My good news :)

I have spent the last week trying to think of the best way to get this over with, and this is what I decided on. For 3 years now I have been with Tyson, my love, my sweet boy with loads of personal troubles, but we have stuck through it and we have seen some amazing accomplishments in the last year. During this time I have struggled with my relationship with my family, never being able to be perfectly honest about everything and never being able to share the sweetest joys of victory because my family wasn't there for the fight. I'm not applying this to my sister because I was able to share most of everything with her; she has been a great support.

Last summer, Tyson and I were working hard on straightening out our lives. Tyson wanted to be a part of his son's life, and I wanted to grow up and be self sufficient. In July, very unofficially, Tyson asked me if I would marry him in the temple when we were ready. I said yes. It's been a long year, but so much has been accomplished: I became self sufficient working and living like an adult paying rent and all my bills on time, and Tyson was finally able to work out a parenting plan that will allow him to be a real dad to his son.

A couple months ago, I was sitting in sacrament meeting, listening to the ward choir which I was not a part of due to my work schedule, when I felt very strongly about 2 things. First, I needed to change my lifestyle to include more time for a full time calling within the church. Second, I needed to stop putting my life on hold, it was time to take the next step and Marry Tyson. I was overwhelmed by the strength of these promptings. I have feared the reaction of my parents for a very long time over this, though I'm sure that they somehow knew this would eventually happen. About 2 weeks ago, we met with my bishop in the single's ward, and he asked, without any suggestion from me, if we would like him to marry us. Funny enough, I had the paper work with me that I had prepared to ask him if he would do just that. I remember he said something about “Divine intervention” at that.

On May 20^th, 2011 Tyson and I were married with just enough people present to be legalized. It was an incredible moment and I am so very happy to be with my husband.

I am incredibly sad that I felt too afraid of my family's reaction to be upfront about this in the first place, and I am so sorry that this is how you, my family, will find out, but I love you, and I want you to know that I am so happy with this decision. I feel an incredible weight lifted off of me and a great comfort in my heart that my future will be filled with love and support and somehow, a lot more happiness. I hope that my family will be with me now, even though I have struggled with honesty and openness, because despite everything, I need them, and I really want to share my happiness with them.

Already, we are finding our new ward to be extremely friendly and wonderful, as if this is where we are meant to be. I feel blessed and so incredibly grateful for everything in my life.