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But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. —2 Corinthians 12:9

So much has happened this year that it is hard to know where to start, but as Maria from The Sound of Music would say, “Let’s start at the very beginning – a very good place to start.”

I went on a missions trip to Nicaragua the third week of January, and it was an absolutely amazing experience! For those of you who don’t know me as well, I love Spanish with my whole heart, and I was almost literally grinning ear to ear the whole trip. The scenery was lovely, but my favorite part by far was meeting so many kind people. I am still messaging one girl almost daily and another girl every couple weeks. I loved getting to interact with so many boys and girls while practicing my Spanish. And, of course, I enjoyed the Nicaraguan food/snacks that I ate (I learned that I LOVE sweetened plantains 😋). It was special seeing God use my team in practical ways as we built 3 homes and a latrine, and we gave lots of food bags to those in the community. I am overjoyed to be returning next January ☺️. Email me at burgervj@icloud.com if you would like to learn more about it.

In March, I had the honor of playing Sylvie in Leviathan: A Musical. It was the role of my dreams, and I had a blast playing that character! You can see some photos above to get a glimpse of what it was like. The week after the musical, I went to Michigan with my friend Katie, and we had a fun time visiting the lake nearby her aunt and uncle’s house. While in Michigan, I dyed my hair red (inspired by a red wig I wore at the end of the musical), and the dye stayed in for a while. Two months later, I chopped off over a foot of hair (and donated it), so this was definitely the year of dramatic hair changes.

April was a hard month. My Grandpa Ron (Dad’s dad) passed away on April 8. He genuinely was the kindest, most Christ-like man I have ever met, and his inspirational example of love showed in his marriage, his family, and his work as a teacher for many years. I still miss him and think about him often, but I’m very grateful for the many memories I have with him (he was very involved in our lives, and he came to every big show/recital we had), and I’m thankful that I had the flexibility to visit him and help my parents take care of him in his final stretch. He had a great sense of humor, even to the end, and two days before he died, he said, “Hasta mañana; that means see you tomorrow in Spanish,” because he knew it’d make us smile.

In July, my family went to Colorado for my cousin’s wedding, and we stayed for a week and enjoyed hiking while we were there. It was breathtaking (literally and metaphorically). My favorite hike was the Lily Mountain hike, which was 2 miles to the top, and I did most of the incline with my 3-year-old niece, Charlotte, on my back. It was a sweet time with siblings, cousins, and my aunt, and it was worth it for the view at the top! My legs were quite sore the next day though. We also went whitewater rafting, which was so much fun!

To pick up the pace and save you reading time, here’s the shortened version of everything else:

• I attended Life Defenders Summer Camp and learned about standing up for the pre-born as they can’t defend themselves.
• I attended Psychology Camp at Cedarville University, which was very educational, and I loved all the people there. We all got along very well.
• I got my wisdom teeth removed. It was not as bad as I expected.
• I ran cross country with Wisdom Builders. I LOVE my team!
• I got shin splints from running cross country and learned how to sport knee-high compression socks in the middle of summer. 🥲
• I worked my way up to 5 pull-ups and 6 chin-ups, but then I stopped working out for a while, so I’m currently trying to get back at that.
• I deleted my social media accounts and have had much more free time and am noticing the positive impact on my life.
• I am crocheting lots of items, mainly sunflowers, succulents, and stuffed animals.
• I spent lots of time outside hanging upside down in my maple tree. It’s very therapeutic, and I 10/10 recommend it!
• I got my driver’s license!!!
• I attended homecoming with friends and had a blast.
• I have written many songs, and this winter I am hoping to finally start the process of recording and publishing my original songs. 😁
• I got a keyboard the week this was written (an early Christmas gift I am ecstatic about!), so now I can play the piano whenever I want to, because I can attach it to headphones.
• I have spent lots of time with my nieces and nephews.
• I’m now one of those crazy tea people, and I am trying to drink tea every day. Red raspberry leaf tea is the tea I drink, as it is good for immunity, digestion, and balancing hormones. It tastes pretty good with honey. ◡̈

One of the best things I’ve done this year has been memorizing a Bible verse every week. Ephesians 6 tells us that we fight a battle that is spiritual, and our sword is the Bible. I don’t know about you, but I know I want a sharp sword when I’m going into battle, so having Bible verses memorized is comparable to sharpening and preparing your sword for battle. I’ve found that analogy really helpful, and memorizing Bible verses has helped me in many ways.

One thing I’m always convicted of is that in these letters, you read about all the highlights of my year (places I visited, goals I accomplished, sweet memories made, etc.), and that could make it easy to be envious of me or to think that I’m always happy and in great situations. To “keep things real,” I tried my best to include a couple things (like how hard Grandpa’s death was for me and having shin splints) that were challenges, but I didn’t write about them in as much detail, because that’s not what I want to focus on.

So this paragraph is my way of reminding you that hard things are part of every year, too; I cried probably more than any year before, I lost some friends, I felt very depressed last winter, I was insecure about my personality a lot and felt like everybody hated me and found me annoying, I had shin splints which hurt terribly and made a couple months of life challenging, and I made some decisions I ended up really regretting (among other things). BUT, this year I also made friends and have some of the kindest friends on the planet! I laughed a lot, I haven’t been sick as much as years past, I’ve been able to write more songs, I’ve been a fun aunt to all my nieces and nephews, I’ve grown more in my faith, I’ve gotten stronger physically, I am working on healing from all sorts of things (I’ve noticed tremendous positive changes), I am learning how to live in the present and not be affected negatively by past hurt, I am learning how to truly forgive – with God’s help – and not be bitter (which has been so freeing and has made me a kinder person), and I have so many more things to be thankful for!

As with every year, this year had its highs and lows, and there were lots of changes and surprises, but one thing that remains the same is God’s faithfulness and love. God’s strength is perfect in my every weakness (and let me tell you, I had a lot of moments this year where I felt weak and undone); that’s why I chose 2 Corinthians 12:9 as my verse this year.

Que Dios lo bendiga. May God bless you!