Miscellaneous Ups and Downs At the End of the Year

Well, it seems as though I am still having some problems with consistency as far as writing on my blog. Ideally I would be writing everyday. However, this has yet to happen so let's pick up somewhere around where I last left off.
I have finally caught my baby mouse. My cousin told me at Thanksgiving that I should tie a piece of dog food to the mouse trap so that they couldn't just drag it off of the trap without getting caught. I finally reset my traps accordingly and within a day or two had my mouse!!! I have a feeling there is more since this one was so small but we have yet to see any and I haven't caught anymore so hopefully this is the end of the mouse problem. Two problems solved this year, dogs are gone and mouse is gone!!!
I had my hida scan this past week and evidently my gallbladder is no longer working for me so I get to go meet my surgeon on the 29th of December. I was really hoping to meet him this week so that I could have the surgery during the week of Christmas and New Years but that isn't going to happen. I know it is a routine surgery and all but for some reason it is really bothering me. I know that I am frustrated because I have so many appointments to tend to the first week of January and I am afraid that Darein will be set up for more tests and that I won't have enough recovery time before tending to her tests. However, I am continuing to tell my self every day that things will work out and I will have control over scheduling things and I can make it work for us. Some days I think I just worry too much instead of sitting back and letting God do what he does best which is taking care of things. I will end up having to let go and only do what I can do anyways so there really is no point in worrying about it so I will continue to find other things that will hold my attention for the better.
The kids had their Christmas program this past Sunday night and they did a great job of singing. They got to go to a Christmas party at their youth leaders house afterwards and had a really good time.
I love Christmas time! I'm not always ready but this year I am ready, other than sending out Christmas cards which I am awful about doing. We went to my mother-in-law's house the other night, made some peanut butter balls and attempted to make some peanut butter fudge but it didn't turn out for some reason. We had a great time visiting and my brother dropped in for a few minutes and my sister-in-law and her boyfriend came by for a little bit. I am quite disappointed in myself for not doing any volunteer work over this holiday. It seems as though I always have the best of intentions but I am not very good at following through on much of anything. I always seem to get sidetracked and I lay my loyalties elsewhere, usually dedicating more time to family and extended family. If I was better at giving my extended family and friends more of my time throughout the year then I probably wouldn't have so much to make up for at the end of the year :) All in all I am very happy with how well things went this year. They started out quite rough with Darein being diagnosed with Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome; me having to quit my job; Damein having an allergic reaction to a sulfa antibiotic and ending up in the hospital with Steven Johnson's syndrome; Damein losing his place on the Varsity baseball team due to his illness and then rumors flying about the school that he isn't playing baseball next year in order for the coach to give himself a reason to not play Damein as much next year as well I am sure. However, now that we are at the end of the year most everything has resolved. Darein is in remission as far as her Chronic Regional Pain syndrome goes and is totally off of all of her medicines which was causing major physical and emotional problems for her. Damein has recovered nicely from his illness and is working on playing baseball to the best of his ability and not focusing on all of the negative talk going on around him in regards to this issue. He has started looking at colleges, made 1 visit to Drury this year and has a visit scheduled in February to visit Rolla MU S&T. He is also working at bringing his ACT scores up and continuing to research his options. I have adjusted to being home, am learning how to take care of myself a little bit both physically and emotionally which has been a hard thing to take time out for. I am learning how important it is though in order for my kids to get the best of me. It must come with age :) Shane has been great in all of the transitions that have taken place this year and is working harder than ever to make up for money we lost by me quitting my job. He has managed to make up my salary this year and as always is one of the few consistencies in my life. He is always there and always steadfast and a get in and get it done kind of person. He doesn't sit around and feel sorry for himself and doesn't allow me to do that either which is good. Sometimes, I get in those funks where I really feel sorry for myself and life in general and Shane is always there to remind me how much worse off other people have it and reminds me that we always have each other and together we can get through anything.
I have started going to church with my kids towards the end of this year and have found it very rewarding. I always have known God is in my life and pray to him but had forgotten what it is like to go every week and learn more about what he wants for me and from me in life. I have to say that I truly do feel blessed this Christmas season. I have been blessed with many friends, which I was concerned about losing when I quit my job but have only found that I have made new friends and old friends have been stronger than ever. I have learned what it is to be a friend this year and what a blessing your true friends can be. The rest is just filler :)
God Bless and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year and may all of your New Years resolutions come true! My only resolution for next year is that it is as good or better than this year. My family has many challenges to deal with next year as we will be helping Damein to choose a college, I will be having surgery at the first of the year, Darein is having surgery sometime in February probably and will be meeting a few new physicians in January and February. I just pray that we meet each of these challenges head on and persevere through them and make all the right decisions so that at the end of the year we can look back at how successfully we were able to face these challenges and conquer them.
Merry Christmas All!!!!