I am sending out quite a few photo Christmas cards this year and I have also made a Christmas letter to go with them,but unfortunately ink is so very expensive that I wasn't able to put it with all the cards,so I thought I would put it online,so that everyone could read. So here it is:
Hello friends, This has been a year of trials & blessings.
We rang in the New year with lots of fun, food and some special friends, We also had great times celebrating Gilbert and Nicholas’ birthdays, but unfortunately the second week of Jan Ariel ended up spending 8 days inpatient with kidney stones and had to have 2 surgical procedures.
Daniel’s seizures
Also had gotten worse than we had ever seen them. He was averaging a Grand Mal about every 4 days and has had over 50 shoulder dislocations. Requiring many, many trips to the E.R.
I can remember sitting in a coffee shop with my Bible and crying out to The Lord about why our kids must suffer so, but some how that day God gave me peace in my heart and reminded me how he sees the whole picture, while I just see the tiny jigsaw puzzle piece of this thing called life. I decided then and there to stand firm on his promises Heb 13:5 for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
So that’s what we did and in time things did start getting better. Not perfect or illness free, but better.
We have had some great times this year. We had a wonderful Valentine’s day with heart shaped pizza and chocolates, Easter we spent at church. The guys all looked so sharp in their new suits and Ariel was so pretty in her new dress. It was a great day. I was able to go to a ladies retreat with some ladies from our church. The theme was trip around the world and there were so many fun games. From seeing if you fit the wooden clogs to finding contraband items in the suitcase.
Ariel and I were given tickets to several events through Starlight. One was seeing the musical Oklahoma and the other was going to The Seattle Symphony that was playing the music of Disney that also had movies and singers.
We went to some great church picnics were we played volleyball and flag football, and in May we had a huge Hawaiian themed 18th birthday for Ariel. We had over 85 people at our house and all sorts of food, games and even a 3ft tall pinata. The Blackbird Bakery donated a 3 tiered Hawaiian themed cake complete with a waterfall, tropical birds, seashells, sand and turtles.
The summer was spent mainly bowling and many trips to the beach with trips to Sluy’s Bakery in downtown Poulsbo after.
We even went with our church to The Rainier’s Game, unfortunately it was in the rain, but we and our cousin Randy had a blast.
Gilbert’s folks came up from California in June just in time to be around for Ariel’s wrist surgery and so did our friends The Evan’s. We had a great time going out to the tea house with Sara and her MIL and meeting the rest of their family
This summer we celebrated Michael & Daniel’s birthdays.
Daniel went out golfing with Gilbert and Michael, and Michael had friends over. Michael also was involved in VBS this year and won. An honors award for best fisherman and got a certificate and new Bible.
In August Ariel was hospitalized for more testing. Her VEEG was 50% better than last year. Meaning her seizures were a bit better. Daniel started on a new med and hasn’t had a Grand Mal in over 2 months. Gilbert and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary.
We also got to go to The Evergreen Speedway and The Puyallup Fair and the kids and I once again scooped up ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery for Make A Wish.
In September the kids and I all went through training to start working at the Point Defiance Zoo and we have been working there ever since. We love it. We’ve done things from doing scavenger hunts with the kids for Zoo Boo to walking tours through the vet clinic, to working Rocky Shores with the seals and walruses to our latest working the Santa dive were Santa dives in with the sharks.
It’s been a wonderful experience for the kids and a lot of fun. Gilbert had surgery on his eyes in October and was looking pretty bad for a while there, but he is all healed up now. In Nov, Ariel and I got to go to Disney on ice with friends. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and went to Seattle after and were in The Macy’s Holiday parade. Walking with The Make A Wish Foundation.
Unfortunately Ariel has been having a lot of seizure issues again and we are hoping to come up with the right meds to help her.
Gilbert is still working at The Shipyard and Nicholas is still working produce at Safeway, though he continues to look for other employment. He’s a big help around the house with the kids.
The kids are doing various volunteer things from working the zoo to Make A Wish to being greeters for The Starlight Foundation. I couldn’t be prouder. If you would like to continue to follow our journey our blog is here:
http://marrerofamilymakingthemostoflife.blogspot.com/
Have a very Merry Christmas, Luke 2:10-12 (KJV)
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. God bless,Linn
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