[/caption]I was looking through some old blog entries and found that in Jan 09 I had looked back through 2008 - first looking at it from the perspective of how we survived our most difficult year to date, and then also looking back at how God has richly blessed and upheld us through that difficult year (2008...The Year of God's Blessings ). So I think I should do that again for 2009!
First of all, 2009 was much easier than 2008, that is for sure! But we did have some trials as well. And definitely some major blessings along the way!
Winter of 2009 was centered around Esther's recovery from her open heart surgery. This went really well and she was able to go without her feeding tube in less than two weeks after her surgery - that was a major blessing! We were soon preparing for Jeremy to come home on his pre-deployment leave at the end of February. We had a great week with him, including an open house with lots of friends and family coming to see him (and our new home!).
Springtime found us getting some serious schooling to make up for the previous fall, working with Esther through therapy to gain strength and begin to learn new skillss, putting in gardens, a new front yard, new driveway, and a great check up at Children's for Esther. Esther did end up going to ER once in June - she got croup and was having trouble breathing - but they were able to fix her up and go home - no hospital admits this entire year! PTL!
Summer was definitely busy - we planned and put on the biggest birthday party ever - it was so much fun!!! We also went camping - but I was unable to enjoy it very much as I was sick the entire time and ended up with bronchitus and a sinus infection...we finished out the summer with a great day at the beach! We also dealt with cancer on Esther's face that was so traumatic for us as it bled profusely at the least provocation, but turned out fine after minor surgery to remove it.
Fall was a wonderful time to get back into schedules, schooling and planning for celebrating a whole month with Jeremy home in November - we had a great time with him home that long! We did have some big struggles due to the economic troubles, but God provided for us through it all...even coming through in miraculous ways just when there seemed to be no way to meet all our financial challenges. We also dealt with cancer on Esther's face that was so traumatic for us as it bled profusely at the least provocation, but turned out fine after minor surgery to remove it.
We rounded out the year with our first Christmas in our new home - Christmas tree in front of the window, icicle lights on the house, game nights, puzzles, and best of all, Jeremy was home for 2 weeks again! Esther really enjoyed her first Christmas...especially the wrapping paper and boxes!
Also throughout the year we've seen Esther stop struggling to grow, going from 12 pounds to a whopping 26 pounds from January to June! She's refined down to a nice 25 pounds now due to being so active. When Esther went to her first therapy session at the end of January she couldn't even hold her head up very well, and could not lift it off the ground if she was laying on her tummy....now she's camando crawling all over the house, sits up all by herself, gets up on her hands a knees, wave and says "Hi", waves "Bye Bye", gives the best baby hugs ever, has a great sense of humor, and loves music and Signing Time Videos!
So last year, our blessings far out-weight the slight and temporary troubles of 2009, and I can see God's hand upholding us through all. His mercies are new every morning.
I'll end this post with a comparison photo of Esther just home in Jan, as compared to her at Christmas:
[caption id="attachment_507" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Esther on Jan 9,2009"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_510" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Esther's favorite thing...playing ball!"]
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12/31/2009
May 2010 be a Blessed year as well!!!
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