There is nothing like topping off one of the hardest weeks of work of my (short) career with a killer cold and a terrible car accident. It’s days like this that make me wonder why in the world I am still alive. Despite the week of terror, here I am, on my couch, binge watching Netflix and drowning my sorrows in Prosecco. Gatz (my car) is sitting, most likely totaled, in the parking lot outside my window. Do you ever have weeks like this? Weeks where you ask yourself why you went to college to do something that you are sure will ultimately lead to an untimely death by exhaustion? I was so tired this week I was actually late to work on Wednesday because I overslept. I’ve never been that type of person. I’ve never been the type of person who looks at their pile of work and thinks, “I will never finish this,” or “What’s the point?”

My resilience is waning.

I’ve been trying to avoid doing that annoying thing that people do when they have a bad day/week/year/life where they just complain to anyone (or to the endless void of the Internet) who will listen. It’s difficult to avoid the “my life sucks” trap when, well, things suck. However, there’s a tried and true method I hold to. When I get into a really negative mood, I try to think about all the positives in my life (and drink wine and watch sappy chick flicks and eat chocolate).

The one overwhelming positive in my life recently has been the Doss family. I have been so amazingly blessed to have fallen in love with Kyle. As I have gotten to know his family, I have been overjoyed at the idea that I will acquire a whole new family who has shown me more love and acceptance than I ever expected. It blows my mind that God has blessed me with my own wonderful family–the type of family who picks you up when you get a flat tire on the way to a job interview, and the type of family who sits with you while you’re on hold with the insurance company for 45 minutes–and, now, He has blessed me with another family to love. In the midst of a crappy week, I cling to this one truth: God loves me enough to give me two families (and stellar friends) who love me even on the bad days.

–Mads