without the flux capacitor… A few minor repairs and many weeks later, we finally figured out what was wrong with it.

The transmission was slipping.

This, of course, was discovered shortly after it pretty much gave out completely at a very busy intersection. Praise the Lord, I was able to get the car over to the side of the road and call my dad (thanks for coming to get me, dad!), but thus ensued a couple weeks without my car while the transmission was being repaired. (which, naturally, cost an arm, a leg, and my left pinky toe.)

There may or may not have been a fiasco with a rental car, too, but we don’t talk about that….

UGLY – FIRST EVER AMBULANCE RIDE AND HOSPITAL STAY

About two months after starting my new job, I discovered a couple lumps on my neck about the size of a small grape. Naturally I panicked kept my cool and messaged one of my close friends who also happens to be a nurse. After asking some questions, she told me they were more than likely lymph nodes, but to keep an eye on them just in case.

A couple more weeks passed. Unfortunately, instead of dwindling away and vanishing like I hoped they would, they decided to grow.

And grow.

And grow.

Until one of them resembled more of a golf ball than a grape.

Finally I bit the bullet and made an appointment with my family doctor, who didn’t know what was causing the issue, but asked me to get some bloodwork done so we could have some more information. Alas, I was never able to get the bloodwork done, because two days later I became so nauseated I couldn’t hold anything down for two days.

I was then driven to the ER by my amazing parents, admitted, and then transferred to a hospital via ambulance, where–after a three day hospital stay and one surgery to remove the golf-ball sized lymph node in my neck–I was discharged with an uncertain diagnosis, but the promise of having more information soon.

More weeks passed, and we finally received the official results from the lymph node biopsy: I was okay.

I won’t go into all of the details of what could have been or what was, but I will share the fact that throughout this entire season, the Lord has been so very near to my side. He gave me nurses who reminded me of the truth of His sovereignty. He came through for me in situations I never thought would play out how they did… And, more than anything, He has shown me that in all things, there is no better plan than His plan.

Which leads us to…

GOOD – I’M MOVING!

While I am so blessed that my illness wasn’t anything worse than what it was, both the days I spent in the hospital and my time healing post surgery helped me reassess my priorities and where I needed to be in this new season of my life. While I loved living at my apartment and adore my roommate, I knew that God was shifting things in my life, and I could feel Him gently laying His will on my heart to move back in with family. It was such a sudden yet peace-filled decision, and I am so grateful that He has been guiding us every step of the way as this change takes place!

It’s truly wonderful being so near to my family again! Christmas was absolutely delightful, and I’m entering this new year feeling more refreshed and centered than I have in a very long time…

GOOD(?) – …I QUIT MY NEW JOB

…okay, I can explain.

I don’t particularly like talking ill of management. I think that’s actually a really bad heart posture to have, and personally, I know from experience that management is hard. We all struggle.

But when I am told that the only reasonable response to my car breaking down on the side of the road (re: transmission failure) is to abandon my car on the side of the highway and either hitch a ride or call an Uber to work………

…..

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I lost a lot of respect that day, is all I’m saying.

Shockingly enough, that wasn’t the final straw for me. I would have toughed it out even then. But as mentioned previously, I got extremely sick. Thankfully, management actually worked with me to get on an unpaid leave of absence, since the original goal was to return to work as soon as I was able. However… some other things happened that kinda…interfered with that.

GOOD – I GOT A NEW JOB! (part two)

2025 will officially be known as the year I had 3 jobs… (although, in my defense, I haven’t started the new job yet…!)

God has worked in really wild ways this year, not just in my own life, but in the lives of my family and friends, as well. It’s been incredibly humbling to see that there is literally nothing I can do to alter the divine planning of God.

All that to say, I had been home from the hospital for about 3 weeks when I received a text message asking if I’d be interested in interviewing for a Children’s Librarian position at a local library.

To say that I was shocked is a complete and utter understatement…

Leaving my previous library was rough, but leaving behind my kids was one of the hardest things I’ve experienced in a “job breakup”. It sounds strange, but I didn’t realize just how much I would miss it. I had convinced myself for months that making a practical job switch was the path I should go–and in many ways I believe it was the way I needed to go for that season. But sickness has a unique way of shifting your perspective on a lot of things, including what is most important in your life.

The interview process was amazing, and I fell irrevocably in love with this new library. The following week I received a job offer, and I am so incredibly blessed and excited to announce that I start my brand new adventure as a Children’s Librarian in 2026!

I have been sitting on this information for quite a while, just to make sure that everything went through properly, but I can officially announce it now, and it feels so wildly exhilarating. I cannot believe we’ve come full circle in the span of months. I cannot believe that this new job offers opportunities that my previous one couldn’t.

Working in a library setting is one of the best experiences, and I cannot wait to start sharing some of that magic here on the blog. More on that will come later, but I’ll just say that I have some pretty big ideas for how to incorporate the things I learn in my job here on the blog!

BLESSED – MOVING FORWARD WITH PRAYER-FUELED DETERMINATION

I truly cannot say how blessed I feel after what has happened these past few months. I have seen answers to prayers come bountifully to life in ways I could never have imagined myself. There are no words to describe how in love I am with the Father, how at peace I am with where my life has landed. Where I am today looks wildly different than where I was even two months ago, but I am so grateful and humbled that the journey has led me here.

Obviously, my life is not ending here. But 2025 is, and I am choosing to move forward into 2026 with prayer-fueled determination. If 2025 has taught me anything, it is that NOTHING is too big for my God to handle. He is so, impossibly, incredibly, awe-inspiringly good. Always.

2025 was hard. In some ways, 2025 was awful. But 2025 was also a year in which I was blessed beyond measure, and for that, I am unbelievably grateful.

So goodbye, 2025. May I never forget you nor the mountains moved within you.

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TALK TO ME!

How was your 2025? Anything wild or exciting happen this year? Anything you’re particularly looking forward to in the new year? Let’s chat it in the comments below!