Tough to complain too much. Many people have had it much, much worse than me. But I will share my unique journey.
I worked as a Pastor and was starting to have a rough time at the beginning of 2020 with the church I was at. Meanwhile, my wife and decided to start foster care. We got a 3 year old who could not walk or talk and a 1 year old to go with our other 3 kids in last February.
Covid hit. The night the NBA shut down, I was coming down with it. And then the country shut down. My wife and I both got sick. We were laid up for two weeks. Then I was laid up again with a bad flu for another week and half (went to the hospital once). We couldn't get respite care because we had covid. We had to try to entertain 5 kids under 10 in quarantine while we struggled to walk to the kitchen.
We finally got healthy, but Covid put new pressures on my job on top of the other pressures that were already mounting. My youngest daughter during this time reverted in her development and starting pooping and peeing everywhere.
Oh, and during this entire season, we had just so many unlucky breaks with random stuff in our house. Fridge, stove, dishwasher, computer, an outlet caught on fire, etc.
Then I got Covid again in October at a "super-spreader" event at our church. Many were being appropriately careful, but not all. It wasn't nearly as bad the second time, but it still sucked.
By November we were able to reunite the two foster kids back with their mother, and by the beginning of January had quit my job.
Throughout this whole season, my wife was struggling emotionally, alot. As I'm sure anyone who is married knows, that adds pressure, but I was happy to have someone to walk through that with.
It's a very easy thing to wrap up your entire identity in pastoring. That meant the early months of 2021 I needed unravel my identity a bit. My faith in God was bigger than my job, and even bigger than the identity I had built, but I was struggling to feel it.
2021 has largely been a year of healing, emotionally, physically, financially, and especially spiritually. God gave me great job with Wells Fargo that makes me more money than I ever thought I could make. I'm helping a church plant get established in East Des Moines and starting to use my gifts and abilities there more.
Overall doing a lot better than a year ago, or even two years ago. Still don't know what lies ahead, but I'm happy where I'm at with my family.