2017 Here We Come!

Well, 2016 might have been rough, but there are so many parts of it to be thankful for and I’m going to choose to focus on that!  We got our beautiful Hannah, our niece, Leah, was born, our family has been pretty healthy, Jacob’s business has grown, Elijah started kindergarten, and we have loved the freedoms that our new home have given us. 

We started out the year having just announced our last pregnancy and aside from my not feeling good pretty much the whole time, we spent the first half of the year just struggling to exist, it seems like.  Jacob was working hard in his busy season spending some time away from home and I was working hard at my job that seems to have an ever increasing difficulty level.  Josiah was experiencing some difficulties finishing up the first grade and Elijah had finally settled into his school and was loving it after his fall fiasco.

Towards the beginning of summer things started to slow down a bit and we attempted to get some projects done before Hannah arrived.  I also was trying to get things organized at work so I could go on maternity leave.  In July, Hannah surprised us one week early, which was a little rough for work, but was overall a positive thing.  Three weeks later Jacob was headed back to OH and as soon as he came home from that trip, Elijah started kindergarten and Josiah started second grade.  Jacob took a few more trips to OH, which proved to be more difficult for me than anticipated given some issues Hannah was having, then, before we knew it my maternity leave was over and I went back to work in October.  What a whirlwind those three months were!  Between working part time from home and parenting four young kids with and without Jacob’s help, I was pretty frazzled some days.

Then came November.  Joshua turned three and the next week Brenda’s doctors decided to stop her treatments.  We celebrated a nice Thanksgiving with all sides of the family and started looking towards Christmas and the end of the year.  A little less than two weeks before Christmas, Brenda passed away.  A week later, Mrs. Dot passed away.  We had a nice Christmas in spite of the losses and now Jacob is on his annual (sort of) trip with the boys to the woods and Hannah and I are hanging out at home and working as 2017 rolls in.

I feel so blessed to have our big family full of little people.  I’m so proud of each of them in their own little way and I love all of them more than I can express.  I also feel blessed to have the extended family we have and I’m excited that we have two new little girls to add to the mix. 

Jacob has done a fantastic job growing his business.  He’s been working painstakingly hard to get here and I’m sure he’ll continue to do so.  It’s been hard work but he’s been rewarded not only in growth, but in fulfillment of doing something that interests him.  I also have found a little niche that has stretched me in ways I never imagined.  I’m not sure how long I can keep it up, but this year has shown me what a difference I can make.

We’ve loved living in our home with the ability to live with less frustration caused by our “space” and we’ve taken advantage of being able to easily entertain and open our home with ease.  What a blessing!  We have yet to really settle in in terms of organization and decor, though, so maybe we can do that this year.

It’s been an exhausting year, but has been truly full of goodness.  It feels like we are in our “growing pain” years with our young family, but the beauty of it is capable of moving me to tears and the sweetness of my kids’ faces is enough to make me see just how worth it it is.  I expect 2017 to be more of the same and hopefully I’ll be feeling better (no pregnancy) and our kids will be a bit more mature, thus making things easier to manage.  We don’t have any definite major changes in mind for 2017 but you never know!

Happy New Year!

Saying Farewell

Jacob’s mom, Brenda or Granny to the kids, was diagnosed nearly a year and a half ago with stage 4 colon cancer.  She had had surgery to remove the primary tumor, but the mass that had spread to her liver was inoperable.  She started every other week treatments soon after.

Granny did really well for about a year when her treatments started to be less effective and side effects were greater.  I new treatment began and she continued to to well for a little while.  Just before Thanksgiving this year, the doctors decided to discontinue her treatments because the mass in her liver continued to grow and her liver was failing. 

While we knew that eventually this time would come we were still all pretty devastated at the reality of it.  We spent some time with them (about as much time as it seemed she could handle of our lively family of 6!) over Thanksgiving and she was actually doing pretty well and I think we all really enjoyed our time together.  However, I think this is when it became real for Jacob and I because Granny really looked ill.  As is typical for liver failure, she was very jaundiced.

I shouldn’t speak for Jacob, but I think that the 3ish weeks that passed before Granny passed away was a time for us to reconcile her prognosis with our hopes.  We went from hoping for healing or a significantly longer time together to hoping for peace and physical comfort that she might pass before suffering.  We were granted that hope and she passed away peacefully on December 14.  She had a peaceful passing in her own bed at home alone with Papa holding her hand.

Jacob wanted to speak at her funeral service and he did a really great job.  There wasn’t a dry eye in the church – though that wasn’t the point.  He wanted to express Christ’s love using Brenda’s life as an example and he did it beautifully.

It’s hard to think of a life without Granny, but we are overwhelmed by the sweetness of her peaceful passing.  She was a thoughtful, strong woman who loved her family and possessed a strong faith.  We are most saddened that our children will grow up without further influence and love directly from her, but they will still benefit from the influence she had on the people that remain in their lives.  She will be missed.