At this time last year my wife Leanne was a little over half way through her pregnancy with our first child Isaiah. Who was born on May 13th 2015. He is now just over 9 months old and playing beside me as I write this. His birth was the highlight of the year for me. Although he got off to a little bit of a rocky start. As like his father he decided to stay in longer then expected and then had to be pulled out through a c-section, after coming into distress and inhaling some of his own poop. He spent 2 weeks in the NICU recovering and drying out his lungs. those first two weeks although trying, allowed Leanne and I time to have many dinner dates and learn how to be parents. During that time our family was able to come out and help support us and meet the next generation of the Young family.Other highlights of the year was getting my motorcycle license, and putting a couple 1000 Kms on my bike through out the warmer months. I enjoyed many weeks of bachelorhood, as Leanne was on maturinty leave and took the opprotunity to take Isaiah to Ontario for three weeks in the summer and three weeks around christmas. I went to Ontario for the week of christmas and enjoyed time with my family. We have been blessed with a great baby that likes to travel. We took two road trips this year one with Isaiah still on the inside. we traveled to B.C. to visit friends in march and then went to northren alberta with isaiah to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins in Grande Cache in the fall. While there we went on a lot of walks and drives. over all it was a great year with a good amount of visiting friends. I hope that this year will be filled with more road trips and visits from friends and family.
This past year I have continued on the elders board at Moose Jaw alliance Church. It was a trying summer as there was some spiritual attaches on the leadership, in the form of letters from former leaders. We handled it the best that we could through lots of prayer and seeking truth in the midst of lies. Although hard it was a time that has built character in our leadership and we are strong from it. We are continuing to seek God in the direction that he has put us on as a church. I am becoming closer to God through these times and I know that we are in the midst of plating seeds. Leanne and I have also started to help lead the youth group at church. The first semester we ran a small group that consisted of two girls. This past semester we have joined with the other group that was meeting and it has been going alright. Numbers wise we are doing really well but as we don't have a point person to lead and we are leading together but we are not exactly on the same page. Over all ministry wise things are going well at the church I am continuing to learn how to be a better leader and enjoy working with the other elders and Tim.
Speaking of ministry I am still working at Joe's Place, and enjoying it for the most part. I have had to step up my role a little as Sean our program director has been diagnosed with Lyme disease and is not always able to be relied on. We have also hired some new younger guys that are sorta under me. So I can delicate some of my tasks to them. Which has freed me up to focus on more of the over all programs. I plan on being at Joes for another year or so but I don't know how much longer I will be there. I am wanting to try my hand at another career some that might be a better fit for me in the long run. Or at least take enough time off to get bored again.
I am thinking that by the summer of 2017 I will be working else where, possibly moving back to Ontario to be closer to our families. In other exciting news I should be done my student loans by the end of the next month. Then we will be debit free. Which I am excited about then we can start saving for a downpayment on a house or other future places to live. For now though we are happy to live on the Ibc campus and pay rent. If we weren't living here we would still be in debit for at least another couple years. For now though we are just enjoying life as much as we can despite the busyness of it all.
Well that has been this year in a brief post. I pray that this coming year will be full of joy and love and peace. As I seek to be the father and man that God has called me to be. I pray that my boy will continue to grow strong and have a heart of compassion. As we know he does already. Only god knows what this year will bring and I trust in him to take care of us as I grow older.
