Reflecting on 2008 and looking ahead to 2009.

Here we are January 4, 2009! It is so hard to believe 2008t has gone by so fast. It has gone by so quickly because it was full to the brim with happenings. I was happy to say good bye to 2008 for I had so many mountains to climb and tears to cry. So many heavy loads to bear some times feeling like I needed to come up for air. All the while Lord Jesus was with me every step of the way and without him and the prayers of friends and family I could have thrown my hands up and said "What's next?"I keep a calendar of events and blessing throughout the year and how God is there during them. I wanted to share some of those things that life threw my way in 2008 just so I can read this in the end and go WOW! What an amazing Lord to carry me through!!


On January 1 my Mom's Aunt May died who had suffered from Alzheimer's. She was the last living out of her Mother's siblings. It was very very hard on her. And a sad day remember from now on. My Daddy who is in a facility in Black Mountain NC began to have more agitation and restlessness and dislocated his knee cap. He too has Alzheimer's and Aunt May's funeral was a forecast of what we will have to do with Daddy unless Jesus raptures us all. As the winter rolled along Luke and I both were sick for 6 to 8 weeks in January and February. Luke's asthma ragged on during this time. My younger brother, Brian also got strep throat, became dehydrated and was transported to the ER after passing out on my Mom. He was hydrated and given some high powered antibiotics and released. Luke had to see an ENT for consultation for a tonsillectomy. I got a nasty double ear infection requiring lengthy treatments. I also received a consultation for my "female issues" and was scheduled for a uterine ablation. I went first in March and in early April Luke had the tonsillectomy. That was the worst day of my mothering life! I had a headache so bad I could barely walk!! The stress was nearly too much for me to bear! His recovery was harder than I imagined, and I was even warrened that it would be. There was a risk that when the scabs came off he could bleed, 7 nights later HE DID! OH MY! I have never been so scared in all of my life! We went to the ER in a panic, but once we arrived the staff was too calm! this meant more needles and blood draws for Luke, which for him was worse than the surgery. He did stop bleeding on his own. This set him back to the same pain as if he had just had the surgery! He was pale and had no energy. I had to give him liquids for a medicine dropper to get him to drink. It makes me weak kneed to think of it now. My older brother, David ended up in the emergency room with food lodged in his throat which led to a series of GI test that diagnosed his with Barret's espohagus. Also during this time my Mom began to have these "spells" as she calls them and the worsened to the point of an ER visit where her blood pressure was 170/100!! She was checked out and sent on her way. This got the ball rolling for a cardiologist appointment of which we waited 4 or 5 months on! She was treated for anxiety during this time and that did help. Summer rolled around and the out door activities began. We purchased a small above ground pool to stay cool in. It provided hours of fun in the sun for our family. It also provided us with another ER visit! Luke aspirated pool water and became lethargic and finally coughed it up along with blood. Again he was checked out and released. This was almost to hard on this Mommy's heart. During the Summer month Brian returned again to the ER for abdominal pain and GI issues he could not resolve with over the counter melds. In September he underwent upper and lower GI exams as well. This took care of some polyps that seemed to take care of his problem. Finally the time had come for Mom's visit with the cardiologist. This landed her in a Doppler study of her thigh which concluded she had a blood clot dangerously close to her deep veins. She had to do blood thinners and compression hose as well as have weekly blood levels checked. After five weeks of treatment Mom's blood clot was completely gone. This amazed everyone involved in treating her! It was a miracle! There were also some family and personal issues that arose in the month of November that have hurt me deeply and shown me many things through that difficult time. They were tough lessons causing me to evaluate myself and the relationships I have. In December, the month of hope we had our family trip to Walt Disney World. This was the highlight of the year!!! It was a dream vacation with magical happenings everyday! This was the trip we had planned to take last December, but Travis accident had put that on hold. I think Travis and I both realize dhow blessed we were to finally get this trip. We also thought about what would have happened had the results from his accident not been so positive. As we returned home from our awesome trip it was time for Christmas! We were ready except for a few last minuet things. We each took turns getting sick as the holidays approached. Travis was sick all day on Christmas day and in bed with a fever most of the day. We made the best of it and even had our regular "Christmas Day Night" family gathering one week and 2 days late! New years eve rolled around and Travis and I were still struggling with illness so that interrupted our New Years Eve celebration with the Degears. I stayed up alone while my sick boys slept and watched the big million dollar ball drop. As I gladly kissed 2008 goodbye!!
I have blogged this entire year and highlighted the many tough times for a few reasons. Most of all to say God never left me during this time. His spirit was always there to comfort me. His word was always there to encourage me. He taught me that people will always let you down, but HE never ever will. For "Jesus is always the same." I share all of this to tell you that despite all the heart ache Jesus is still worthy of all praise and that HE is the only hope in this world. He is the only true peace and HIS promises are true. He is coming back one day to set this sin sick world straight and in heaven there will be no more pain, suffering, or heartache. There will just be endless days of praising Him! The one and only God creator of all!!