That's a wrap

December 31st!!

This year has gone by in a wink.  Here Mr. E and I are, late on the last day of 2011, reflecting on the year and all that has come and gone.  So I'm getting off the roller coaster of our life for just an hour or so to look back on the ride.

Lots of tears:  In March after my follow-up MRI, I showed a lesion on my brain and was diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis.  A few weeks later, I was also diagnosed with Celiac disease. In October, I lost the feeling on the top of my foot - the first MS episode in over a year. (still healing)  In April, a dear friend, Mr.E's grandma, passed away. I still miss her.  And though this is also one of the highlights of my heart - selling, buying, and moving to a bungalow this summer somehow brought to the surface more of the emotions of how MS has changed my life.  I have mourned the loss of dreams and hopes that I am now re-working in light of my current reality.

In the fall, Mr.E's health deteriorated and we were told that Crohn's disease is fully active again in his intestines (after having most of his large intestine removed a year ago in the hopes that the surgery would remove the disease completely).  To add to it all, Mr.E fully herniated a disc in his back (likely from a weak core post surgery).  We are working on the papers for him to start a new Crohn's treatment in Jan -which comes with worries as the side-effects can be severe and the uncertainty of where the money will come from as we apply for coverage for the meds.

Starting school for our son was hard and he cried every day until about two weeks before Christmas break.  Learning to support him in hardest thing he's ever done, collaborate with his teacher to find solutions, and to encourage him through it was a huge learning curve. 


Smiles: Growing big roots in my spiritual life.  Learning to trust that God is good no matter what my circumstances are. Having the gift of my best-friend, Mr.E.  Walking together through the really tough moments has given us more strength, deeper love, a stronger marriage.  Watching mister man and miss lady as they learn, grow, and keep me on my toes.  I love being a mom.  Selling, buying, and moving in a month! I LOVE our home and feel at peace here. Spending time with my family in Alberta and taking mister man to his first movie (which has lead to his incredible interest in dolphins... ask me a question about them and I'm fairly certain I'll know the answer!).

I'm also accomplishing something I've dreamed of for a long time... In November I finished training as a birth doula and I'm working on my certification with a fabulous organization (DONA).  I was a doula at a birth the first week of December and I am more and more confident that this is something I was absolutely created to do!  I feel joy in the deepest part of my bones (if that makes sense :)) when I am supporting another woman as she brings a baby into the world.

So how to wrap it all up: Great points of weakness have ='d developing a character of greater strength.


And my New Year's Eve tradition: a recounting of my favorite things of the year...

2011 
color - always black, though I'm liking grey and crimson these days too
outfit - black sweater, purple shirt, dark jeans
shoes- my first pair of crocs
food - homemade baked chicken wings
drink - aloe vera juice (crucial after the hot chicken wings)
restaurant - Casey's - Yay for gluten free food that I can enjoy, especially the fries which have their own special fryer!
thing to do -spend time with my family, read, doula
movie - of all time is still "Stranger than  Fiction"
love interest - okay, so this applied when I was a teenager and won't change now....Eric :)
gadget - Mr.E's iphone, and not really a gadget but I love "Freecycle" an online group that reuses stuff (give what you don't want, take what you need)
new habit - weekly journal date at the coffee shop down the road
favorite family memory - Christmas in our new home
favorite memory with my spouse - our regular date night
book - The Birth Partner: Everything you need to know to help a woman through childbirth - P.Simkin
hardest moment: being diagnosed with MS and Celiac
greatest moment: being a doula
songs - nothing new, but here's a few that linger in my thoughts: