It’s been a whirlwind year that’s best summed up as a game of Poker. We’ve won some, lost some and often wondered if we’re really playing with a full deck of cards.
As many of you know, we’ve moved out of our first house and have purchased another house that Ryan has again, beautifully remodeled. It’s on Bend’s Westside within easy walking distance to parks, downtown, work and the college. Having been in limbo now for over a year, we’re very excited to call this place home. And not a moment too soon, I was itching to get Christmas decoration up. Though we're moved in we still have some boxes left to unpack, but it's home. Appropriately, we’ll label this hand a “full house.”
Ryan’s gone back to school to get his Masters in Counseling. He’s now primarily staying home with the boys as I’ve gone back to work full-time as the Business Manager for College Excel. Ryan manages to find some time studying while Grammy/Pops and Nonnie/Poppie watch the boys 3 mornings a week. Though I know we’d love to trade places, this is working out well for our family and we’re oh so grateful for all the help from our parents. Not to mention that our kids love that special time. We'll term this a "four of a kind."
It certainly hasn't been a completely rosy year. Some hands are just harder to play. As if you have "two of kind" at a table where that might be considered the high cards. Bitter sweet. Both Grandpa Shaw and Grandma Harless passed away this year. Both incredible people that will be missed dearly. However, the lives they touched will be felt for generations. We know they are dancing away in heaven and one day we'll be reunited.
Have you ever played a hand that you wish you weren’t dealt? The day we brought Kai Isaac home from the hospital, Kadyn ended up in Urgent Care with an anaphylactic reaction to a piece of a cashew. We now carry around an epi pen, read every last detail of packaging labels and have thrown out all things cashew/pistachio related. I bring our own cupcakes to birthday parties, ask the wait staff in restaurants to make sure nothing else touches his meal, and watch like a hawk to make sure no one is given him any food I haven’t checked out first. Not to be outdone by his big brother it appears that Kai will have some allergies of his own to milk and strawberries. Apparently God thinks we can handle more than just your normal children. I however wish that this was one hand we could “fold.”
This has also been a year of joy and excitement. Like knowing you have a "straight flush." We became Auntie and Uncle twice over and Kadyn and Kai have their first cousins. Brian and Jen Harless had baby Carly in June and Cory and Chelsea (Cheney) Bergman had baby Isak in October. We also just recently learned that Wendy (Harless) and Martin Mallott are expecting their first in June 2010. YAY!! We only wish we lived closer to all these sweet babies.
For everyone that knows me, you know that this is my favorite time of year. It’s fitting that we’ve never done the holidays small (Boulder, Kadyn, Kai, houses all around the same time of year). Kai turned one on November 22 and Kadyn turned three this past week. We celebrated with a joint bug-themed birthday party. It seems that we’ve been overtaken by all things boy. Clearly, I’m outnumbered. However, this is one "royal flush" that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Merry Christmas and Blessings in 2010.
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