A Merry, Yet Bittersweet Christmas

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is delightful,
Oh, there's no where else to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"

Those would be lyrics I would NOT sing around John right now! Wisconsin is looking at a record snow fall in December alone in comparison of entire years past! It's nuts I tell ya! Someone on John's favorite message board's - Troll Lord Games - made a comment, "Someone call Al Gore and tell him, 'never mind'". Well, not exactly. Global Warming does not mean that the world gets hot and muggy. Go back and watch "An Inconvenient Truth". It means that weather patterns are changing severely. More snow, and now freezing rain for tomorrow!

Jennifer had a wonderful Christmas, as did we! On Christmas Eve, we went to 7:00pm Mass, and it was lovely. The Church is so beautiful, and my camera died so I didn't get pictures! I do have pictures of Jennifer that I'll post tomorrow, since I have no batteries for my camera. She looked so cute! We had jambalaya afterwards and then Jennifer went to bed. Low and behold, Santa arrived last night and left Jennifer some wonderful gifts! Hannah Montana and Barbie dolls!!! John gave me Guitar Hero, Food Processor and Sex and the City Movie!! I can't wait to watch it again!! I gave John a WWII fighter pilot game for the Wii, The West Wing Season 5 and the Simpsons Season 11. Needless to say, we were rocking out and flying around this Christmas Day. Jennifer got to talk to her siblings, which really made her day! I know how she misses her family and hopefully that can be resolved in the future. I just pray for her every day. How she copes amazes me. She has rough days, or rough patches throughout the day, but they do get easier and we see such improvements. She'll make it, no matter what.

Yesterday was also very bittersweet, not only for Jennifer, for myself and many others who "knew" one super person. When John and I got married, and before my hysterectomy - we suffered with infertility. Basically, I could get pregnant but not sustain it due to endometriosis. Eventually, the endometriosis attacked and ate up my ovaries, which led to the hysterectomy. But during the time we were trying to have a baby, I joined a message board for women that have infertility issues, mostly to comiserate, but also to support and help out. I've "met" many women over the past 5 years on these message boards, some of which I call good friends and still keep up with today. Some of these women were able to have children and move on, some are still trying and some (like me) have moved on to adoption to make their family dreams come true. One of these women that I met along the way was Emilie Lemmons (ChocolateEmmyCakes to those of us on MSN). Emilie had her 2 beautiful boys in her early 40's, her youngest just 8 months ago. It was during her second pregnancy that she was diagnosed with Soft Tissue Sarcoma Cancer. Emilie, who was also a free lance journalist, wrote articles for magazines, newspapers and had her own blog. Well, after a long and lengthy battle, Emilie passed away in the early morning of Christmas Eve, leaving her husband, Steve and two sons, Daniel and Benjamin behind. I remember her posts of hope, fear, triumph, love and compassion. When my mom died, I remember that she sent me a message of prayer and hope, since my mom had died from a long battle with cancer.

Emilie, I know you are in a place we all long to be. But rest assured, you will be missed. Your advice and input helped so many and you were such a wonderful, loving mother and wife. Your family was so lucky to have you, even for such a short time.

I don't know how long her husband will keep her blog up, but she has them available to purchase as books - she did this in the event that she was to pass away, that her boys could look back on her thoughts and views. The site is http://lemmondrops.blogspot.com/ and the books can be purchased through http://www.blurb.com/, and there is a link on her site. I plan to purchase the 2 books, and hopefully her husband will put 2008 into a book as well. Emilie was a woman of faith and reading her blogs would help boost mine at times - knowing what she's fighting and how she kept her faith amazed me. It still does.

Emilie may be gone from this Earth, but she will not be forgotten. Rest with the angels, Emilie.

If looking at this doesn't make you cold.. I don't know what will!

Just some pictures to "brighten up" your winter - I'll have more tomorrow!


















Check out the overhang!! It eventually fell, but it was at night, we found it on the ground the next morning!

And we have much more to go guys!!! The fun has YET to begin!!

Snow and insantiy.. otherwise known as my nutty life..

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well - other than staying busy at school, we've been plugging along here at home. The below zero wind chills have been keeping me from doing things that I need to do with my students - like go outside or to the library! Jennifer is doing well, she's plugging along as well. She's doing so much better with her homework, not flipping out or temper tantrums. But, it looks as if she will be with us for a very long time - which is fine with us! She is a trip and a half! It's amazing watching her reading develop over the last month - I've seen such improvements in her math, reading and overall attitude. Jen was put in Title 1 reading since she's also in ELL - and both of those have really made improvements! I feel that at her other school, she was not being challenged enough, and here she is. That first week, all was good, then she realized that it was going to be tough the whole entire time - she didn't like that at all! She was even telling her sister that we didn't make her do homework, that she never had any! Yeah... right.... mmmhmmm... NOT! Too funny!!

Today I should be at school having our Christmas party, instead I'm home and we have 4 inches on the ground with another 4 to go! Normally, I'm all about the snow day, but could it have waited till January or February?? Ahhh.. we'll have our party when we get back, now I have to freeze 100 cooked smokie sausages that I cooked last night! It will all work out! I'll post some pictures later today - since I'm still in my pj's and not getting dressed for a while!