Tuesday, January 02, 2007

2006 Where did you go?

2006 seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye. There was so much crammed in to last year that I'm sure I won't remember it all and most of it was very, very good.

I started off the year being very pregnant and sick. Spending 5 days in the hospital with premature labour at 28 weeks was not my idea of fun. Nothing was fun at that point, although I did try.

This all came to a head in March when #3 was brought into this world and was so beautiful and perfect. He became, and is, my little peanut. A little guy who brought us so much more than we could have thought possible (as all children do). One of the things that he brought us was a friendship that was really kicked off in our hospital room and has now grown to include her as a regular part of our family life. I'm now wondering if a long, holiday weekend would be complete without a visit from her and her cupcake man.

Another friend of ours blessed us by coming to take care of dh, #1 and #2 while #3 and I were in the hospital and showed us what a giving heart truly is all about. She visited us again at Christmas and we were very thankful to have her here.

We came home. When I say that I mean back to this town which means so much to us. The year of commuting at least 40 minutes each way to Church every Sunday and feeling so isolated showed us where we belong. So, we came home. It was the best decision ever and it brought even more friends into our life.

#1 took his first ever unaccompanied plane trip to visit MIL in Kelowna. He did a great job, it was me who was left sobbing in the terminal at YVR. He was gone four nights and apparently it was one too many as on the last night he begged me to come get him. He thought I could just get the plane to take him then and didn't understand about the scheduling. He did very well though up until that time and 1/2 hour later apparently he was fine. It was heartbreaking for me to have him crying for me on the phone. #1 is normally a very independent boy. It's good to know he still needs his mom.

We discovered the joy of babysitters. Having gone almost 7 years without any real or regular babysitting this was an amazing thing for us. Originally needing it while we attended Alpha we have now decided that a regular date night is in order and have kept it up. Our babysitters rock and we are very thankful for them.

The joy of a local blogging community was discovered when a friend found my blog and then through hers I found others and vice versa. I have made new friends locally that I have grown to admire and respect and, hopefully, in 2007 can spend more time getting to know.

Dh and I attended Alpha and grew closer in the Lord and each other. He is now wanting to be baptised and when I mentioned that I would like to pray over Christmas Dinner he was all for it. He would never have not allowed it but what I mean is that he fully participated and was glad in it. He loves our Church and has even brought one of his friends into it. Through that he hopes that his friend's entire family will start participating.

Both dh and I started working in several ministries and one of them is with youth. He leads the Grades 5-7 and I the high school students. We both love it. Did I mention we love our Church and feel we were called back to this town so we could give more to it? We don't have the financial means to give but we gift our time as much as we can.

We threw a Christmas Eve party at the last minute and had a great time with all who showed up and, despite my worries, there was enough food for all.

We spent the New Year's long weekend at family camp at a local ranch where we made new friends, saw some familiar faces and basically had a good time.

Whew - 2006 was a busy year and the above are only highlights. In a family of five there is so much going on at all times that sometimes it is hard to keep up.

We are very blessed to have the people we have in our life. We hope we show you all how much you mean to us. All of you have touched our lives in some way and we are forever grateful for all that we have learned from each and everyone one of you. Blessing of love and joy to all for 2007.