Hello, 2019!

At the start of every new year, I think back to December of 2006 when I was watching Wheel of Fortune and Pat asked Vanna if she was excited to start a new year.  She said she was, although she couldn't believe it would already be 2008.  Pat said "No, no, no, it's only 2007!  I saved you a whole year!"  Now we're twelve years past that date.  It's so funny to me how quickly time flies.

We had a relatively calm entrance into 2019.  Michael wanted to stay up til midnight, so I set the clocks forward by four hours when he wasn't looking (no shame).  At "11:59" I did a one minute countdown and their little faces of expectation were precious! 

Avery began her new year approximately at 5:40am.  Although that's not the time of day that I intended to start my year, I decided to just go with it and not mourn the sleep I lost. 

Things have been pretty calm since then.

Our boys are at an age where they can play independently and it was so fun to let them just play for a few hours the other night (even staying up a little bit past their bedtime)!  Noah is still into imaginative play, and now that we've limited Michael's screen time, he is interacting more with Noah and joining in the imaginative play. 

I've been able to successfully put Avery's hair into a little "Pebbles" ponytail one time (most of the time, she finds the pony-tail holder and pulls it out of her hair).  When her hair is pulled up, she looks so much like a toddler and not a baby anymore, and I'm really okay with this. I'm not saddened by her growing up.  I've so much enjoyed watching my boys interact and seeing the joy they find in simple things, and my heart is ready for Avery to proceed into those ages and stages as well. 

I think 2019 for me is about calmness and relinquishing things that I cannot control. 

I've started making mental notes of things that make me super nervous.  These are almost always things that wouldn't cause anyone else's heart to pound or to experience the feeling of anxiousness.  Some of these things are simply seeing a commercial about phone battery life.  This instantly made my heart start pounding and blood pressure rise.  I traced the reasoning behind this feeling to be because we rely so heavily on batteries for Michael's medical devices.  Phone batteries, AAA batteries, etc.  An iPhone commercial for the latest model phone with an extended battery life probably wouldn't make many other people breathe a bit faster and feel their blood pounding in their ears.  I had to remind myself that our life won't always be this way.  Either we will experience a cure for Type One Diabetes, or we'll exit this bondage of invisible illness when we enter into Heaven.  Either way (or both) removes this burden from us and it's something to look forward to and something to remind myself that I do not need to be afraid. 

Tomorrow, I make a very long journey to the actual campus of the university where I've been doing my Master's degree program work for the past 18 months.  I've never been to the campus before, but there's a seminar tomorrow for all of the education interns.  I'm anxious to learn where I've been assigned (or to professionally fight for an assignment if one has not been secured).  I'm not that nervous about the drive or the conference.  I'm kind of just ready to be finished and have my degree so that I can get a job and start helping out my family financially once more.  I appreciate all prayers!

I am finishing up my post on a recent trip to New York City that I took with my Nana, and I'm working on a few other posts as well.  Hopefully 2019 will be the year of more blog posting because writing is truly how I get out my feelings in the most constructive way.

Thanks for reading!

Until Next Time,
Much Love, Reba