Happy New Year

Almost there. Only 5 more minutes until the calendar switches to 2012 and we wish 2011 good bye. Is it normal to feel nostalgic? I'm not a nostalgic woman by nature but there is something poignant about a new year and the options it brings when one is lying in bed with their two year old quietly snoring. And if your sweet two year old is fighting for her life and being brought to the brink in order to do so, well...the nostalgia kicks in. Tears do too but we ration those out pretty well around here.

So many things happened in this family in 2011.

Piper was super ill with cmv, she spent 7 weeks in inpatient rehab learning to reuse the muscles necessary to sit up, she completed treatment, she began taking steps, she relapsed, she began taking more steps, she learned how to be normal and she is currently in the midst of what we hope to be a life saving none marrow transplant.

Linley had a rollar skating 6 th birthday party, she began to grow her hair out for Locks of Love, she conqured the monkey bars, she learned to swim and dive both, she stopped wearing only skirts, she read 75 books for the summertime reading program at the library and she asked Jesus to come live in her wonderful little heart.

Chad and I have moved yet again for the 6th time in our 7 years of marriage and for the 3rd time since Pipers diagnosis two years ago. Chad continues to take as many classes as he can while balancing Piper and Linley and even sometimes me. He worked the overnight shift often this summer and learned quickly how to draw the curtains and sleep in the middle of the day. We joined a church and chose to commit our family to a grace filled community whom have adopted us and loved us. We have learned that one vehicle is suffice for our little family. We have learned that we are jerks to each other when life gets bumpy. I have found out that old race car seats can be made into an office chair and Chad has learned that I can easily rearrange a room in the time it takes him to go to the grocery store with the girls. I've learned that having 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night can be just fine, thanks to my dad and those genes I inherited from him. And Chad has learned that he can not cope on the schedule he had as a teenager...but who of us can?

Mostly I think our family has learned that Gods grace truly is sufficient for me...and us.

Next year I pray for big miracles and small alike. I want health. I want simplicity. I want another child. I want to know hear the realization that we made this solely by Gods grace to constantly ring in my head. How else will I appreciate any of the blessings I know will come my way in the next 365 days and more if I don't compare them to the dark days that God has already carried me through?

So thank you sweet Jesus for you this year. For being real. And holding me up while I await brighter days...