2012. Come....and gone.
January began with helping settle my Granny into her new private care home, which she had moved into a couple weeks prior. She struggled a bit with the transition, so we spent a lot of time with her to help her adjust.
In February I ended up in Emergency with appendicitis, which required that nasty little thing to be removed. Fortunately, the surgery went smoothly and I recovered very nicely. February ended tragically, however, with the unexpected death of a much loved family friend, Sherri Long. She is someone who will never be forgotten by all who new her. She loved Jesus and was a Ambassador for Him. One of her greatest thrills was to bring out the best in others, and she truly excelled at this.
March is a month of birthdays for our family. My daughter reached the double digits, turning ten. My Granny had her 91st birthday with much celebrating, and my brother and sister-in-law both finish off the month with a birthday.
Likewise, April begins with Dave's birthday....he is getting ANCIENT....and then a week later it's Seth's (who turned eight). It is also a month of birthdays; my niece and brother-in-law have theirs as well.
May......we finished school. And celebrated.
In June we had three weeks of revival services with the Brother Platania. They are always a great time. We also had to move my Granny from her private care home into a nursing home because of her advancing dementia and general health decline. Fortunately, the Lord worked it out that she was placed in the home that was our first choice and we were very grateful. Hannah took her Grade 4 Royal Conservatory of Music in piano and passed with honours. We are very proud of her as she worked very hard for this.
In July we went for a 16 day vacation to the States: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Colorado. We visited Laura Ingalls Wilder homesteads in three states; Legoland in Kansas City; an underground cavern in Missouri; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota; and tons of places in Colorado Springs, where we stayed for a week - including and especially Focus on the Family AND the kids' beloved Adventures In Odyssey. We also visited excellent churches, Brother Riggen in Kansas City (where we saw my good friend Rachel Goff and her beautiful family), and Heritage Conference in Colorado Springs. Heritage Conference exceeded our expectations with AMAZING preaching and awesome, Holy Ghost anointed prayer and song service. All in all, it was the best family vacation we have ever had. One which the kids will talk about all their lives.
In August my dad turned 70 and we had a birthday bash for him. However, on August 30, my sweet Granny went to home to be with Jesus.
I could stop right here and write a whole post about this remarkable lady. It was difficult to see her swift decline in just over two months in the nursing home. But, she lived a long and full life, and was going to her reward, and for that we can never be sad. But, there will never be anyone like my Granny. There is a big hole in my heart - and my family's that only she filled. How I miss her!
In September we were able to go amazing services in Calgary. And, my dad stopped his chemotherapy.....which was making him very sick. My dad has multiple myeloma (an incurable cancer of his bone marrow) and had been on chemotherapy for almost a year. It was found it wasn't helping anymore, so his chemo was stopped. He has the option of restarting a different form of chemo in 6-9 months, but the doctor gave him a life range of 1-3 years. This, of course, is very hard news for our family.
Good news in October though, which will always make it a special month for me....one of celebration. On October 28, Hannah was filled with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and on October 31 was baptized in Jesus' name.
November began with our church's annual Fun Night. And cold winter. With LOTS of snow.
And now we are on our last day of December. The month and the year flew by. Much has happened. Much has changed. Loved ones have been sick and some have gone on to meet Jesus. New babies have been born into the Kingdom. And, personal goals have been set in my own life, and some of them have been attained.
So, it is with new confidence that I begin this new year.....for in 2012 I conquered. And, although I am far from what I need to be, I am determined to keep this momentum going forth into the new year.
Happy New Year and much love to all!
