Thursday, January 9, 2020

A New Year...

New Year’s is always such a fun time for our family! We start the day off with a fun breakfast...
This year, the waffle bar and maple long johns! Yum!
I had a low carb “chaffle” that was superb but didn’t even bother trying to low carb a maple donut. πŸ˜‚
The younger children have a fun gift exchange...



And the older ones of us participate in the Ornery Ocker's Odditorium, which is our own unique game that is similar to a white elephant exchange.  It's so much fun!  Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures.

Although I did get a few pictures of the Triple O balls...πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚





Lots of craziness and fun!




6 boxes of Saran Wrap later...

Our fun day was interrupted by a major water catastrophe, which we spent the rest of the day and all the next week fixing.  On New Year's Day, we pumped over 1,200 gallons of water out of the basement!  The girls are now living in the school room until the basement and bathroom can be remodeled.  What would we do without the loving kindness of good friends?  We are so grateful for the friends who dropped their own family plans in a moment's notice to come help us and committed so much time the following week to getting us back up and running, even though they are all dealing with their own life craziness!

We have yet to finish our celebration, but look to do so this weekend.  With all the girls in different directions, it is now hard to find time to come together with everyone.  A friend recently asked to give a movie title that describes your parenthood.  I said, "The Fast and the Furious."  πŸ˜‚

This year was somewhat difficult for me to let go of and to move into.  I'm not really sure why, except maybe it's leaving behind a decade where I was able to hold my sweet boy and moving into a new one that will never see him.  It's hard, but I'm doing it.  My friend, Melanie (thelifeididntchoose.com), put it well, “My heart aches to see him again, hold him again, share life with him again. But I’ve learned to hold that yearning for the life I used to have and gratitude for the life I live now in the same heart.”