One EMOTIONAL Roller Coaster

2011 was an adventurous year!  And because I'm trying to change a few things....like no longer isolating myself....I need to have a little bit of emotional vomit.  And what better place than "Ye Olde Blog".

I am hoping to be more forthcoming in 2012....with myself and everyone else.

January
It was January....what do I say.  I had pre-cancerous lesions removed, which essentially made it look like I had been in a bar fight....which is what I told people.  Because that is way cooler than telling people the dermatologist beat me up.

Mom had major surgery.

Grandma was in the hospital.

February
This one was quite painful.   Grandma reunited with Grandpa.....happy for them, but I miss them both so much, it still hurts.....it really, really hurts.

This was also the month that we had the first stirring of a job that may take us someplace new.

Noah turned 11...had to celebrate his birthday in the midst of a lot of emotional pain.

Gained a poodle.  She's kind of a spaz now.

Dad nearly died.  That kind of sucked.

Mom broke her back.  That was awesome.

March
Spent the entire month negotiating about the job.  It wasn't fun...exciting, or anything else.  I started working on the house, because I think deep down, I knew things were going to change.

Dad nearly died again.  It still sucked.

April
I think this is month we accepted the job.  I'll be honest.....I don't remember a heck of a lot.  Everything happened so slowly, yet so quickly.  It was crazy!  I just remember telling Felix that if we were supposed to go, Heavenly Father would prepare the way.  And He did.  We only said NO to the job 5 times.

I really started tackling the house.  We knew there was no way to sell it, we are too far underwater (thank you economy), so the plan from the beginning was to rent....and thank you ocd, for making me fix everything.

Caleb turned 6.  He likes six.  We still haven't gotten over how awful 3 was.  (It was actually fine, he just didn't like 3 and wanted to be either 2 or 4....I think he has a thing for even numbers)

I think my dad came home in April....again, it's all kind of fuzzy.  And I know mom had a major surgery in there somewhere too.  Fuzzy....it's all fuzzy.

May
Started talking to all of the doctors about how to transition Baylee's care.  Again, this was part of the "if Heavenly Father wants us there He will prepare a way" thing I was doing.  Because He did.  We received personal recommendations from everyone for doctors in St. Louis.

I got a new nephew.  Baby Owen.  You could tell he'd been hanging out with Grandma....she taught him how to treat us all like trained monkeys.

Caleb decided to have pneumonia....bad enough they didn't know it was pneumonia.  He was hospitalized the night before I was supposed to fly to Missouri and sign papers for our rental home.  That was awesome.  He spent 4 days there.  Scared the pants right off of me.  But that it when my faith started changing to trust.

June
Baylee hit the big 1-0.  Nobody really had parties this year.  I just didn't have it in me.  So sad little monkeys.  You would think she hit the teen years...she's been ornery ever since.

We started going to Lagoon once a week with the Grants.  The most fun EVER!  Sara and Savannah made me want to die on Wicked several time and I just had a good time soaking up Lisa (I still want to almost cry when I think about her....it's hard not having her right across the street!).

It was the beginning of the best summer of ever.

July
Packing, packing and more packing.  Painting, painting and more painting.  Cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.  We bought the antique baby grand that the owners of the house in Missouri didn't want to move.  I called it my birthday present and we were all good.

I think my mom might have had one more surgery.  I think.

We got boxed up.  The carpet cleaners came and our stuff hit the road.  Then our cars hit the road.

We saw Sam get baptized (it was beautiful).  And realized how much we were going to miss out on.

We spoke in church....why?  Because Bishop Wilde wanted everyone to see me blubbering like an idiot.

We spent the final days making our rounds, saying our good-byes and letting our hearts grieve.

August
Moving day was the day from Aytch EEEEEE Double Hockey Sticks.  Problems with the animals.  Worst heat wave ever in Missouri (humidity sucks).  And sad babies.  And a sad mommy.

Met new doctors and got treatment scheduled.  That was an adventure.

We got our stuff.  Started unpacking, got registered for school.  Met the ward.  Started school.

Caleb got beat up on the school bus.  No more school bus.

And I got to speak in church again.  Neato.

September
Fought with T-Mobile....and won.  That was cool.  Still unpacking.  Still crazy.  Got called to Young Women's and Felix got called to primary.  Savannah turned 14.  Sigh.  I don't think it was the worst birthday ever...but it was a little lonelier than most, we still didn't know very many people.

October
This was personality shift month.  Separation anxiety.  Every day vomiting.  Nuff said.  But it was sad, really, really sad.

For Halloween, we sat in the basement, turned off all the lights and watched a movie.

Dad had a birthday....it was pretty low key.  Everything seemed pretty low key.

New nephew #2 made it.  I haven't met him yet.  It makes me sad that I can't talk to him about poop.

November
Starting riding lessons.

Met with new doctors for the boys.

Transferred Caleb to St. Pauls Lutheran school.

Savannah was threatened at school, it was caught on tape and the kid was referred to the juvenile court system.

Had Thanksgiving with our new friends, who are also transplants and we spent the holiday alone....together.  Yup...that's how we roll.

Got called from YW counselor to YW president.  Oh boy.....let the adventure begin!

December
Kept really busy, learning to do crafts.  Half decorated for Christmas and just tried to keep rolling with it all.

Baylee had a solo at the choir program.  Savannah also had a beautiful program.  Caleb got to have a Christmas program about Jesus.  THAT was cool.

Baylee fell in the frozen pool, and had pneumonia.  Then bronchitis.  Then double ear infections.

Felix had bronchitis.

Savannah had a throat infection and a sinus infection.

Noah had 2 sinus infections and an ear infection.

Caleb had a sinus infection and an ear infection.

Yup, everyone was sick.  All.  Month.  Long.

Christmas was small and sweet, and it helped make up for some of the illness crazy.   I love it when Christmas falls on Sunday.  We were supposed to do a family special musical number, but I ended up getting Felix to get permission to play guitar, and he did a duet with our new friend who plays the harp, while all of the kiddos sang.  It was perfect for me!

So it's 2012.  There will be a post about that shortly.

It was a tough year.  A really, really tough year.  And it's over now.  Good.

Lessons Learned
1.  The world doesn't stop turning...even when you want it too.
2.  Trust is a world apart from faith (you have to have faith to trust...it's not a one or the other kind of thing).  Trust is so much bigger.
3.  I can DO Hard Things.  (Thanks mom for the reminder)
4.  Hiding away from the world, doesn't make things ANY easier.
5.  My kids can do hard things too.  They have more than proven that.