Another New Year Rolls Around...

Wow! I have been such a blog-slacker lately! Even my husband, who often forgets to read my blog for weeks at a time has been complaining lately at the lack of fresh material.

It's a good thing that I am 44 and "mature" and don't get all bent out of shape when things don't go my way! (Hehe!) This holiday season did not turn out at all like I had envisioned it! When I found out my dad was going to have open-heart surgery, I put everything pretty much on hold until after he was out of the woods. I could not imagine "celebrating" anything if my dear old dad was somehow not able to do it with us!

Fortunately, Dad's surgery went spledidly, and with a few minor bumps in the road, he is rolling right along. He is having to manage diabetes, which he has never really had to worry about before, so that has been a little hard. But hopefully, his body will straighten out soon, and maybe he can give up the daily insulin shots, too.
His saga has inspired me, "Little-Miss-Prediabetic" to get serious about diet and exercise. My hubby has been doing the Atkins diet for about a month and a half now, with no end in sight. He is doing great! I feel kind of bad that he is dieting alone, and I would be better off if I left off the carbs, too. I really don't know how I will do without my three major food groups--bread, desserts, and chocolate, but maybe I will find a way, knowing my problems that will come if I don't get serious. At least I can have coffee! :)

The hard part of the holidays for me was time. I did not have enough of it after the surgery and the week or so afterwards. I did not even put up a big tree this year. I felt really guilty, but I could not find a way to do all I had to do and do my usual decorating job around the house. I knew we would be going to Mom and Dad's for Christmas anyway, so I figured, why stress over something like that? I did most of my shopping online, which I have decided is THE way to go! The one or two times that I did venture out, I hated it and vowed not to do it again. The stores were so poorly stocked, there were no helpful clerks, and prices were nothing to brag about.

I did my best to stay rested and healthy. We had lots of appointments to get in before the end of the year, with dentists and doctors, etc., so I did well to get everyone's Christmas presents bought and wrapped. My sweet boys did all the loading and unloading with nary a complaint. We had to take a pickup truck to move the presents for 18 people down to my parents house.

I told my mom on Christmas Day that I felt like the luckiest gal on the planet. All I asked for for Christmas was to have my dad healthy and with us, to get my brother Don in from Germany safely, and to get my little niece safely into the world. By Christmas Day, I had the first two, and by New Year's Eve, I had the last. Little Emma Elizabeth was born at 1:00 p.m. on the last day of 2006. She weighed 5 lbs. 7 oz. and was 19 inches long.

However, I have yet to see her because the entire family came down with the flu! Yes, all 16 of us who were gathered succombed to the dreadful bug, so none of our family could be with Drew and Brooke when the baby was born or since! I think Drew and Brooke only managed not to get sick because they went elsewhere on Christmas Day and only dropped in for a short time. Fortunately, they did not get sick. You cannot imagine how disappointed I was not to be able to be there and document the whole thing. We have not even seen pictures yet. Hopefully, when they get home, Daddy Drew will upload some pics so that we can finally see our newest dollbaby! I hear she has dark hair and eyes. We wondered if she would be red-headed like her mom! There's still time for that hair to change!

I think I am getting better at rolling with the punches, though. In years past, I would have cried buckets about not being able to be with family and friends for New Year's. I just realized that there was absolutely nothing we could do about our plight, and we just made the best of it. We made some soups, pulled out the frozen shrimp, passed the snack crackers, and watched a bunch of movies. Every so often, we had to stop a movie for a coughing fit or to clean up after one of the little ones, but I have come to realize that real life is often not perfect or pretty, and it is better to just clean up the puke and move on! Why cry over spewed milk, huh? :)

I don't know how long this bug is going to last. I am on day 10, and I just keep getting congested. It is better, but several of the gang are a few days behind me. Doctor visits may be in order for some of the little ones. We'll have to see how everyone is doing when everything opens up again.

I am hoping that by the weekend, I can at least see my new little niece and spend a little time with my brother who is in from Germany. Nobody has felt like doing much. I hope that we will get over this and then not have to deal with any more sickness for a while, but that is probably wishful thinking for such a big family just getting into the worst of winter.

We have not seen too much winter around here. While my old stomping grounds in New Mexico and Colorado have been buried under heaps of snow, we have been basking in Spring-like weather around here. I have a feeling our luck is about to run out.

I have much to get busy with around here. School starts at home here again as soon as we can get going, and the Christmas clean-up (like where to put all the toys we don't have room for) begins. Laundry is piled up, and deep cleaning is much-needed. I am looking forward to the dull days of January to take care of these home tasks.

Daniel will start his second semester of school and living with his grandparents. His attention is still on a certain young lady in Georgia who seems to have captured his heart. Sam and Micah are looking forward to getting back in the rythym of school, and Sarah has never stopped. She does schoolwork every day. She loves it. I printed out 20 more handouts for her tonight. Hannah just loves to play!

What can I say about 2006? It wasn't a great year, but it was not an awful year either. I do appreciate every blessing God gave us the entire year, especially in the wonderful friends and family that we have. There are a lot of unanswered questions from the year that will carry over into '07, especially in health matters. That mammogram that was iffy still has to be dealt with, for example. One day at a time, one crisis at a time, one joy at a time, one tear at a time. That is as far as I can look ahead.

Well, I have made up for lost time. That's the update, faithful two readers of mine! I will try to post pictures of the new niece soon! Everyone have a very good New Year, and remember that there is only one perfect One--and that is why He is up there and we are down here. I hope to strive to become more like Him in the coming year, but I won't reach perfection until I am perfected in Him some day. That's why Tim and I remain---"looking toward Heaven 'til death do us part!" Happy New Year full of new hopes and new dreams!