I can't believe I haven't blogged since last March.  Wow.  That's actually kind of scary for me.  I love writing and haven't sat down to write here for some time.  

Looking over the last year.. 

January I started working a new job.  Love the job and the people I work with.  I've been taught how to do my job, payroll and AP.  The group of people I work with are very encouraging.  It is a great atmosphere to be in. 

May - My daughter had her wisdom teeth removed and ended up with an infection in all four extraction locations. She spent three days in the hospital. This was NOT fun at all.  The poor girl was in so much pain.  The morphine they gave her did nothing for her pain. 

June - My youngest graduated middle school.  Now he's a freshman. It's so weird...

June - A friend from church passed away.  He was an amazing man of God.  

July - I didn't get to go to camp this year but I still took that week off work.  I pressure washed the house, deck and fence.  It took a little longer than a week, but I got the fence and deck stained as well as part of the house trim painted.  It looks so much better!  It was a good week even though I didn't get to go to camp.  

August - we took a hike as a family! It was awesome. We took two last year. One was in Wisconsin the other in Volo.  Most of the family was there, only one couldn't make it to both.  

September - the chaos started here.  Grandma passed away, hubby's grandma.  She was 103yrs 10mos old!  What an amazing life she led.  The family got together and told stories.  Ones that she had told them once and stories of her.  It was amazing. 

I also learned that I know more ASL than I thought I knew.  I got to spend the day chatting with hubby's nephew who is deaf.  So it was practice for me.  It was very enlightening for me.  Since closing my daycare I haven't had the opportunity to use ASL.  I used to teach the kids sign - it was amazing to have a 14 mo old be able to tell you what was wrong instead of them just crying.  

There was a great marriage workshop that the hubby and I were able to attend.  It was a great day with time spend with friends.  Learned much about ourselves and about how we can make good changes in our marriage. 

October - Funeral #3- a friend's mom  Funeral #4 - a friend  Funeral #5 - a close friend's mom.

November - A teen friend at church was baptized.  It was awesome.  The hubby made an amazing dinner for everyone for the event.  

I passed my hearing test, mostly.  LOL.... I didn't fail.  Was told that I will probably have an issue in several more years.  Nothing to worry about now. 

Thanksgiving arrived... I have the best sister and mom anyone could ever have!  We got together, the 10 of us.  It is always a great time.  I love being around my family!  

Along with that brought funeral #6. My aunt that was fighting with cancer.  She lost.  I know it was a sad experience, however, I got to spend 6 hours in the car with my mom and my sister!  That was the best day I've had with them in such a LONG time.  It was so amazing to spend such a great day with them.  Just the three of us.  We were late for the funeral, but we made it.  

December - Christmas was brought to a halt on Dec. 21.  I got a call from my sister on my way to work.  My Aunt Norma died, she was murdered.  This was a shock to everyone.  It was a Friday, the week after the shootings in CT at the elementary school Sandy Hook.  Aunt Norma's car was missing. Sunday it was found and a 17yr old boy was arrested and charged with her murder.  

This has really affected me.  The kid broke into her house and stole some money and her car.  Before leaving the house he killed her.  Cause of death was ruled as blunt force trauma to her head. 

I was lucky though.  My best friend was already on her way to our area to visit with family for Christmas.  Her, her husband and another friend drove from Colorado to Illinois through horrible snow.  I got to see her two days later. That lifted me.  I love spending time with her!  

She and her husband drove another three hours to attend my aunt's funeral in Indiana, in a blizzard.  They are amazing!  

The funeral was so hard!  (Funeral #7)

Two days after the funeral my best friend found her nephew dead from an overdose.  Devastating is an understatement.  

This is now funeral #8.  I could hardly tell my best friend good bye at the funeral.  I didn't want her to leave.  I knew she had to go back to Colorado so that she could turn around and go to Ireland to take care of another sister of hers.  

The same day as the funeral I had spent the morning in the hospital with the hubby.  Two days later he had surgery to have his gallbladder removed. 

This was just a couple weeks ago. I feel like I'm living a soap opera.  

I am so grateful that I am on the medications that I'm on.  I've already been told by the counselor that I see that if I weren't taking care of my mental health the rest of my health could be suffering.  That I could be off the deep end.  The difference is that I know that God is with me through everything.  

He has helped me get through all of this... if you think about the past year that I've written about, I've attended 8 funerals and had 5 others that I didn't attend due to whatever circumstances.  Tomorrow would be #9, but I don't think I could handle going. 

God will get me through anything else that comes my way.  I am sure of this.  Now is the time for recovering.  One day at a time.  This is the way to take it.  

So this is my crazy life... take it or leave it.  I'm in the middle of it.  This year I have things I'm looking forward to.  I'm making some great friends that will last a long time.  

The evening has turned into night... so I need to get some sleep soon.  

I would love to get some amazing photos posted here soon.  Just need to get it done.  I love photography and have taken some beautiful pictures.