Happy New Year

Happy 2010!

It's amazing how fast this last decade has passed.  The changes in my life the last ten years have been profound and unimaginable.  I can honestly say, in spite of all the difficult times, I have been very blessed.  What I have gained the last ten years far exceeds what has been lost and I have much to be thankful for.

We had a fun Christmas and I think it's safe to say that everyone was happy at the end of the day.  I am always emotional (fluctuating between being angry (resentful) and being sad) during the holidays, but I too managed to end Christmas day on a happy note thanks to an absolutely hilarious game of "Apples to Apples" played with husband, kids, sisters, nieces, nephews, and brother-in-law.  Eric was a hoot and managed to keep up with the adults and big kids without a problem.  (If you haven't played Apples to Apples, I highly recommend it as a fun, family game.)

Thanks to the suggestion of my friend Karen, Jack got the most awesome Christmas present this year.  It's a laser light projector that projects real life stars and clouds on the ceiling.  It's amazing! I took pictures, but they don't begin to do justice to the "wow" factor of the star show projected on Jack's ceiling. There are even shooting stars .... very cool.

Jack's "before" ceiling

Lights off .... the stars and clouds

(I had to use a different lens get a picture in the dark, so they are close up pictures that focus mainly on the ceiling fan. However, the star "show" covers his entire ceiling)

Mary on Christmas morning -

very happy with her "loot"

We've seen very little of Mary over the Christmas break because she has been working long hours at Target.  She really likes the job and the people she's met and she really likes the money she's earning! She hasn't had much of a break before heading back to school next week.

Christmas and cousins ... always a fun time!

Should I be worried that Eric's new favorite movies are The Three Stooges?  He spent most of the last week plopped on the couch watching Three Stooges DVDs

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As we close out the last decade I can't help but think of where I started and where I am today.  Ten years ago, I was at home in St. Louis anxiously waiting for the clock to strike midnight, wondering (given all the Y2K hype) whether Jack's vent was going to spontaneously combust at 12:01am.  As we all know, the hype was just that!

I entered the new millennium as a mom of this special little boy . . .

 . . . who was filled with so much hope and determination that "this" was all temporary and would be overcome so that we could get on with life as planned.

Today, I enter this new decade as a mom of this special young man . . .

. . .  who no longer hopes for things to be different, but who has been enriched beyond measure in ways too numerous to list.

I approach the next decade with both anticipation and apprehension.  The toll Jack's disease is taking on his body becomes more evident every day.  Jack's time on this earth is limited (well, all our time on earth is limited, but you know what I mean). Yet, Jack remains healthy from a respiratory and cardio standpoint and that bodes well for the present.

I approach the next year with lots of plans and hopes for Jack's continued health.  Hard as it is to believe,  I will be making appointments in a few months for our next biennial trip to St. Louis in the Fall.  Mary and I will be traveling to St. Louis over Spring break to look at colleges. She is bound and determined to make her way back to St. Louis - a place she's never forgiven us for taking her away from. I also hope to spend time with many of my friends scattered across the country and I have a few out of town weekends in the plans.  With the trip to St. Louis, I'm not sure we'll fit in a family vacation this next year, but a weekend trip to California (Lego Land) is in the plans for Mark and Eric. It looks to be another year where everyone is going in different directions, but it's all good.

I'm finding it harder to blog these days even though there's much I could share.  By the time I have the opportunity to sit down and write, it's late (for example, it's 1:47am right now) and lately, I've been choosing sleep over blogging.  I hope to continue to update at least once a week, but I can't make any promises beyond that.  Thank you all who follow our journey and who truly care about Jack and our family.

Happy New Year my friends!