Elf Mischief by Buddy

Gingerbread houses

Here is our gingerbread village

I was surprised at how well Abby did decorating their house

The kids all dressed up before the Camp SAM Christmas party

We invited all the grandparents and my cousin, Stephanie & her boyfriend to come over and help us make gingerbread houses this year. We had the best time!

Buddy, our Elf

Buddy, our Elf makes his first appearance with goodies & a note

Jason finished the outside Christmas lights- it's so pretty!

I had heard of Elf Magic years ago. However, we never did it until this year. Last year one of Patrick's friends mentioned her elf and Patrick wanted to write Santa this year to request one himself. Since I am so frugal, I asked my crafty Aunt Donna to make us an elf so I wouldn't have to spend the $30+ on a real "Elf Magic" elf. He turned out so great! I hope you can see the detail on his little outfit. Since we are big fans of the movie "Elf" with Will Farrell, I named our elf Buddy after him. I wrote a note from Buddy and left it along with Buddy on our kitchen table. He also brought the kids some of Patrick's favorite chocolates. If any of you also have elves, please send me a note with some of their mischief that the kids really enjoyed. Thanks!

Picture with Santa

Yesterday we all went to the new Bass Pro Shop in Leeds. We had a lot of fun. They have a Santa there & they even take a photo & give you a free 4x6. The Santa is a really friendly one. I couldn't believe we got a picture with all three kids- it took Sarah a few minutes to warm up to the idea of getting that close to him! They have free crafts for the kids. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Catching my breath

Doing yardwork at the new house

Abby in front of the Christmas tree

I LOVE this picture!

Hi everyone! So, it has been ages since I have found the time to post. Needless to say, the move, along with all my other stressors, almost did me in! I tell Jason that I hope he likes the house, because I am never moving again. Seriously. I have thought it through. It is a one level, all tile, no stairs, within walking distance to grocery, banks, and 0.6 miles to Jason's work. So we really could be here forever as far as I am concerned.

But really, I have been going through a rough patch this fall and I am thankful that I am starting to feel a little more like myself again. Apparently parents of children with critical illnesses can experience something like a post traumatic stress disorder. It usually happens months after the initial diagnosis and illness phase, after the whole "fight or flight" adrenaline rush is over. It started for me in July, when I began to be anxious and worry even more than my usual worrywart self. Usually my anxiety was not only about Abby, but about the health & safety of all three children as well as Jason and myself. I finally ended up finding a good general practitioner after that ER visit for chest pain in September. My doctor is helping me deal with all my stress and thankfully my stressors are lessening- like the move being over, Patrick & I finding a groove with homeschool, etc... I have kept much of my anxiety to myself because I was afraid it was like admitting defeat. Throughout all of Abby's illness I have always made it a point to try to emphasize our reliance on the Lord and His ability to guide us through it. So I didn't want to talk about my anxiety & stress because I felt like it would be contradicting my message. Anyway, I realize that God uses our weaknesses for His good, so here I am baring it all to the world...

The anniversary of Abby's diagnosis is December 11th. I don't want to seem ungrateful for Abby's progress. Really. As far as this chemotherapy journey goes, we are incredibly blessed. Abby's outcome could have been so different. But that anniversary is looming around me. Just this time of year brings back all those feelings I had last year: fear, uncertainty, anger, exhaustion, grief, terror... The last time we went to Children's for a clinic visit, it was decorated for Christmas, which it was last year for our first visit. Just seeing those decorations again made me remember things I never want to. So I will be thankful once this anniversary is past us. I will be even more thankful after her scans in January and they show that we can still be done with chemo January 15th.

Wow this feels like a long entry. I guess I had a lot to say after being gone for over a month! Thanks to anyone who stuck around to read it all! Blogging really is a wonderful way to get all these feelings out, isn't it? Hopefully it won't be so long before I post again. However, I am making it a point to only be on the computer when the children are asleep. Usually I am so exhausted I go right to sleep too!