Happy New Year 2020

With 2019 a couple of hours behind us, I am determined to blog again for my children. This is like a yearbook of the things I can unabashedly gush/brag about our family.

 I can't believe I missed a whole year. I missed so many great stories and wonderful accomplishments. Luckily, Jeff has done a book for us and I am so thankful he did. To be honest, somethings just had to give and this was it.

2019 was a fantastic year.... But......I am glad to be on this side of hard.

 I am not so mislead that I don't understand that there are not more hard things is our future. I am also not naive enough to believe that we will most likely not have an easy time, all the time... But.... I am basking in the lull.

A biking analogy for all you cyclists out there..... There was incredible elevation gain this year for the Homer family... We probably did something outrageous like Torey Philipp, who if you don't know, recorded 1 million feet elevation in one year. That means he went uphill for 1 million feet.  He also got to go downhill 1 million feet. He had the descent to look forward to after all those hard climbs. With the wind in his face, the bugs squishing on his body, and his average speed looking better and better on his Strave (this is a distance and elevation gain tracking system). With some of the tough things behind our family, the descent feels amazing.

Ry- Finally finished that PE packet... She did a PE packet in order to make room in her schedule for more electives. She has grand plans to get her learners permit in January. She has helped and managed the kids for endless hours while we take other kids to appointments, or even if Jeff and I go on a date. She rocks!

Alex- Had his yearly Cath and Biopsy of his heart. Always a bit unnerving leading up to it. It came back squeaky clean with no rejection, all his labs look awesome, meds are in range, and the pressures in his heart look better than they ever have. He has worked so hard to remember to take his meds everyday, to learn the names of the medications he takes,(I can hardly pronounce some of them, so a huge endeavor) and to get good exercise and sleep. He takes pretty darn good care of his health for a twelve year old. This Cath and Biospsy goes to show how hard he works.

Eden- With everyone having something kind of huge, being in the middle, and the happy-easy kid, Eden gets overlooked a lot. She isn't in crisis, so I do a terrible job of making her feel special and needed. Eden helps at home, obeys, works hard in school, and never complains, that has to be tiring. But she just keeps going and going.

MayLee- MayLee has done a great job in school and with her health. She takes things in stride and is good at helping with Asher. May has matured a lot this year, and doesn't have as many break downs. This helps us as we learn from mistakes. This little perfectionist is learning to let things go, for herself and her classmates/friends.... She was the kid who told you that purple was not the color of the sun. Now she can see that it is an artist's perspective. That helps a lot in school. Although she will still tell you that, "We are listening now and we can talk later" and "We have a schedule to keep, let's stay on task".

Asher- You would not ever believe that this boy was diagnosed with a heart defect. That he had open heart surgery, that he went on heart and lung bypass, that his stenosis (narrowing) was at 2mm when it should be 10mm. They sent him home after five days and he was off all medications at 10 days. That it took almost physical force to keep him sedentary to give his sternum and body a chance to heal. You wouldn't believe how hard that was. The moment we walked in the door, he jumped from the top of the stairs to the landing, jarring his whole body and crying out because he forgot that such things might cause pain. He doesn't walk anywhere, he runs full speed... in socks... on our hardwood floors.... The next fall/jar came when he slipped on his socks and fell to his knees.... Or the angry child that lives inside him when he is on Beta blockers... Oh man.... I know that those who brought us dinner were surprised that we needed the help, especially since Crash was usually the one opening the door. But to try and go to the grocery store, let alone get him in the car was a full hour fit of rage while he told be that "I hate the store", "I really don't like you", "I want to stay home" (he couldn't stay by himself, although I seriously considered it) ..... We got a flat on the way home from the hospital, AAA saved us. The next day I had to take the car to repair the tire. He asked me the whole time we were at Big O, if we could go home now. It was brutal. After that we came straight home. There would have been no making of food, no shopping, no minutes to contemplate meal choices... Those meals brought in saved my bacon. Whew!!!

Jeff and I have had a few bumps in our health, me with the miscarriage and Jeff sorting out his blood pressure and hurting his back.

But so many other good things happened that we can easily over look the tricky stuff.

Last night the kids tried their hardest to stay up all night. We did puzzles and watched movies. We had yummy food. Ry did a movie (Knives Out) and had friends over. At midnight Jeff had been asleep a couple of hours, I was quietly putting a puzzle together. The big girls and the little kids, went out to ring in the New Year screaming and shouting with the neighbors. It was awesome. Gator stayed up alllllllll night... Ry made it to 3 AM, Eden to maybe 1, Asher and I fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow at 12:45, I think same with May...

This morning Jeff got up and ran 4.3 miles in the New Year Revolution at the Olympic Oval. Then he and I rode our bike on the trainers... We went to lunch with some amazing friends.... Then, Grandma and Grandpa Homer invited us over for a British dinner of, Prime Rib Roast, Yorkshire Pudding, Roasties, and a green salad... Then I was in charge of dessert. We did cake batter in the waffle iron and ice cream and toppings... Soooooo good.

Closing out the first day of the new year with things looking pretty darn great.