2009....the highs and lows...

It's 12:20 a.m., and all is quiet so far this year! 2010! Unfortunately, Bill is starting if off with a cold, but other than that, we have high hopes for a wonderful year!!

During dinner we reflected on our past year. I talked about how many highs we had, and how many lows. Bill being laid off, Ron dying and the horrible job I had for awhile. Andrea's rough pregnancy. Kinda sucked, and I thought of how my old boss said I had a "black cloud" hanging over my head. But in retrospect, I got through it, and even though it was hard, and some parts were scary, and I spent a good 7 months holding my breath through my daughter's pregnancy, we made it. We pulled together as a family, and with God's help and guidance, we made it through! Yay God! Yay, Us.

As life will often give us, we had some ultimate highs this year as well. #1 on our list is....Baby Jacob. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. He is a remarkable baby, and when he looks into my eyes, my heart melts every time. I thank my daughter for letting me be such a big part of her pregnancy....it was an amazing time for me, and I won't ever forget it. It made my love for this baby so intense, a love I can't even explain, and it started way before he was born.



We also had a wedding in our family this year, the amazing parents of little Jacob. It was a beautiful wedding, filled with love! Not only does Andrea have a wonderful family, we have a great new member to our family. Chad. Koehnke. Koehnke party of 3. It's an amazing feeling to watch one's family grow! I am LOVING it!

Speaking of which, Meghann is having a baby too!
Any minute now! Jessica will be born and we will have a granddaughter to love and cherish and we only have one complaint....they are too far! We pray every day that Jessica, Meg and Tony move here to the Phoenix area and just add to our family fun! It would be amazing. I know Jacob would LOVE having a cousin his age to play with on holidays and be close to....Auntie Andrea wants to spoil her rotten, as do her grandparents! This is the number 1 event we hope happens in this new year...we're keeping our fingers crossed!

Bill is so happy in his new job, and he says the only thing that would make it better is to be hired on permanently to Wells Fargo. This is one thing he hopes for, coming only second to the aforementioned move. I am more than happy to be back at AZ Wo! There's a lot of things that we can hope for, but really, we can just take life one day at a time and do the best with it that we can! After 2009, I totally believe that God does not give us more than we can handle, and really...we can handle a lot more than we think we can.

Happy New Year everyone...and I hope that God showers you with as many blessings as He has given us, and that you look to Him to carry you through those inevitable lows that are a part of life. I wish you a year of health, prosperity, happiness and good surprises. Here's to 2010!!!


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A very Merry Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. Wow, it was so busy! You read my Thanksgiving weekend blog, and from that moment on, it didn't let up a minute!

The very next weekend, my cousins and Aunt from Cali came down for a funeral. It was a weekend filled with so many different events and emotions, and we all stuck together as we went through the roller coaster of that weekend. Even Amy, Vince and the boys made a cameo appearance, and it was great to see them. It was a crazy and busy weekend.

So of course, there was shopping, and parties, and wrapping, and decorating and just all the normal stuff that the holidays bring our way. I don't know why it was so busy this year, but it was! I always felt behind. Always. Til Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve consisted of Laurie, juan and the boys....Andrea, Chad and Jake. I had to work that day, so decided to have that night's dinner catered, so we had some yummy Mexican food, and I made the beans and lauire made the rice. (I burnt it, but we still blamed Laurie...lol) Everyone seemed to be relaxed and content...and we even played a rousing game of Taboo! It was a very nice night, and I can only hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

Christmas was a blast! We had a nice bkfst and I played with Jake and we waited for Chad to get off work so we could open gifts! We finally did and we had such a good time! Jake was up and alert as he sat in his little bouncer and watched as we all acted like kids unwrapping our gifts and stockings! I think he had his crazy moments of wonder himself!



The kids loved their presents, and were so appreciative of everything. Bill and i, after a rough year, were happy and grateful to have a nice Christmas, and were very aware of the fact that it could have been totally different. We prayed for those who weren't as fortunate, and we careful not to take anything for granted. But, we heard weird comments this year like, "more presents? I think I have enough now..." HUH?



Or hearing how happy they are with their gifts this year....even when I felt I really ddin't go all out...



...or hoping I made the newest member of our family happy. Sometimes I felt he was overwhelmed by it all!



I know Bill was!


But the best part of Christmas...was Jake. With his gloworm and his rocking horse, he may not have known what was going on...but Granpa Bill and Gramma Sandy did....and it made us feel very content...very happy....very fulfilled. It's wonderful to have a child back in our Christmas's....because that's what Christmas is all about. The magic of Santa, of believing...I can't wait to see the twinkle in my little grandson's eye when he realized it is something that can't be explained, but just is!



As great as our Christmas was, I would mention that a big part of our lives is missing...and girls, you know who you are!
Happy Holidays!