Happy New Years!
The headline in our local paper today read "Hope 2011 is the same as 2010". For some that may be a wish they share in. However, when 2010 came to an end on Friday night it ended a long year of challenges for our family. Last year started off with our continuing challenge to keep Elle safe from her physically and emotionally abusive father. Then on March 1, 2010, our then 12 year old, Little Hart, woke up with a a swollen eye and within 5 hours was in the hospital fighting for her life from sepsis. Luckily, with the help of thousands of prayers and the work of a lot of amazing doctors, Little Hart's life was saved and she came home to us nine days later.
In June, Elle's father, Dick, filed court papers seeking to force visitation with her, no mention of responsibility or treatment for his abusive behavior. He dropped the request for reunification in November and his attorney dropped him all on the very same day.
As we headed into the last days of December we had hoped the year would end on a high note. We had the kids for the week following Christmas and spent a ton of time playing games, specifically, Monopoly, eating tons of good food, hitting a few flicks and watching Friends reruns at home. We had a blast enjoying each other. Then came the call from my Mom on December 27th. I answered the phone to hear my mom crying on the other end. My Dad went in for a routine colonoscopy and ended up in the hospital for couple of days from complications, which as it turned out saved his life! They had missed 10 polyps that would have surely turned to cancer if he had not had complications.
To end the year with a real bang, the birth mother of Chris, one of my adult step-sons adopted at birth by my Hubby and his ex, made contact via Facebook with Halle and Bitty. A long story for another post, approaching with trepidation.
As we toasted in the New Year, we wished for a better year than the one past. Although, I think it is worth noting that while we faced some scary issues with family members we were extremely lucky that they all had positive outcomes. The glass was definitely half full in our case! So as we enter into 2011, my hope is that if we face similar challenges in the New Year, we will be blessed with happy outcomes.
I wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to sharing many more stories of our family with you!