It's official!!!!!  Mom and dad are officially HOME!  I am so happy I could pee my pants. :)  They surprised me last night by coming home from my sister's house early.  At first I was scared when I heard the doorknob rattle, but my fears soon turned to squeals of delight as I saw both of my parents at the door.  Yay!!!  It feels like this place is a real home again.  The HEART of it is back!!  So far things are going well for us.  We still have to be careful that dad doesn't get sick and all, but he's handling the stairs very well and only a few obstacles remain to ensure that he can live here again.  The bathtub will likely be our next hurdle.  If he can get in and out of it safely then I think we'll be home free. 

I told mom that her friends here in Perry were missing her.  I don't think she realizes how much they love her here.  She sure has some sweet friends that have asked about them throughout this stressful time.  I can't wait for her to see them again.  Being sick and going through hard times has really shown how fortunate we are to have such great friends and to live in such a great place with such great neighbors.  We sure are lucky.  We love you our sweet friends!!!   

It's going to be a great NEW YEAR for us.  I'm going to be positive and hope for that anyways.  Last year had it's challenges, but this year is going to be awesome!!!!!!!!!!! 

I've begun to look for houses again so the hunt is on.  I found a few that I like, which is a major accomplishment, but I need to wait and see if I can afford any of them and all that money stress.  For now I don't feel the rush as much as I did before.  Now that they are home and seem to be able to manage the stairs and everything...we have some time to look without the rush.  I'll continue to look until we find something.  And my medical expenses are getting smaller and smaller...fyi.  I know my siblings were wondering about that.  I've discovered the power and blessings of food storage.  While mom and dad were gone I even ventured to drink powdered milk to save money.  It was nasty, but I drank it.  Soon after it was gone I was all for splurging to buy milk again though.  Oh milk how I missed you!!!  Ha, ha!  I'm a milk fan so it was pretty hard not having it.  So my goals are to save wherever I can and pay off more of those debts.  I feel pretty excited about the progress I've made so far. 

I have been loving every second of my Christmas vacation.  I've lounged and napped more than I thought I would and I feel well rested and ready to get back to work.  I can't wait to see my kids!!!!!!!  I've thought of them a lot during the break.  Just before school ended they all surprised me with some cool gifts too.  I had left the classroom and when I came back they were all hiding and they popped up yelling, "Surprise!!  Merry Christmas!!!" and then they ran some awesome gifts to me.  Their wonderful parents had the idea in the first place, but it sure was sweet.  I feel pretty blessed to have such wonderful kids in my life.  They really are MY kids!

Christmas held other wonderful surprises.  My nephews and nieces from Wyoming came and spent the night before Christmas and one morning they woke me up with 6 beautiful white roses, one to represent each child.  It was a sweet way to wake up and I almost started to bawl, but in any case I was delighted by the gesture.  It sure was thoughtful.  I have the best family ever!  I also got to see so many of my other family members.  One night we had 16 people sleeping in this little townhome.  I got such a kick out of seeing wall to wall bodies sleeping all over the place.  You know people love you when they are sleeping in the stairwells.  ;)

Many other things have happened too, but the biggest thing I've learned is that YOU CAN HAVE EVERYTHING AND HAVE NOTHING, AND THEN HAVE NOTHING AND HAVE EVERYTHING!!  One of the kids in my class gave me a beautiful saying to add to my wall that says that THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE NOT THINGS.  This Christmas was a sparse one in terms of gifts and there actually wasn't a gift for me under the tree.... and it was still a great Christmas.  It  was cool that I felt like I had been given EVERYTHING this Christmas and I didn't feel sad.  I just felt so happy and thankful.  All of my Christmas wishes came true this year.  All I wanted was to be alive, for my dad to be okay, and for us to be together....and I wanted hair!  I got all of the THINGS I wanted.  It really doesn't matter about all of THINGS this year.  If I have my family.....that's all I want.  All the rest is just TEMPORARY.  It was a beautiful holiday.  I feel so blessed!  I'm warm, I have a place to live, I have my parents, I have wonderful "KIDS", I have the best siblings on the planet, the cutest and sweetest nieces and nephews in the world, and I have a wonderful and gracious Father in Heaven that has been watching over me and blessing me so much!  Life is good I tell ya.

I hope and wish all of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and also the happiest of NEW YEARS!!!!  Someone on facebook mentioned that it's a new beginning, a year without mistakes etc...  I am going to try to think of that a lot.  I love the idea of starting a new year fresh without any mistakes in it!!!  I hope it will be a wonderful year!   Happy New Year Everybody!!!