The Next Chapter

As we close out this year of 2014 it causes one to reflect back over the year.  I have to say that the year has been an interesting one.  We started off with our oldest being in remission and celebrating her 14th birthday. Oh how thankful we were to see that day! It continued on with doctor appointments, check-ups, three of us being sick with bronchitis and the news of the passing of a very sweet person that I had barely begun to know.  We also got the news that Grace's wish to go to Paris was going to come true and we began the process for the trip.  We celebrated birthdays, our anniversary and went on our family vacation to Washington DC.  We faced the grief as the one year day of the loss of our baby Quinn came around in June.  What an emotional time for me!  I just tried to stay busy, cleaning out each room of our house helped, but also served as a reminder of what we were missing. Of course thinking of him brought on the memories of our August and Kate. Each loss was different and affected me much more than the one before. I can't help but think of them as this year comes to an end and a new begins. August would be turning 4, Kate 3 and Quinn would have been celebrating his first birthday on January 5th.

As this past summer went by, the girls and I did lots of things and checked stuff off of our summer bucket list. We continued to make arrangements for our trip and then the next thing you know school was starting back. I struggled with some health issues of my own. After lots of bloodwork and test I am on some medicine that will hopefully help me.  Grace began her high school years as a freshman and Caroline started the 3rd grade.  This year for school has not been easy, there have been some ups and downs, but we have made it almost half way and plan to give it our best to finish up. We made it to Paris in October and it was such an amazing adventure! (Of course, you can read about that in my Paris blog series)

We finished out 2014 with the Make-A-Wish walk, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We got the joy of surprising our girls with a trip to Disney World for Christmas, (I can hardly wait until spring).  Our  youngest gave us a health scare right before Thanksgiving, but after two seperate test we got the news just last night everything was perfectly normal. What a blessing!!

We plan to ring in the New Year as we always do, on the altar at church giving thanks for the year that has passed and praying for the year to come. We have lots planned for 2015. Our Disney trip which thank the Lord is completely paid for. God truly helped me over the last two and a half years to save up the money to cover the entire cost of the trip. It is such a good feeling to know that we will not owe anything on it after we get back. One of the best parts is that we will not be dipping into our family vacation fund, so that means we will get two or maybe three vacations next year. I am thinking a few days at the beach and a few in the mountains would be really nice.  

I think of each new year like a chapter in a book. The book is our life and each chapter represents each year of our lives. Some people are just beginning and some consider their books novels, because they are so long. Our piano teachers mother has the longest book I know, as she has 99 and a half chapters. I can only imagine all the amazing things she has seen and done.Some chapters contain mostly sadness, sorrow and tragedy. Some contain mostly happiness, love and joy. As a whole I think each chapter contains a little of it all. I believe that each year is full of these type of moments, good or bad they are with us and will always be written into our lives. We must take each part of it, no matter what it is and use it to help not only ourselves, but also others.


I am sure that 2015 will be as interesting as all the others that have passed. It will mean 10 years of marriage for us, who would ever have guessed we would make it this far. I am praying for the Lord to not only bless us, but all our family, friends and all who read this blog. Happy New Year and may 2015 be the best year ever for y'all!!

"That's my 'two-cents worth', what's yours?"