Merry Christmas everyone!

This has been a very eventful year for our family! I have decided to venture out and learn to blog so I can document and share our journey.
I started my job at Carrie Tingley Hospital last December as a staff nurse on night shift after a brief attempt at working in ICU. Carrie Tingley is a children's orthopedic/rehab hospital and it has been a dream job. Several months ago the night charge nurse position opened up and I worked up my courage and applied for the position. After 23 years as an RN, I am learning "management"! It was a step out of my comfort zone but I have learned a lot and I am glad I stepped up to the challenge. Now I have also started back to school to finish up my Bachelor's degree in nursing, and possibly will pursue my Master's degree also.
My husband Stew has also had a busy year at home with all of the kids. More days than not he is shuffling them off to one, two or three appointments a day and managing to keep track of all of them. Meanwhile, he is seriously studying for his MCAT exam and hoping to be accepted into med school sometime in the near future.
Jesse battles daily with his cerebral palsy and his growing teenage self. He struggles a lot just to get around every day but we push him and hope to keep him as active as possible. In the next year he is hoping to start using canes rather than a walker, and also to learn to use a communication device to talk for him.
Breanna's life was forever changed last year after a severe illness, and I wasn't sure she'd still be here this Christmas. But despite her many challenges, she still smiles and laughs every day. One very special event this year was when a very dear friend of mine did a major fundraiser and blessed us with a wonderful new hot tub for Breanna.
Kory underwent some fairly major surgery on his right leg and practically had to re-learn to walk on his prosthetics again after 2 months in a cast but his physical therapy quickly turned into swimming lessons, and so as a fringe benefit he can now swim the length of the pool. Pretty good for a quad amputee! This coming year, he is hoping to get a new prosthetic arm and learn to use it.
Marisol is growing fast and finally starting to get a little more serious about learning braille and using a cane for mobility. She is facing plastic surgery and will probably be getting prosthetic eyes in order to improve the structure of her upper face and prevent her from getting eye infections. She continues to progress with her ability to play on the piano and I am hoping to get her some professional piano lessons for this.
Last but way not least is our Guatemalan adoption journey that started in January when I first popped the question to Stew. Could we possibly maybe try to adopt a baby boy from Guatemala?? At first he said "no" but less than a day later, he also knew it was what we were meant to do and despite the ongoing difficulties with Guatemalan adoption we had a wonderful experience! In April, we were presented with a photo of a gorgeous 5-day-old little boy and 4 1/2 months later, we brought him home forever!! We named him Estuardo Luis Danilo and he has truly blessed our home with joy. It has been my pleasure to watch him grow over the past 4 months.
Looking back, and forward, I feel so very blessed!