The Last Night of the Year...

2009 is coming to an end. Am I ready for this year to be over? Yes, and then again No! So much has happened to my family this year. I went on a business trip in April and got mugged! I can honestly say that is the first time that's ever happened! An even better part of the story is that boss and I (being both fearless and extremely stupid) fought him and chased him down. I got everything back and he got arrested. I got the news in November that he got ten years in prison. If I had gone back to testify, he would have gotten life. In August, my beautiful daughter got sick with what we thought was a bug. We were then told it was Flu A (the swine flu). Yet, my mother's intuition still told me it wasn't and when she didn't get better with that treatment we took her to the hospital. The third time she was seen by a doctor, after a billion tests....they found that her appendix had been ruptured for probably ten days (almost the entire length of her illness). Her little body had protected her by forming a sac around the appendix and it had filled with all that fluid and five kinds of bacteria. She had immediate emergency surgery and stayed in the hospital for 10 days. We were home for 3 days and she started feeling pain again, back to the hospital for a second emergency surgery and another 9 days in the hospital. Then she had to start school later than everyone else and it was her first year in sixth grade. Poor Skylar! She has pulled through like a champ and all her Doctors were amazed that she wasn't writhing in pain....She is one tough cookie! I went back to school this year to complete my Bachelors in Education and it has been hard and fun at the same time. And then there are the really great parts of the year that I will miss. Clark has been so much fun this year. His personality is amazing. He is funny and stubborn and so smart. I will miss this year of his age and the stages he is going through. He makes me laugh and want to pull out my hair on a daily basis. But the love he gives in return is worth every ornery little thing he does. David and his business are doing well this year. It was a big leap of faith for us to make the decision that he quit a good job to start a company. I am proud that he did not let fear stand in his way and I am glad that God is blessing us with the ability to get by. Just to help out...don't be afraid to go shop at his store (JP Archery in Sapulpa). We have a great family and group of friends and I know that 2010 will hold just as many challenges as '09, but hopefully also just as many rewards. I am starting so many life long projects. The Love Dare for one, I am on Day 4. I think that the strategies and skills I am learning through this will stay with me forever. And I am changing the way my family eats and lives. I have started making more foods from scratch to get away from both the cost and the unhealthy additives of so much store bought food. I will be planting a garden this year (my hubs has promised not to mow over like he did last years). By the way, I don't really have any idea how to Garden so....feel free to send me tips and hints! And I will be canning and preserving everything I can get my hands on. I want to get back to the simpler things of life. Not depending so much on material and store bought items. And teaching my family (hubs included) that homemade and handmade things are better! I am trying to decide on what grade I want to teach and pretty soon David and I are going to have to decide how to get rid of some of our stuff...or add on to our house! So that is my year in a nutshell and my hopes for the year to come! I hope all of you have a great 2010 and that all your wishes come true! I will continue to march down this path of mine and hopefully clear some of the moss off....