When it rains....

It POURS. And then it FLOODS and you don't know if there is enough room on the LIFE BOAT for YOU.

We have had a pretty rough year so far... It has gone a little something like this:
*Avery was born (Yes, this is also a joyous event and we love her dearly but with Miss Avery comes a lot of.... issues :))
*Avery can't breath and turns blue the night we brought her home from the hospital.
*Maddox gets RSV and I am somehow supposed to keep my very sick little boy completely isolated from my very needy three week old..
*Avery begins to hate eating and is crying during nearly EVERY bottle.
*Avery begins getting ear infections one right after another.
*Our sweet little niece, Holly, was born 11 weeks premature.
*Two weeks after Holly was born her daddy, Tommy's one and only brother, passed away in a car accident.
*After all our travels for the funeral the night we got home Maddox got SUPER sick. He ended up with bronchitis. I also had never been so sick in my life as I was that first week. I don't know what I had at the beginning of the week but my whole body felt like it had been run over by a semi. Toward the end of the week I ended up with strep that stuck around for WAY tooo long!
*Avery continues with ear infections
*Tommy starts complaining of pain in his side and eventually has a hard time sleeping because of it.
*Maddox is starting to stutter and act out a little... (probably because there is obviously a lot going on in the fam)
*Avery has her first surgery. They repair her lip and put a nasal conformer in her left nostril to help shape the nose. She also gets tubes put into her ears.
*After the surgery, my good sleeper turns into a monster at night!
*Even after tubes, Avery has a double ear infection.
*I finally make Tommy go see someone about the pain in his side. He ended up in the hospital for 5 days with a plura effusion, collapsed right lung, and a really bad pneumonia.
*Avery sneezes out her nasal conformer that was supposed to be in another two weeks (I was secretly ok with it cause it was driving her crazy!)

Life has been absolutely exhausting... emotionally and physically. It's been hard but some how we continue to make it day after day!

When LIFE gives you LEMONS, you make LEMONADE.

"What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." -- My new motto. I am beginning to think God thinks I'm a pretty big whimp that needs some toughening up!
I know that we have trials to teach us and to make us learn and grow for the better. I like to think we are learning alot..

*We definitely enjoy and appreciate the good days.
*Patients and understanding.
*The Relief Society is amazing. Not only in our ward but through our friends and family members as well. There are people who are always willing to help. I have been overwhelmed with the help and prayers we have all received over the last months.
*It will never be okay that Danny is no longer with us. However, when we remember him we remember how kind and funny he was and I know I strive to learn from the example that he was. He didn't judge and could be friends with anyone.
*I need to remember to make time and have special moments with each of my kids... and hubby!
*BREATHE
*Life isn't going to go how we wanted it. But there is a plan that is bigger than us that will make us better and we will end up right where we should be.
*Talk about it
*I think we have all become closer to our Heavenly Father.
*FAMILIES are FOREVER and we have definitely become closer.

There is SO much more that I have learned. I don't think I have ever asked WHY this year has been so hard and I am glad that I have been able see past everything and look and the things we are learning.

My friend asked me just the other day.. "So, are you just like BRING IT ON now?!" And honestly, I am. I know now that we can get through anything. I would really love for life to lighten up a bit but, we can do it... Whatever comes our way we will get through it.


**I didn't write this to complain about our lives. More because this is like our family journal and I know we will never forget this year but I never want to forget some of the things we have learned!