This past year...

This past year has been a hard one for my family. From Feb to July of 2009 we lost 5 members of my husband's family. In April my husband's Granddad that passed away. His mind was as sharp as a tack and we loved to listen to his stories. We had the privilege to go see him 1 week before he died. When we left we knew we would never see him alive again.
This past year was also the first time that we slowly watched someone die. My husband's step-dad had cancer and we watched as he went down hill. Well actually it was like a roller coaster ride. We would be doing good for a while then a bit of a down hill. Then he was doing good. He was a strong, good man and he loved the Lord. This was a hard experience for me to deal with. And I am so glad that I have the Lord and I was able to lean on Him and grow more into the person he wants me to be.
You know things don't always go the way you plan them to go. As an example of this in our lives: In May our 19 year old son came and told us that his girlfriend was pregnant. This was hard, but exciting for us. They got married the end of July(Which is also the month that my husband and I celebrate our anniversary - #21 this past year.)Since then they have bought their first house. It needed a lot of work but it looks so nice now. And in Jan our first grandchild was born. She is a beautiful, petite little girl. They make such a great little family. We always wanted a daughter and we got the next best thing - a daughter-in-law. God is Good.
I don't know if this is how every grandparent feels or if it is just where I am on my journey in life but after our granddaughter was born and I was able to hold her. I really understood unconditional love. I don't think I had really understood it up to that point in my life. To really love someone no matter what. This is the way in which God loves us. I mean we all memorize John 3:16. And that right there should have taught me about God's unconditional love but life got in the way and I just did not get it. I am so glad that God uses different experiences in our lives to teach us new lessons about Him and about life.
In Sept of 2009 My husband went to a neurologist. The Dr. really believes that He has Parkinson's. This was so hard for us to believe - my husband was only 39 years old. Parkinson's was something that happened to older people. You know his step-dad and his grandmother had it but it did not start till they were in their 60's and 70's. A week later he had a brain scan to make sure that the symptoms were not something more serious. Praise the Lord the scan came back normal. This is something that we are still trying to get used to. In April we will go to a Parkinson's Symposium to learn more about it.
Well at I am going to stop here - I have written so much already. I need to leave something to share next time.