Thursday, December 30, 2010

Almost the end, almost the new

This year has gone by so quickly! It's hard to believe we have just celebrated our 3rd year living in the United States. While I miss a lot of things about home, now it is mostly just the people. We have finally adjusted to the different climate, and are now feeling the cool weather. And I don't really miss the snow - the idea of it yes, but the thought of being cold and wet, not at all. The boys and I are home on our own, and debating how to spend our New Year's Eve. I think that we will just have to treat it as another day, go to bed as normal, and go on. We are missing our Papa Bear, but we can't have him home just now, so we will manage. Truly, it is just another day, and we can celebrate our new year / new hope / new challenges and beginnings when Daddy is home. We did have some unexpected fun - one of my bestest American girlfriends called us yesterday morning and invited me, the kids, and Valentino over for a scrappy sleepover. We had a great time, laughing, visiting with Michelle & Nicole, and scrapping. Only one bad thing happened - when Michelle was leaving for the night, Valentino got out, ran away, around the corner and onto busy Barker Cypress. I ran after him as I realized he wasn't just walking away. He went and sat right in the center of the road lane. One car was coming, and switched lanes, and Valentino seemed scared still - he didn't move, just looked at the oncoming lights. I ran and caught up to him, but was on the other side of a ditch from him. Michelle performed a gazelle like leap and got to the road, checked for cars and dashed to grab Valentino. If it wasn't for her and her do-it actions, I probably would have seen my dog killed in front of me. I owe her everything, and I am so grateful to her. Above and so beyond. We are home today, after much snuggling, more scrapping and chatting. I am grateful that we are all together, safe, warm, and able to love each other. I couldn't imagine what I would have done if I had to tell the boys something had happened to Valentino. But it all ended well, thanks to my wonderful friends. And to make the day end on such a sweet note today, Jessica gave me her BoBunny red purse that she won from Tracy at our last Pea retreat. Oh, it is lovely, and I loved it from the moment I saw it. It still had all the stuffing in it - she never used it at all. She is such an amazing person, and I love her, my crazy American :) One thing I can say this year has done for me, it has given me the time and opportunity to love my kids even more than I ever thought I could, again, to realize even more how much my husband is my best friend, and how much I value him and love him, how much I miss him when he is gone, and how not to ever take him for granted; to appreciate and and to truly enjoy and deepen friendships with some of the most amazing women that I am so grateful to have. I wish I could have seen my son for Christmas this year, but I do feel so happy that he was able to spend some time with Ed (2x) this year. I cannot wait for him to come in the spring. With a few difficult times, and some near misses (like our Valentino's incident) we are very, very lucky, and it has been a great year.

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Give It Away - Paul Brandt