Where to start

So I said in my last post (over a MONTH ago) that it has been busy. That is an understatement. It's been a very trying time for all of us and I feel that I need to document it somewhere in order to remember how grateful we need to be for the blessings we have.The week of Thanksgiving we were called with some heartbreaking news. My sister-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. I can't imagine

how they felt. She was scheduled to undergo a mastectomy in December and began chemo in January. As I looked at my schedule I had Dec 12-15 off and offered to come stay with the kids while she had surgery. They said that they could just have someone from their community stay with the kids but I told them I rarely have a day off, let alone 4 days in a row, I was coming to do what I could while I had the chance. The boys and I went up on Sunday and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. We had Santa pancakes,

made Christmas ornaments, fingerpainted with pudding and had a good time with cousins. Going from 2 kids to 7 was definitely a challenge, especially at bedtime.

About the same time my assistant who sees home care patients for me was in a car accident and was taken off of work, again and again. In fact the newest date for return is mid-March. This normally wouldn't have been a problem but I had already accepted shifts based on only doing supervisory visits for her. Suddenly I had an extra 20-25 hours of work to do. So it has been super busy since.