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I like taking this day to reflect on the past year. I swallow hard when I say that because it's been one of the hardest years of my life. It had a lot of good days but a lot of very hard days as well. Things seem to be turning around for us now and I'm so thankful for that. I'm not going to dwell on the bad. Instead, I want to share the highlights of this year. Sometimes, I think that we get so caught up in what all went wrong that we forget to notice what all went right or at least that's true for me. So lets look back on 2024....
As you all know, last December our shop burned to the ground. It was a huge loss for us. It contained my husband's side business as well as many of my things. It was devastating. They could not determine what caused the fire but we are pretty sure it was electrical. So 2024, was a year of rebuilding for us. We started on a new shop and will be continuing to build and add on to it over time. We are praying that this will be the year that his business is back up and running full time and prospering. That's my prayer.
In Spring, Katie came home for a week. It was the first time that I've had all of my kids together in years. We had a Easter dinner at my house and I just soaked up every single second with all my babies. I loved seeing my little ones catching up with all of their cousins. It was the very best day of the whole year and my heart was just full.
In Spring we held Blaze's annual IEP and I was very disappointed. I felt like he was just falling through the cracks and not getting the things that he needed. We decided to bring him home for the remainder of the year. It was quite an adventure but he did amazing. He did so well with homeschooling that we decided to just keep him home again this year. We also decided to keep the other three home as well. However, they are doing virtual schooling instead of traditional homeschooling. All four kids have done fantastic and I'm so proud of them.
On March 5th, my sweet Ada asked Jesus into her heart and on April 21st she got baptized. It was such a special day for my sweet girl. I'm so happy for her.
In September, Blaze had surgery. He got a VNS implant for epilepsy. At first he didn't do to well with it but now he has adjusted to it and he is doing great. Since the implant, he has only been hospitalized once so that is amazing. I was worried at first but I'm glad that we made the decision to go through with the surgery.
This year, I got approved to be the caregiver to my buddy Matthew. He is the same age as Blaze. He has autism like Blaze except his is more severe. I am so happy that his parents chose me to be his caregiver. He is precious to me and I enjoy my time with him.
In October, the 3 younger kids started AWANAS. We found a local church that had this program so we reached out to them. It has been amazing. The church and the members have truly been a blessing to our family. The kids love it and they have learned so much and we've made so many new friends this year. I highly recommend AWANAS to everyone who has kids. It truly is a great program.
This was a year of sports. All 4 kids played a sport or two. Zach played basketball for PC again. Layla and Blaze both played basketball for the first time with PC as well as softball in the fall at Union. I was able to coach their team again this year along with my friend Brittany. Ada decided to try soccer this year with upward and she had a great time. She has just started up playing basketball again this season. She enjoys it so much. I love that they love playing.
We took a family trip to the beach the first of summer. It was my first staying a whole week and we enjoyed that. I love the beach at PC! It's my favorite vacation place.
We spent most of our summer at Bailey's swimming in her pool. All 4 kids can now swim well. I have always worried about Blaze because he loves water so much and has no fear at all. I feel confident now that if he fell in a body of water that he will be able to swim and get out. That helps this mama heart. You hear so often of autistic kids wandering away and drowning. It scares me to death so I'm so thankful that he has learned how to get out of the water in the event of him falling/ jumping in.
We also took a few day trips throughout the year. We attended a few homeschool events as well and made some new homeschool friends. We went to the fall festivals at Concord, Wayside, Pumpkinvine, and Springdale. Fall festivals are always so much fun. We even walked away with cakes and cookies in the cake walks.
We had some good days this year and for that I am thankful. God's been good to our family. I'm looking forward to a new year and I pray that it will be a good one for us all.
Happy New Year!
