I don't even know where to begin

As suspected, the new year has been a challenge, moreso than I think we both expected. We've had an event-filled January that was darkened by the passing of Steph's dad. Although we knew he wasn't in great health, I don't think anyone expected this would happen so suddenly. He fell outside of his house on 1/2 and was immediately taken to the hospital where he bravely fought a broken leg and failed systems. In the end, it was too much for his body to handle and on 1/18 at 8:20, he took his last breath in front of his family. The passing of a parent is incredibly painful and difficult and something that only time can help soften. Stephanie and her family are doing as well as can be expected. We gathered for a celebration for him last Saturday. It was appropriate and a helpful step in the healing process, but obviously very sad.

I can't say enough about him. I've always looked up to him and feel a deep hole in my heart with his passing. In the coming posts, I hope to be able to articulate his impressions on me.

Everything else pales in comparison to this, but I would be remiss in not mentioning the other events, especially since it's been so long since my last post.

We witnessed history on 1/20 when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. I was at home, sick with the stomach bug that we all passed around to each other, trying to get to Houston to be with Stephanie. My mom and I watched the inaguration in our living room while Stephanie listened to it in Houston getting the Acura washed.

Two years ago at this same time my Mema passed away. We were sick with a bad stomach bug and ended up passing it around to various members of our family who were at the funeral.

Last year at this time, Stephanie was admitted into the hospital where she would stay on strict bed-rest for 5 weeks.

This year followed suit with handing us extremely difficult challenges. The last two years have given us many blessings and renewed strength. We only hope that this year is the same.

The kids are amazing. I'll post some sort of multimedia record of them next time.