There have been a lot of ups and downs in 2019. While there were some hard times, there was also much to be thankful for. We are forever grateful for both of our children and love watching them develop and grow into who God wants them to be. Here's a little 2019 recap!
In January, we celebrated Caleb's 12th birthday with a sleepover and tickets to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
He enjoyed both immensely and is always happy to spend time with his friends. He has a great group of friends who are so much like him that it's scary. While I don't usually understand a thing they are talking about, I love seeing Caleb with his friends.
February brought lots of doctors' appointments, play rehearsals for The Little Mermaid for Caleb, and ballet lessons for Abby. We also all pitched in to help clean out Mommom's house to get it ready for sale because she was no longer able to live on her own. At the end of February, we went away for a long weekend at Massanutten to go snow tubing.
In March, we all helped to run an estate sale at Mommom's house one weekend. There were so many memories attached to everything in the house and it was at times hard to watch people scavenging through her things. In mid-March, I flew to Atlanta, GA with a few colleagues for the International TESOL Conference (Teachers of English Speakers of Other Languages). This was an eye-opening experience for me and I learned so much.
Matt and I celebrated 16 years of marriage on April 3rd. A few days after, we enjoyed Caleb's performance as King Triton in The Little Mermaid.
We also participated in The Red Shoe Shuffle and were able to stay at the brand new Ronald McDonald House of Maryland!
It is absolutely beautiful and such a blessing for families in crisis. We celebrated Easter at our house at the end of April, and I won tickets to see Stomp at The National Theater! Caleb and I enjoyed a mother/son date to see it.
Updated family pictures were taken at the beginning of May, and Matt attended the Men's Retreat with our church.
Caleb and I attended the Carson Scholar Banquet, where he was recognized for a second year as being a recipient. His cousin Sara is a third year recipient!
Abby enjoyed participating in an after-school Good News Bible Club with a few friends. This month was also stressful and worrisome as cancer was found in Chloe's jaw.
June was a busy month for us! Abby performed in her first dance recital at the beginning of June, and it was so sweet to see her dancing on the big stage.
We limped to the end of the school year, but we made it! 6th grade was really hard on Caleb for a few reasons, and we were never so happy for summer to come! Chloe had a major surgery to remove the cancer in her jaw, but she recovered amazingly and is now cancer-free. The kids attended a wonderful two week theater camp where they performed Shrek Junior! This was Abby's first show and she was certainly bitten by the theater bug! Caleb was Shrek and Abby was The (not so) Ugly Duckling.
They both had tons of fun learning and performing, and it was really neat to see them on the stage together. Caleb also finally got to see Hamilton at the end of June, and it definitely lived up to his expectations!
In July, we traveled with my sister's family and my parents to Gatlinburg, TN to stay for a week in a beautiful cabin in the mountains.
While there, we celebrated Matt's birthday. It was fun to slow down and hang out together as a family. We went to some fun places, but also enjoyed swimming in the cabin's indoor pool, watching movies, putting on a talent show, and playing in pool tournaments. At the end of July, we celebrated Chloe's 10th birthday with a family birthday party that included a cat pinata, bark contests, pin the tail on the Chloe, and lots of hugs with our favorite doggy!
Abby also participated in the Theater and Arts Camp at our church, which she always loves.
At the beginning of August, Caleb participated in a fun Middle School Week at church where he had daily activities and Bible studies. Abby saw her pulmonologist and began getting treatment for pseudomonas, a nasty bug that attacks the lungs of people with chronic lung disease. We were able to get a new airway clearance vest for her to help get the gunk out of her lungs, but she certainly didn't enjoy doing it every 4 hours to start! Unfortunately, at the end of August, we had to cut our end-of-summer fun day at the National Zoo short when a series of phone calls to and from our pulmonologist determined that Abby needed to be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics.
We started out September in the hospital while Abby's team made decisions for next steps in her care. We learned through a dynamic lung CT that her lungs are pretty diseased and scarred, so we increased her airway clearance and continued with oral antibiotics once we got home. Unfortunately, Abby didn't get to start school right away like Caleb did. She did home hospital for the first month or so until she recovered from her latest hospital stay. Caleb had a great start to the school year and was optimistic that 7th grade was going to be much better than 6th! Julie and Caleb also attended a Schenk family reunion in September and it was fun to see relatives that live far and wide.
In October, Abby was able to go back to school and this thrilled her to no end! She adores her teachers and is so happy to be with her friends.
Matt spent a week in Nashville, TN for a counseling conference. At the end of October, we celebrated Abby's 9th birthday with an adorable pet party. The girls all had lots of fun learning about taking care of pets from the Humane Society and even got to meet a few live animals!
November brought lots more doctors' appointments and discussions about the next steps in Abby's treatment. She is a complex case and there's no clear answer. Lots of tears were shed this month. Thankfully, we also had some fun times! Caleb performed in his first All-County Chorus Concert (one of four chosen from his school) and Abby got to see Aladdin on stage as a birthday gift. We all were thrilled to go on our much-anticipated trip to Disney World over Thanksgiving! It was a fun trip and it came at the perfect time.
December proved to be a busy month as we wrapped up 2019! Abby got her new wheelchair and she can now drive herself. We participated in a Christmas parade with Abby's 4H dog club and got to bring Chloe with us. Caleb auditioned for the Seussical and earned himself the lead role of Horton! I will be choreographing the show, so the first few months of 2020 will be very busy for us! Santa sent us an early Christmas gift to see Sponge Bob the Musical in Philadelphia, which also happened to fall on my birthday. It was a fun way to celebrate.
Caleb received an early birthday gift of tickets to see Jesus Christ Super Star with Matt (can you tell we are theater people?!?!), which they both thoroughly enjoyed. The days surrounding Christmas were spent with lots of family, and we finished out 2019 with Abby's first piano recital!
It has been a full year filled with many adventures, tears, prayers, and thank yous. As we look toward the new year, we are hopeful that 2020 will give us more answers to Abby's treatment, lots of opportunities to be together as a family, and more reasons to thank God. Happy New Year!
In January, we celebrated Caleb's 12th birthday with a sleepover and tickets to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
He enjoyed both immensely and is always happy to spend time with his friends. He has a great group of friends who are so much like him that it's scary. While I don't usually understand a thing they are talking about, I love seeing Caleb with his friends.
February brought lots of doctors' appointments, play rehearsals for The Little Mermaid for Caleb, and ballet lessons for Abby. We also all pitched in to help clean out Mommom's house to get it ready for sale because she was no longer able to live on her own. At the end of February, we went away for a long weekend at Massanutten to go snow tubing.
In March, we all helped to run an estate sale at Mommom's house one weekend. There were so many memories attached to everything in the house and it was at times hard to watch people scavenging through her things. In mid-March, I flew to Atlanta, GA with a few colleagues for the International TESOL Conference (Teachers of English Speakers of Other Languages). This was an eye-opening experience for me and I learned so much.
Matt and I celebrated 16 years of marriage on April 3rd. A few days after, we enjoyed Caleb's performance as King Triton in The Little Mermaid.
Updated family pictures were taken at the beginning of May, and Matt attended the Men's Retreat with our church.
June was a busy month for us! Abby performed in her first dance recital at the beginning of June, and it was so sweet to see her dancing on the big stage.
In July, we traveled with my sister's family and my parents to Gatlinburg, TN to stay for a week in a beautiful cabin in the mountains.
At the beginning of August, Caleb participated in a fun Middle School Week at church where he had daily activities and Bible studies. Abby saw her pulmonologist and began getting treatment for pseudomonas, a nasty bug that attacks the lungs of people with chronic lung disease. We were able to get a new airway clearance vest for her to help get the gunk out of her lungs, but she certainly didn't enjoy doing it every 4 hours to start! Unfortunately, at the end of August, we had to cut our end-of-summer fun day at the National Zoo short when a series of phone calls to and from our pulmonologist determined that Abby needed to be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics.
We started out September in the hospital while Abby's team made decisions for next steps in her care. We learned through a dynamic lung CT that her lungs are pretty diseased and scarred, so we increased her airway clearance and continued with oral antibiotics once we got home. Unfortunately, Abby didn't get to start school right away like Caleb did. She did home hospital for the first month or so until she recovered from her latest hospital stay. Caleb had a great start to the school year and was optimistic that 7th grade was going to be much better than 6th! Julie and Caleb also attended a Schenk family reunion in September and it was fun to see relatives that live far and wide.
In October, Abby was able to go back to school and this thrilled her to no end! She adores her teachers and is so happy to be with her friends.
November brought lots more doctors' appointments and discussions about the next steps in Abby's treatment. She is a complex case and there's no clear answer. Lots of tears were shed this month. Thankfully, we also had some fun times! Caleb performed in his first All-County Chorus Concert (one of four chosen from his school) and Abby got to see Aladdin on stage as a birthday gift. We all were thrilled to go on our much-anticipated trip to Disney World over Thanksgiving! It was a fun trip and it came at the perfect time.
December proved to be a busy month as we wrapped up 2019! Abby got her new wheelchair and she can now drive herself. We participated in a Christmas parade with Abby's 4H dog club and got to bring Chloe with us. Caleb auditioned for the Seussical and earned himself the lead role of Horton! I will be choreographing the show, so the first few months of 2020 will be very busy for us! Santa sent us an early Christmas gift to see Sponge Bob the Musical in Philadelphia, which also happened to fall on my birthday. It was a fun way to celebrate.
It has been a full year filled with many adventures, tears, prayers, and thank yous. As we look toward the new year, we are hopeful that 2020 will give us more answers to Abby's treatment, lots of opportunities to be together as a family, and more reasons to thank God. Happy New Year!
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