It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To. . .

The giveaway is now over!  Congrats, Denise!

OK, sing it with me: Happy blogoversary to me, happy blogoversary to me, happy blogoversary to meeeeeeee, happy blogoversary to me!!

Balloons!  Noise makers!  What a hoot.  Thank you, thank you very much!!  You know how to celebrate with a gal!  Even if it is all in my head.  😉

It’s been a year now since I started this here blog and I thought we could take a moment to review the past year briefly.

We started 2009 with sad news that a little girl named Tuesday, for whom our family had been praying for several months, had passed away from neuroblastoma.  Such a rare cancer . . . certainly not the outcome for which we had been hoping.  (Later in 2009, her family started on an RV tour of the US to raise awareness of pediatric cancers.) (Please go to Debi’s blog and leave a comment, she is donating $1 for each for pediatric cancer research!)

Not quite two weeks later, we heard of the death of another baby from the same rare cancer!!  Absolutely heartbreaking.  (A happy update to their family: just over two weeks ago they gave birth to a little boy, Levi!  While he brings them great joy, they also are still mourning for their dear little girl, Cora; it is a bittersweet time for them right now.)

February and March also brought us a bit of excitement in the form of our little volcanic friend that threatened to make life messy for us for a few months, but basically blew over without much damage.

There was another little baby, Stellan, and his heart.  Dear LORD, how we prayed for that boy!!  Several times in 2009 he was hospitalized for SVT, a potentially deadly heart condition.  (A thrilling update is that his latest surgery in October after his first birthday destroyed the extra node that was causing his SVT and today he is a healthy, happy little boy.)

March brought more sad news, that my dear sister-in-law, Mel, had endometrial cancer.  After a summer of chemo and autumn of radiation, we received very exciting news in December that they had done their job!  She is now a cancer survivor.  Thank You, LORD!

We survived chicken pox and thankfully, it really wasn’t too bad for the little calves.  We’ve done some school work.  (Actually, we’ve done lots, I just haven’t blogged about it much.)

I got an award and a button and played tag.  We went on a vacation.  And who could forget the hunting trip??

The happiest and saddest events of our year, interestingly enough, were related.  We found out in July that I was pregnant.  After several weeks of debilitating all-day nausea, I had just begun to get back on my feet.  And then . . . in October we miscarried.  This has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced.  Despite only having him with us for about four months, our baby boy Shelomith has been a very big part of our year (and no, I can’t even type that sentence without tearing up.)

Along the way we’ve had some good times.  We’ve relived sweet memories through Baby Picture Sunday and Wordless Wednesday, had a bit of a reality check with Not Me! Monday, and “set our minds on things above” with Thankful Thursday, Multitude Monday, and (a brand new one to me) Walking With You.

I’ve gotten meals organized with Meal Plan Monday and even blogged about housework with Tackle It Tuesday (oh, the depths to which we have fallen!!)

It has been a wild ride, hasn’t it?!

When I started this blog last year, was hoping to be able to connect with people, make new friends.  And I cherish the new connections I have made with folks from Montana and Idaho to Illinois and Pennsylvania and even clear across the world to Australia.   I’m so glad to have had a chance to connect with some sweet, caring people.  And there has been an unexpected benefit to participating in the memes:  somehow, having that little bit of accountability has helped me organize life and household.

As I look ahead to the coming year, I am both excited and afraid.  Excited, because of all the new possibilities!  There are plans to be made and goals to be reached!!  Afraid, because our world view now includes things such as cancer and childhood death and pregnancy loss.  I am grateful for the love, support, and encouragement to continue to cling to the LORD I’ve received from you, my friends.

So we thought we’d give a little back. One of the things that has been on my heart for some time is to find a way to honor our little boy, Shelomith.  we’ve been thinking about this for some time and finally (literally, this evening!) decided to donate in his name to help the children in Haiti through Compassion International.  I’m sure you’ve heard about the horrible situation after last week’s earthquake in Haiti; it is astounding to me how destitute the people are.

As we were discussing this over dinner tonight, Calf #1 said that he wanted to help, too.  He’s been saving up for some cool Star Wars Legos but he thinks it would be better to use his money to help kids in Haiti.  🙂  Calf #3, who has been known to say often these days “’bout me?” (meaning “What about me?”) also wanted to pitch in.  “Me too!”  she said. And that makes their mama’s heart swell with joy.

‘Bout you?  Would you please consider donating with us?  There are many reputable organizations who are working in Haiti; here is a list from Charity Navigator.  It doesn’t matter if you don’t have much to give.  If we all put our $5 or $10 or $50 together, it really does add up.  You can also leave a comment on Angie’s blog or on Kelly’s blog and they are adding in money for each comment.

And, oh yes, I want to give you something too. Maybe you, anyway, if you are the one whose name is picked!  I am giving away a box of some of my favorite purple things.  The box contains:

• one bottle of Olay Quench body lotion
• three hand made* metallic purple note cards “imagine,” “believe,” and “dream”
• five Home Inspirations pomegranate mango tea light candles
• six packets of Bigelow Pomegranate Pizzazz herbal tea

(do i need a disclaimer? approximate retail value is $15 and I bought this all myself for this contest)

*handmade = I bought stickers and cards and stuck the stickers on the cards.   🙂

So there it is, my blogoversary gift to you!

To enter, please leave a comment on this post telling how you met me or found this blog.

I will use random.org to pick a name from all those comments sometime on January 27th.