2012 was an eventful year for us.
Jordan graduated, and moved away to college.
Jordan and I got to go on a cruise together, and we also went to Thailand!
Hannah got her drivers license and her own car.
Josh and I celebrated our 40th birthdays.
We also celebrated 20 years of marriage.

There were more setbacks than we'd hoped, and more victories than we could have hoped for.
God has been good to us as He always is.
Looking forward to what 2013 brings.
Happy New Year my friends!

update from Michael Heath:

"News on my Mom - Over the last three days my mom has improved dramatically. She looks much worse but her stats are nothing short of miraculous. Thank you everyone for the prayers! And please keep them coming.

They have pulled over 22 pounds of liquid off of her which has allowed her to breath easier and plan to take another 10-15 pounds off. In addition to this they have lowered her oxygen on the ventilator to 80 percent instead of 100. They have also taken her off of 'pressors' which increase blood pressure. Her blood pressure maintained a safe level through it all.

The VRE was re-tested and has completely disappeared. They believe it was a contaminated petri dish. The current samples have been growing for over 24 hours with no sign of VRE whatsoever.

The doctors are talking about getting her back on regular dialysis and are planning on how to bring her mental state back. Before this happens they want her off of the ventilator completely and want her blood pressure to stay the same. Specifically pray that her encephalopathy, swelling and other problems in her brain, goes away and that she can tolerate all that she needs to to come back to us.

The doctors are astounded and using the words 'better', 'tomorrow' and 'next week'. Please keep praying that God will save my mother. All of these things could kill her if her body does not handle it and even if her body heals she could be brain dead. Please keep praying. Thank you all!!! God can do anything."

Because of this great news, they're coming home to visit tomorrow!

For my own memory..

My favorite birthday gift this year - my Kate Spade bag

most unpredictable gift award goes to Josh for my samurai sword set this Christmas

Mrs. Heath is doing a little better today. The family has hope. That's all you need sometimes, when God is on your side.
In other good news, my Jordan was just asked if she wanted to take over and LEAD the campus Bible Study at A&M!!! I am so proud of her, and she has great ideas on how to run it and attract more people.
She is still in Houston with Michael, has been since Wednesday. I miss them, but I know they're where they have to be.
Also Hannah's hand dr told her that all she needs is some physical therapy and stretches and the pain should go away in a few months. This is very good news for her!

Michael Heath:
"Update on my mom - The last few days have been really hard. After her cardiac arrest on Christmas morning she had to be stabilized. She has been on life support since then. The list of things that have gone wrong goes on and on and on... every hour there is a new thing. She has multi-organ failure, broken ribs from CPR, is drowning from fluid in her lungs, she's bleeding internally, is heavily sedated and confused from ammonia that can't leave her system, and has now gotten an infection of VRE aka 'the Super Bug'. The doctors said they can keep her alive indefinitely, or until the super bug kills her, but... there comes a point when we have to ask if she would want to live like this. 

My brothers and my fathers have given the ok for a Code 2 level of care. This means that is she goes into another cardiac arrest or something else, then the doctors will do what they can but will not save her at all cost. Code 3 is palative care which will be to take her off of life support and comfort her into death.

The only thing that can save my mom now is a miracle straight from God. Thank you for your prayers."

Uh, yesterday sucked. 7-8 hours in the car, Michael's mom is not doing well at all, my heartburn/ulcer thing is back and I couldn't sleep because of it, and THEN at 1:45AM our smoke alarms go off and we smell gas so we called 911. We stand outside in the FREEZING cold in our pajamas while waiting for the fire department to arrive. They investigate but can't find the source for the gas smell and said we had one "bad"? detector that probably set them off.  Today we will buying 12? new ones.
Please keep praying for the Heaths, they need a miracle. And Hannah, who has a hand dr specialist appointment today.

It was a very solemn day around here. It started off pretty good with our usual Christmas morning fun. But then we got the call that Michael's mom crashed in the ICU. They brought her back but were worried it would happen again. Thankfully she's been stable all day, but still asleep. Obviously Michael never made it home to see J for Christmas like they had planned, which made for a very sad girl. Not just because she didn't get to see him, but scared for him and his family as well. We're taking her to Houston tomorrow to spend a day or two with the family in the hospital.
I hate it when my child is sad and hurting. It makes it nearly impossible to be happy. But we are believing and praying that tomorrow will be better.
I am leaving the tree up until Michael makes it home, and we can celebrate Christmas all over again, together.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Merry Christmas Eve to all!

Hannah with the perfect photo bomb

We had a fun night tonight. Ice skating, Mozarts light show, and dinner at Olive Garden. Perfect Christmas season type of evening. Will never take for granted having all my kids with me.

(BTW, Hannah HATES having her photo taken, that's why there are always so few of her. I've gotta start getting more sneaky with my photos..)

Last night we went to a friends Christmas party. We used to be pretty close, but times have changed it a bit. I can say that for most of my "friends" right now. I don't really hang out with anyone outside of work or church, other than my family. I know friendships are seasonal, at least for me they seem to be. But I desire the relationships I see others having. The life long friends that stick by you no matter what. The ones you can call any time of day. The ones you vacation with, have regular dinners with, shop with, cry with, do life with. Those are all gone from my life at the moment. I once had those friends, but time and circumstance have changed it all.
Last night my eyes were opened to people I may not have thought about before in that way. I used to have a pre conceived notion of what my friends would look like and act like and that they would be my age, and have kids my age. But what if they aren't? Maybe they are older, wiser, and full of wisdom. I'm praying for open eyes to discover friendships that I may never have considered before, but were waiting here in front of me all along. Lord, let me see.

Random pics on my phone

I love my Toms. Like seriously LOVE them. They are so comfortable and easy. They are my favorite go to shoe in the morning. And no, 5 is not enough. I actually have another pair picked out and waiting on my amazon wishlist. :)

My Christmas tree train. Only problem is Miles, our trouble maker cat, keeps derailing it. 

Our used car parking lot - aka our driveway

written on the wall of a bathroom stall in downtown Austin. Nearly made me cry. 

 

 Went to the Trail of Lights on opening night. BAD idea on my part. Soo crowded and it took an hour and a half to park. Yuck. But I'm glad the Austin tradition is back. Jordan brought Michael, and Hannah brought her friend Eamonn.

I'm 40. It's official. And I didn't cry.
It was a fun day. I got fitted for a new pair of running shoes, got a Kate Spade purse(I had collected 3 gift cards to Nordstrom Rack) (love that store..) , a beautiful scarf from Jordan, Tom's from Hannah, and an awesome anchor necklace from James Avery. And I was told how young I look more than once.
:)
Mostly it was so nice to have the four of us back together. Jordan got home Tuesday evening. Michael was here, but is now visiting his very sick mom in Houston. She was transferred there to a specialist because she is experiencing liver failure. Everyone is quite worried about her. She will likely be there past Christmas. :(
Lots of ups and downs around here this week. Life is a crazy ride.

 Tonight was Josh's company Christmas party. It was fun to put on a sparkly dress and heels and go downtown with Josh. I got to meet and chat with his old CEO's and the new one. (they just got bought out) I even got a personal apology about the whole China debacle a few months back. (when Josh got stuck in China during the buyout and everyone hosting him ((i.e. - the competitor of the new company)) found out at dinner and they promptly left and cancelled Josh's hotel and flights, etc..) I had forgotten all about that, but they wanted to apologize because they knew they were sending him into a potentially hostile situation, but were

not allowed to cancel his trip due to the legal agreement. Everything had to be normal until the announcement so there wasn't a tip off. Anyway, doesn't really matter, other than I thought that was sweet to apologize. They also acquired another company here locally so this party included them and there were some guys there that Josh used to work with at Cisco. He went to introduce me and they were like "hey I remember you from 16 years ago, you were pregnant!". That stopped me in my tracks. How on EARTH does a guy remember another coworkers wife from 16 years ago?? I sure didn't remember them.. They said I looked the same, and recognized me the minute they saw me.  Weird, just weird.
Anyways, there was a photo booth and a caricature artist at the party, thus the photos  :)

Ah, this place. It scares me, it challenges me, it inspires me, it hurts me. Like physically. It's kind of like torture. My muscles and tendons have yet to stretch to the locations and/or lengths they should be to be effective here (though they are getting better). But not only have I not given up, I'm considering signing up for level 2 in January. My 40th birthday(dec 13) is our last class for level 1. The other night across the hall from our class was the advanced class, and they looked so beautiful. Their movements were smooth and graceful and their spins and turns across the floor reminded me of why I wanted to be there. That will be me in a few years.
In the weight department, I am now down 6 pounds! Only 10 to go! I'm not gonna hit my goal by my 40th bday, but that was a pretty lofty goal. I'm happy with my progress.