Happy New Year!

To all of my dear friends - I wish you and yours a very Happy and Healthy New Year! May God provide you with His abundant peace and comfort and strength throughout 2007. I shall return, in full force, in a day or two. One of my new year's resolutions is to continue on with my blog, writing once again of my experiences as a mom who truly cherises her children. In the meantime, I hope you have a great celebration this evening and a wonderful relaxing time tomorrow, surrounded by those whom you love. God's blessings to you all.

Hope your Christmas was Wonderful!

We had a great Christmas, just the four of us. Just very relaxing and comforting, having everybody home under the same roof. We are leaving for Michigan in the morning, and won't return until Saturday - so, things will be quiet around here for the next few days.

I know some of you have been sending me an email to let me know that you're having trouble leaving comments, and quite frankly, I'm not sure what the problem could be. I did switch over to the new Blogger last week, so that may account for some of your problems. You may need to get a Gmail account or a Blogger account in order to be able to leave a comment from now own - there should be some instructions on how to do that when you go to leave a comment. If I would have known how much of a pain this was going to be, I wouldn't have switched. I have been wondering why people haven't been commenting lately, and now I know why (but, I also haven't been blogging much lately!).

I'm considering once again discontinuing my blog. The past several months I haven't been keeping up with the quantity or the quality of my writing. I'll let you know after the first of the year what I decide. Please know that I am not looking for a huge outpouring of support for me to keep on going - although that would be great to hear from all of you. I know you all love me, no matter what, and that you'll stand by my decision one way or another. I also know that each of us kind of hits a "dry spell" for awhile, too, so we take a breather. I'm just feeling like I haven't been able to write much for a couple of reasons - one is because a lot of what has been going on is way too personal to write about, and the second one is not being able to write what's on my mind for fear of hurting a person's feelings. Another option for keeping up with my writing is to start up a brand new blog. Whatever my decision is - you will be the first to know!

I hope you enjoy this week between Christmas and New Year's. It's my favorite week of the whole year. I'll see you next week! Take care and have fun playing with all of your new toys! (PS to my hubby - I love my unexpected present!).

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas to you and yours, my friends. I shall keep each of you in thought and prayer during this blessed season. You've been such a wonderful source of strength and inspiration to me - and for that, I am truly grateful. May God bless each of you with peace and joy now and forevermore.

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

You Are a Tree

You love every part of the holidays, down to the candy canes and stockings. And you're goofy enough to put a Christmas tree ornament on your tree!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatchristmasornamentareyouquiz/">What Christmas Ornament Are You?

A Family's Struggle

DQ holds so many things inside - at times, I worry about her because I am never quite sure what she is thinking or feeling. She's been through a lot over the past three years, and I'm amazed at her strength and resilency.

As most of my regular readers know, DQ is biracial. She went through a terrible time for almost two years when she attended a small parochial school in a small town about 20 miles north of here. Her experiences there proved that racism still does exist in our culture, and there is a huge reluctance to admit that among school administrators who would rather bury their heads in the sand than confront the problem head on. In fact, DQ was actually blamed for the problem, and they tried to portray her as a "problem child" - which is SO ridiculous because she's so meek and quiet in a classroom setting that teachers almost have to beg her to participate in class discussions. She was home-schooled the last quarter of her 8th grade year to get her out of that hostile environment, and it gave her some time to heal. As you can imagine, her self-esteem suffered as a result, and she did go to a counselor for awhile.

It was also during this time period that her older sister became gravely ill and was in the hospital. I was unable to spend much time with DQ because most of my time and energy was devoted to TP. I was torn - and to this day, I feel guilty because I was so wrapped up with one child that I overlooked the other child's needs. I feel that DQ suffered as a result of that, and is paying for it to this day.

Last night, DQ came downstairs with tears in her eyes - which is so unusual for her that immediately I knew that she was suffering a great deal. She opened up tremendously - and spoke about how painful it has been to live here in our house lately. The strain of the past several years is catching up with all of us - and it's taking its' ugly toll on our relationships. The past few months, and especially the past few weeks, have been especially difficult. She shared with me how that the arguing goes through her heart and soul, and that she misses the closeness she once had with her older sister. It's been painful for DQ to watch her older sister turn away from us - and it hurts her to see how TP has treated us as she transitions into adulthood.

The only way I could respond to DQ was to hug her and comfort her. I couldn't promise that it will get better because I don't know that it will. It has renewed my determination to not engage in fighting, to place responsibility where it is supposed to go, and to pray like crazy that this darkness which has settled on to my family will finally be lifted. I miss the closeness, too, and I'm not sure how to get that back.

An Early Christmas Gift

Great news! We went to Children's Hospital for TP's six month checkup, and her doctor has lowered her immunosuppressant meds yet again. If TP continues to stay in remission and her labs continue to remain within normal limits, then it is entirely possible that in three months, she will no longer be on ANY medication!

Music to my ears.

A miracle.

The best Christmas present ever!

Praise God.

James Taylor & Carole King - You've Got A Friend

I can't begin to tell you how many nights as a teenager that I cried myself to sleep, listening to this song. So, I'm dedicating this to my oldest, who's going through the loss of a friendship, just to let her know that I'm still here if she needs me. And gosh, James I can't believe it's been 35 years since this song was first recorded!!!