Goodbye 2008

2008 was an interesting year.

While every day holds some sort of special treat when you have a wonderful child in your life, there were many dark times in 2008 we are happy to see fade into a new year.

We began the year by putting my beloved Grams into a nursing home. What began as a nightmare of watching her lose who she once was, it appears that she has accepted her new living arrangements and has returned to a bit of her old self. She seems to feel safe and comfortable in her new life and for that we are grateful.

In February while we were blessed to watch our baby turn one, we were also met by another blow with Jill's step father being diagnosed with bladder cancer. In addition to that, Jill's father, was downsized in our ever challenging economy. We are happy to report that Jill's step father is currently cancer free, something we spent every moment praying for and Jill's dad has recently found a wonderful job after a long, valiant search. This month also brought a close family friend's mother being diagnosed with cancer. We are forever sad to say that she lost her courageous battle in July.

Spring and summer then came and Jill was thrilled to enjoy her first summer off with Hadley. Trips to the park, zoo, pool, playdates, swimming lessons and much more were wonderful times that will forever be cherished.

August and September, as you all know, were the scariest months of our lives. Jill found a lump that was thought to be cancer. After some terrible procedures and surgery, we were elated to find out that cancer it was not. We will take from that experience the renewed faith, amazing conversations and eternal gratefulness it offered us. We hope to never return there however...

October saw us married three years and we celebrated our anniversary and Jill's health with a trip to the bed and breakfast where we got engaged, it was an amazing time.

November and December brought thankfulness and preparation for the holidays. We just finished a wonderful holiday season in which our daughter really got into Christmas for the first time. Our hearts melted to see the childlike innocence that just seeps from her and to say that we are thankful just doesn't seem like a strong enough statement.

We look forward to the beginning of a new year in our wonderful little life. We are thankful that when others have little or nothing, we have plenty. We look forward to watching our little girl turn 2, Jill eagerly awaits the ability to say that she achieved a goal she never thought possible-completing a triathlon, and many other good things we don't even know about yet!

Mostly we are thankful for each and every one of you. Our friends and family that make our life complete. You know how much we love you, our life simply wouldn't be complete without all of you. Thank you for all that you do for us. We wish and pray for a blessed, happy, healthy, and wonderful 2009 to each and every one of you.

Love,
Jill, Mike and Hadley