I am participating in The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. For my responses to prompts 1-7, please see Part I.

8. Moment of Peace
What’s that? Just kidding, I actually had quite a bit cherished moments of peace, be it walking around on my lunch break at work (downtown, the Pike, the beach) or quietly reading at home. Many peaceful moments came at a time when life was otherwise stressful, a peace in knowing that God is in control and I shouldn’t worry. That is the best kind of peace there is.

9. Challenge
Hands down, the biggest challenge of the year was my job. When I moved, it became stressful. The drive, the atmosphere. I tolerated and I tried for six months. Then I was laid off, and it was as if a huge weight had been lifted off me. I knew unemployment would be scary, but I saw this as God’s way of telling me it was time to move on, explore new avenues. I would never have quit, so if working there wasn’t what I was supposed to do the rest of my life, then a little divine intervention was required.

With every challenge comes a lesson, so what did I learn? I already knew I’m not a quitter and that I try hard and stick through on principle, even if it might be better to stop and consider the options. I learned on a new level to trust in God and what He throws our way, and I learned a new reason my husband is perfect for me – he is a great encourager. He supported me and gave me confidence to accept circumstances. Even now, he is supporting me as I look to build my blog and website instead of looking for work full-time. He is more confident in it than I am, which in turn gives me confidence.

10. Album of the Year
I’ve always thought of myself as a music lover, at least in a light sense. I don’t fall into genres and I’m not all up on the indie scene and I don’t find myself at concerts too often, but I love listening to music all the time. I thought about what the best album this year was by first thinking of what I listen to the most. A lot of what I listen to didn’t come out this year. Then I remembered Ocean Eyes by Owl City came out this year, but I don’t listen to that all the time by choice. My hubby is obsessed. I do enjoy his music, but if it were up to me, the listening would be less frequent, at least down to only once per day.

I put a search filter on my music folder to find the albums that were released this year. The following is what came up and that I’ve listened to, so you know what was actually in the running. There are a good handful of other albums that I’ve downloaded but have yet to listen to, including (gasp) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I know, right? It was great in the film, but I haven’t listened to it by itself yet. So, onto the nominees, in no particular order:

• Demi Lovato – Here We Go Again
• Susan Boyle – I Dreamed a Dream
• Owl City – Ocean Eyes
• Rob Thomas – cradlesong
• John Mayer – Battle Studies
• Colbie Caillat – Breakthrough
• Hannah Montana the Movie soundtrack
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (score)
• The Fray – The Fray
• Coldplay – Leftrightleftrightleft

I love all of these albums, but as an album of the year, the only fitting one is I Dreamed a Dream by Susan Boyle. First, kudos to anyone who can make me cry at a song. I’ll never forget the first time I saw her first performance on Britain’s Got Talent on YouTube. It was so beautiful I had to watch it a second time immediately after. Then a third time after sharing it on Facebook, along with everyone else. So when I found out a few weeks ago that she released an entire album, I got it immediately. It was one of the most beautiful things I ever heard. A lot of changes happened for me this year, perhaps not in as grandiose a scale as they happened for Susan Boyle, but changes nonetheless, so I felt drawn to this album. I feel at a crossroads and full of dreams, so even though this album came late in the year, there is no album more perfect for this top spot.

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