2017

 

This morning begins a new adventure in our lives. I so enjoyed this beautiful sunrise as I contemplated the new changes laid before my family. 2016 was a year that was rough at times and quite challenging. We had a lot of transitions, changes, and hard knocks, it is so nice to be ending the year with a whole new chapter in our lives. 

The greatest things that happened this last year:

Selena started public school 

We made the decision at the end of last year's school year, to begin the transition into public school. The decision to put her in school was based on the fact that she was struggling within the homeschool setting becoming very frustrated and beginning to not like homeschool. She had needs that I just wasn't able to meet, such as her writing or lack of writing. We moved forward to testing for an IEP. Selena at first tried to refuse going to school, that slowly turned around to her wanting to try 4th grade. The first Semester in school has been challenging but she loves it! 

Car accident 

Papa and Selena were involved in an auto accident in August. They were rear ended on the highway. Our van was totaled. Injuries were not as bad as they could have been thankfully! Selena was sore and still suffers at times from from post concussion, basically a lot of headaches at times. Papa however took the blunt of the impact. He suffered for months in pain from a very bad whiplash, injured back, and post concussion too. He's getting better but we can't say 100% better. With the loss of our van, dealing with the insurance company, which still is ongoing, loss of pay, and medical appointments, we all were becoming pretty drained. Like I said it's not over yet, bringing on an Attorney it has relieved us from all the stress. I feel Papa began to have more energy to move forward in his healing after we hired the Attorney.

Retirement

Papa began talking about retiring more and more during 2016. After the accident the subject became more serious. We began to set possible dates, and began making lists of the things we needed or wanted to accomplish before he actually retired. We figured if he worked until May we would have everything set and ready. The beginning of December we were yet again faced with uncertainties about Papa's empowerment, not that he would lose his job but a change of employers. Neither of us had the desire to ride through the transition, we felt it would just be a hassle especially with a pending retirement date for May. The wheels were put in gear and I am pleased to say we pulled it off, everything on our to do list was accomplished, everything fell into place and December 29th was Papa's last day of work!

Of course we had good times through the year as well! We were thrilled that TJ and family were able to visit a couple times and celebrate an early Thanksgiving with us. Selena turned 10 this year and has grown so much. Through all the trials we have grown stronger in our relationships with each other, as a family, and within our community. 

We look forward to 2017! We are excited for this new chapter in our lives and while we know the transition period will be challenging at times we are ready to embrace it. We wish all of you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!