Can I say that I am relieved to be seeing the end of 2014? Well I am. I can tell you, I'd love to kiss 2014 good bye and to tell it go to suck rope, (to quote a friend).
This past week when I was thinking of 2015, I was reminded of Ephesians 3:20-21a - and I am claiming it for 2015.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory.
So, the year in review:
January
January was a month full of hope and of new beginning. We had just arrived home from Scotland/England in October and had turned around and purchased tickets to go see Melissa and Jon in July 2014. We were excited and eagerly anticipating what the year would bring. It was also the first month of a Year Full Of Dates, we were elated to have guaranteed time together.
January also started with a goodbye. Jordan Max our German Student was due to leave. We said a tearful good bye at the airport. He will be forever a part of our family and he has been dearly missed.
February
February marks Melissa's 22nd birthday--a joyful occasion, we sent a gift in the mail, anticipating our visit in July. Then, Kent lost his position....February 7th. It is the 2nd time since we've been here that a company downsized and pushed out an employee...or two. So, Kent joined the ranks of the unemployed again. I have to be honest there was a part of both of us who thought, why on earth are we here. It has been a reoccurring theme through this year. Why, why, why are we here. February started a long hard haul for us.
March
By March, this was my attitude:
It's never been in my DNA to be the breadwinner...then it was back to this....
So pulling my socks up, I marched onward through March. March marked Max's 20th birthday. I am not sure how he got so old...when Kent and I didn't. I was continuing to teach HistoryMakers, working full time and also parenting our other student, Ricardo from Mexico. It made for a full life--but there was all the time the heartache for Kent that he was not finding work.
April
April brought some tough decisions, I was asked to "move up" in the organization and take on a role in the Executive Offices. By year end, I was asked another 3 times. Each time, I felt that it would be too much and I couldn't see a time when I would willing leave my job in Research. I have often said that I go to work for 4 reasons, Terri, Tracy, Dawn P and I get paid. (I'm sure there are other reasons, but that is what I say from day-to-day. These lovely ladies keep me grounded and smiling.) By the end of the year as well, I had been given 2 pay increases. There is a job hiring and salary freeze on right now, has been since 2011--I shouldn't have been given the wage increase...but God is good.
It was incredibly tough to come home elated and say to Kent look! Look at what I was offered or what I was given, when he was struggling with his unemployment.
May
In May, we went to HistoryMakers in Chilliwack, we left renewed and refreshed. Even though we had a serious lack of sleep. We also got to go to Vancouver to see Kent's cousin Scott and his husband Pat. Same weekend we went to see Sarah and Paul Aragones wed. It was by far my most favourite wedding day to date. (Beside Melissa and Jonathan's). It was fun, relaxed, inspiring and so family oriented. We really missed this little lady. I got to spend the day with Niki Liable. Another very precious woman I have dearly missed. Then at the end of the month, our precious Jamie was married to Josh Lloyd-Smith. We were so thrilled to go home, to watch this precious wedding and to attend a church we missed so much. Just the way the cookie crumbles, we were at our church for the Grad Service. Brilliant Month after all.
May was an incredibly long month at work. We run a month of educational meetings. Some of my days are 16 hours long.
On top of all that--I started planning a HistoryMaker (Humanitarian) trip in August to the LA Dream Center. I was beginning to see the start of 6 day/week work weeks.
Our house continued to be a haven for people to land in. We've had a number of visitors over the past months -- this is one of my favourite photos--Ricardo and Lucas having a nap:
June
Beginning of June, I was definitely into 6 day/week work weeks with the planning of the trip and catch up from the long work month that was May. I wouldn't find myself "caught up" at work until the beginning of July.
We also said another tearful goodbye to Ricardo. It was tough to see him leave, he had been a great addition to our family. We highly anticipate seeing him and Jordan in the future.
June was also FIFA World Cup time. We love a good soccer game and so we were planning our lives around soccer games. My work on the HM trip would've gone faster had I not been planted in front of a TV every moment I could spare.
June also brought us something terrifying. I woke in June after running, checked my blog. It was the same pain I had explained a couple years previously. It was just previous to my next check up at the BC Cancer Agency. By the time my appointment arrived, the pain was constant and I was having trouble concentrating on anything else.
I asked for an ultrasound, the Oncologist granted it stating--he was only giving it to me because he wanted me to know there was nothing wrong, it would make me feel better. Well, that's not what happened. The ultrasound came back stating I had an 2.8 cm lymph node in my left groin. Anything over 1 cm is a concern. They usually hang out in the .8 cm range.
I asked for an ultrasound, the Oncologist granted it stating--he was only giving it to me because he wanted me to know there was nothing wrong, it would make me feel better. Well, that's not what happened. The ultrasound came back stating I had an 2.8 cm lymph node in my left groin. Anything over 1 cm is a concern. They usually hang out in the .8 cm range.
I was now to be sent for an emergent CT Scan. That emergent CT took 10 days to get. Meanwhile, we were off to Saskatoon while we waiting for a phone call for an appointment.
June 23 will probably go down as my favourite day this year. It was the day we decided to hop a ferry (for the 4th time in 1 month), to go and be reintroduced to my Cousin Sheila. It was a tough time as her Mom, my Aunt had just passed away. We spent time with her partner Jim and with our Grandma and Aunt Karen. I am forever grateful for my beautiful and favourite cousin. I can't way to have some time to spend with her. It's on my highest priority list for the 2015. Yes, I have a list.
End of June, we boarded our highly anticipated flight to Saskatchewan. We couldn't believe that we were going to see Melissa and Jon, it had been FAR too long since we had seen them.
We had planned our trip back in October 2013, we actually had to compare Google calendars to make sure that Melissa and Jon weren't in classes and that we were able to actually see them. It was also a gift for Kent's 49th birthday:
I'm not sure I could live life with anyone else. He is my rock and my best beloved.
I can tell you that we loved seeing the life that Melissa and Jon have begun to build in Saskatoon. We also loved Saskatoon (in Summer....) We have such and easy time with them, no pretenses, we can absolutely be ourselves and we have so many of the same interests and loves. The week went by way too fast. We ended it by paddle boarding on the river. We didn't realize it is against a City Bylaw to swim in the river....
One thing we really wanted was some good weather, and boy did we find some. A tornado touched down in Saskatoon while we were at the beach. Then the day we left we found this:
We returned home to finally get the call for the CT. A week later, we were called into the surgeons office. I walked from my office to the surgeon's office, thinking it would have been a good day to just book off the rest of the day. We went through the CT together slice by precious slice. We found nothing, well almost nothing. What we found was a colossal typo on the ultrasound report. In the smallest writing in the corner of the ultrasound stated: Unchanged from March 2012. The surgeon gave a call to the radiologist who read the report, all was set straight. I still have the pain-intermittently but we feel now it's nerve damage from the chemotherapy.
July also started my 7 day work weeks. I was fund raising with the LA Dream Center crew on Saturdays and Sundays...teaching and training on Sunday mornings. Prep for the trip on Saturday nights. It felt like a long haul from this precious time off in Saskatoon to the next break.
July also was the month that Max moved out. Onto a more independent life, he moved into an apartment with his girlfriend Bri. I was not ready for this empty nest thing...
August
August was the final push for LA, I had some last minute things to plan, it was the end of the time that we'd be working under Rob and Chelsea Penny -- when I was offered the job at the church. Turned them down flat. The men in the youth need a strong male leader, not me. I did bridge the gap between when Rob left and when James was going to eventually start.
LA was amazing and I would go back in a heart beat.
We also saw changes in our house again. Mark moved out and took a job in Ft. St. John as a biologist. And we saw a huge influx into the house. We had Bode, Angel and Rodrigo move in for the school year. As there was a strike, some of the people who had signed up for students backed out, so we actually had a couple more students, Eduardo and Netto moved in until homes could be found for them.
Our house was crazy. Absolutely crazy!
Kent was finding it tough to find work, do a course and keep out 5 boys busy enough to stay our of the fridge for more than 15 minutes. (The fridge was literally opening and closing constantly.)
September
September was my birth month, we had a party at French Beach with our boys--it was a great day. September was also the month I checked out of Facebook, I was absolutely sick of seeing Teacher Strike Posts. Seeing friends fighting over issues, I decided it was Pinterest time. :)
Melissa, Jon and I had been planning a trip to the UK--from the time we came home in October 2013. We decided it was time to include Kent. The idea was that it would be for his 50th birthday. So, we had a Skype date and I used pretty much the rest of my savings to pay for flights to the UK. So, 2015 needs to be good to us, Kent needs a job so he can pay for his birthday gift. As well, we will be celebrating Melissa's BSc and Jon's MBA. It's hard to be the mother of such an incredibly smart bunch.
In September Kent and I celebrated 2 years cancer free. We went to a check up at BCCA and then checked out of work for the balance of the afternoon and went to the waterfront, enjoyed each other's company and plan a future together.
I think Kent and I were both relieved with the extra students we had went to their new homes. This is MY second job and although the 3 students was going to be a lot of work, 5 was just dumb.
September Rob (Youth Pastor at Colwood Pentecostal Church) was gone. So, I took up the mantle and planned the fall with the youth leaders and Dave, the Assistant Pastor. So, we took 56 teenagers to camp for the weekend. I thought 5 students was dumb....this was exhausting.
I decided since we would be doing the UK next year, keeping up with these teens was difficult...I decided it was time to get moving. So, Kent and I did a 21 day challenge and have since been following it up with the 5 am running club. I am the President and Kent is Vice President. (That's how HE sees it....) We have been going out for the same amount of time every time, our distance is getting longer and we are feeling stronger and stronger.
We saw the Scottish chose to stay in the UK and at weekend I started my Fall baking and do about 100 pounds of grapes into grape juice. Thankful for the education on juice making by Grandma and Grandpa Fricker.
October
October brings us to our anniversary and the toll of this year to a head. Kent and I were starting to get stressed out over money, life, job hunt.
We had visitors for Thanksgiving, the new Lloyd-Smith's came for the weekend. We were blessed beyond comprehension..energized and renewed by this visit. Like our trip in June. We love our kids so much!
October saw the death of 2 soldiers on Canadian soil, we were devastated. We continued to work with the youth of Colwood Church, I won a bike that I named Pat. He could be a he, she could be a she--so she shall be a Pat. Winning Pat was a huge blessing. We also got work that Melissa and Jon would be able to come home for Christmas. We took all our boys (5 of them) to a hockey game, My heart was full and I knew that God was being good to us, same month I got a second increase in pay for the year. We couldn't shake the fact that God was carrying us this year. Our finances, just weren't making earthly sense.
We threw a party for the youth kids called Hallowed Be in October, Kent and I dressed up as Thing One and Thing Two:
November
November the 5 am running club was up and running, 3-4 mornings a week, and suddenly, I was sleeping throughout the night consistently. After ditching the last of my medications in May--I was happy that I was sleeping again. Stress was mounting, but the running was really helping keep the stress at bay.
I started my Christmas baking and shopping in November. Has to be the latest start I have ever had in the shopping department....
December
By the time December started I was at my lowest point of the year. I was beginning to doubt. I know in my head that God is in the life that Kent and I were living but I was also wondering where He was in all this. One Sunday morning I knelt before God and just asked, over and over again, where are you, where are you in all this?? I still haven't got a full answer but as this year is winding to a close I can see this: We have been here for a purpose. We were able to bring to Colwood Church the first EVER youth missions trip, w e helped build up Rob and Chelsea and bridge the gap between Rob's ministry ending here and when James' ministry would start here.
I happily handed over to James and Bethany the ministry of Colwood Youth--I am highly anticipating a far less busy schedule in 2015.
I am also ready to move on if that is what God wants. We need Kent to get a job, he is too young and too poor to retire. ;)
So, now that Christmas is over--we are organizing our house and putting it on the market for the spring. The only true feeling of assurance I have had this year has been that we are either supposed to be out of our house or Victoria, but either way, I have felt very strongly that our time here is done.
When I started this post I thought 2014 can suck rope pal....to quote Tori Hamre, but as I looked back on it....it's been tough, there have been many challenges, it has been heartbreaking, and it's also had it's time of refreshing.
So to go with the scripture at the top:
God what we want most is a job for Kent, something that would be his "ideal" position, bring him joy and challenge. We pray for health for our kids, for favour in their classes. For a blessing from God, for them to see the Greatness and the Goodness of the Lord and for them to be able to recognize that in every challenge He is there. I hope that we have been good at modeling that in 2014. And Lord we need a break-just time for the two of us.
The Horie Family December 31, 2014 Victoria BC
