Highlights of 2009

This year has been a surprisingly tough one. Thinking over the last year leaves me wondering what 2010 could possibly bring me. The following is a bit of a run down of what the year was like. Hopefully I can do justice to the good things that have happened along with the not-so-good things.

1. January was a pretty good month I think, nothing major good or bad.

2. February was the month of my car accident. It happened on Feb 19th and then I got a kidney stone on Feb 23rd. Kind of a double whammy there! We were able to get new vehicles and for the first time in my life, I bought my own vehicle and got exactly what I wanted. There is always a silver lining.

3. March was pretty much a month of pain from the car accident. It hurt to do everything from washing my hair, picking up my nephew, gardening, and everything else.

4. April continued the healing process from the car accident. It was probably about this time that I realized that I would have to hire a lawyer to make sure that the car insurance covered what they were required to cover and I didn't get tricked out of them covering my medical bills.

5. May was a month of medical tests. I hired the lawyer at the beginning of the month. I also had a chest x-ray and a chest CT scan to try to determine why I was still experiencing pain in my chest. Neither showed an answer and my chiropractor hypothesized that it was due to ribs being out of place. Based on the pain in my chest and in my back I agreed that this was a likely cause for the pain. This was also the month that I talked to Geoff and Marissa about joining the First Christian Church and found that they were kindred souls. This month I made the decision that I would join FCC after I completed my obligations at the church in Loraine.

6. June was a fairly low-key month. At the end of the month, my vacation started and my mom and I painted our living room and I painted the upstairs guest bedroom and decorated it.

7. July was the month of my 27th birthday. I went forward at church on my birthday and joined the church and reconfirmed my faith in Jesus Christ. My best friend Jenn came for the weekend and we had a great time going around and taking pictures, getting her hair cut, and drinking margaritas at the mexican restaurant. This was the first year I took a whole week of vacation to just kick back and enjoy. Two weeks after my birthday I was baptized.

8. August was a month of reconnecting. My friend Aaron got married to a wonderful woman and I was blessed to have been able to be there. My aunt Debbie came back for a visit from Texas. I hadn't seen her since Steve and I got married so it was nice to visit with her again. My nephew turned three this month and we got to have a party to celebrate him. I also believe this was the month that my husband came forward at church and made his confession of faith and was baptized. Such an answered prayer! I think I also joined the praise band at church this month. I am so glad I did!

9. September marked my and Steve's two year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that such a wonderful man could be mine! We had a relatively low-key celebration as is our usual custom.

10. October was also a good month. I believe I had my fourth or fifth bout of tonsilitis this month and finally got an appointment scheduled in November to have them removed.

11. November was a very busy month. I had my tonsils removed on the 18th and then had to deal with recovery and Thanksgiving. Steve and I had to split our Thanksgivings this year since they were both on the same day. We also celebrated Christmas with his dad this month. This month also holds my husband's birthday on the 10th. I was also finally released by my chiropractor this month and my neck and chest and back are feeling pretty good. I still have some pain in my chest.

12. December was also a very busy month. We had about eight Christmas get-togethers to make it to. We made it to about five of them due to problems with the weather or scheduling problems. It was wonderful to spend time with family. I managed to crack my toenail and have to have that taken care of (yesterday) so it hurts. And I have an ultrasound today to determine if something is going on that shouldn't be. Praying that it will go well. We also got a kitty this month and he passed away three weeks later due to complications with his declaw. So this was kind of a sad month.

All in all it was a fairly stressful year but it also had plenty of blessings in it. I am very thankful to have a wonderful marriage with a great man and so many loving friends and family. I am grateful for a new church family that welcomed me and Steve with open arms. Hopefully all the medical issues will be resolving themselves soon and I will be able to get the car accident taken care of soon as well. There's my year in review!

Sadness

We adopted a little kitten from the local Humane Society about three weeks ago. We named him Hemingway The HS had him neutered and declawed at a local vet, though not the one that we planned on using for his regular care. We picked him up on a Tuesday and brought him home. His poor little feet where swollen and a little bloody. The HS told us that he had pawed at his cage and tore the bandages off. We weren't given any pain meds for him but were told that he had been given a shot for pain. So we kept an eye on him and his feet shrunk down to normal size though he was still favoring them quite a bit. He was still favoring them quite a bit by Saturday so I decided to call our vet and take him in. The doc was super nice and thought that he was just experiencing pain. His feet didn't look bad so I was in agreement. He gave me pain meds to give him and got him set up to come back for future vaccinations that he would need. He seemed to improve throughout the week though he was still favoring his feet. On Friday during my lunch hour, I noticed that his feet looked swollen. Not wanting to freak out unneccesarily I waited until Steve could look at them. He agreed that they looked swollen so I called the vet on Saturday and took him down again. Nine out of ten of his digits were infected so they ended up keeping him and pushing out the infection, cleaning, and wrapped his paws. They gave me antibiotics and more pain meds for him. He didn't like having his feet wrapped but he took it well. We had to take him back on Monday to get his feet cleaned and wrapped again. He went through it without any problems. Throughout the week he seems to get a lot better and was much more playful. We had to take him back on Friday to have his paws cleaned and wrapped again. Steve dropped him off and I was going to pick him up in the afternoon when he was done. I got a call at work while I was in session from the vet. I called him back on my lunch hour. He told me that Hemingway had done fine while they were cleaning his paws but that he had been concerned that he wasn't healing as quickly as he should have been. In between the time he had called me to see if there was any known underlying conditions becaues Hemi's feet weren't healing very quickly and by the time I called him back, Hemingway had died from unknown complications. Needless to say it was quite shocking and unexpected. I could tell the vet felt really bad and felt even worse that he couldn't give us an explanation.

I got home and had to wake up Steve and tell him what happened. We ended up going to the vet office and picking up our sweet kitty which the vet had put in a bag and box for us. He told Steve the same story about what had happened that he had told me and again expressed his sorrow for our loss. He agreed to go ahead and test for feline leukemia and FIV just in case as Hemi was near other kitties at the HS. He called me that night and told me that Hemi had tested negative. So we may never know what took our little kitty from us. It's amazing how fast we bonded with him. It hurt so badly to lose him and I still expect to see or hear him padding around the corner looking for me. I miss him cuddling up next to me in bed and purring with his loud Hemi motor.

We took him to Mom's with us yesterday and buried him next to the cat I grew up with that mom had to put down earlier this year. I sincerely wish that I believed that animals can go to heaven. Though I do believe that animals are God's creatures and that God takes care of his creatures so I think he's okay, no matter what.

Rest in peace little Hemingway, you are missed and loved.

Christmas is coming!

It's that time of year again when the lights and trees are up and suddenly everyone loves everyone else. I have always been a big fan of Christmas. Despite not really growing up with a lot of money, my parents always managed to provide a good Christmas for us and it was a joy to get up really early and sneak downstairs and stare at the living room full of gifts. It's not really as much fun now as it was then since I usually know what's under the tree. It takes a lot of the anticipation away when you pretty much already know what you are unwrapping. It's kind of a double edged sword though because if I don't ask for what I specifically would like, then I end up with some really strange random things sometimes! But I really think my favorite part of Christmas is the beauty of the season. I love how beautiful houses look when they are all decorated. I love how amazing the church looks when all the greens and lights have been hung up. I especially love Christmas music. I also love to give presents and try to find the perfect thing that the specific person would love. Unfortunately I have resorted to gift cards over the past few years because some people are so hard to buy for.

This year Christmas will be busy as usual. We have already celebrated Christmas with Steve's dad as he was only coming back for Thanksgiving and not around Christmas. We will be going to my mom's this Saturday afternoon, and then my dad's on Saturday evening. Then on Sunday we will go to Steve's aunt and uncle's house for a get-together and ornament exchange. Then Christmas day we will go to Steve's mom's for lunch and then to my step-family's the day after Christmas. Unfortunately we do have to miss Christmas with my paternal grandparents since it is at the same times as my mom's. But I made sure to go there for Thanksgiving since I had a feeling that the Christmases would conflict. I am learning that you can't make people happy all the time, and not usually even most of the time. So we try to get where we can and not feel stressed over it. Feeling stressed over Christmas kinda defeats the purpose in my mind. I do feel sad about having to miss two Saturday night church services in a row but I suppose sacrifices must be made. And since I am always the child who has to bend then my stuff gets missed. But it keeps the peace so I guess it is worth it in the end.