A Reflection

As another decade ends, I can't help but reflect on what has happened in the last 10 years. I moved from Austin to Dallas for a job, met my best friend, Dwanna and that was just the beginning.

I made some wonderful friends through my job at S&P. Then off to TXU/Atmos Energy where I worked until I decided to follow my dream of becoming a teacher. In April of 2002, I met the love of my life, Jason. We got engaged and then married in 2003. Then we built our first home together.

In 2004, Jason began his fight against cancer. As of today, he's been in remission for 4 1/2 years. Woohoo!

2005 brought the end of chemotherapy with a diagnosis of Jason being in remission. I also left my job at TXU to begin my student teaching in Mansfield ISD. Jason was injured in a softball game and underwent surgery to repair his Achilles tendon. In the fall, I began my first year of teaching at Icenhower Intermediate in Mansfield and Jason was an SRO for APD. In August, most of my family was hit by Hurricane Katrina. For those of you who don't know, my Dad's family is from Biloxi, MS and my mom's family is in New Orleans. Needless to say, we had a houseful of family and some of my cousins friends from college staying with us while they waited to hear the outcome. In December, I said goodbye to my grandma. Once her home was destroyed in the hurricane, she never fully recovered. We traveled to Biloxi to say our final goodbye. It also allowed us to see first hand the devastation that my family endured during the hurricane.

In January 2006, my brother got married. We were able to be in Houston for this wonderful celebration. In February, we experienced the joy and sadness of becoming pregnant and then loosing our baby. Thankfully, in March, I became pregnant again with Jackson. He was born November 10th at 36 weeks after some pregnancy complications that required me to be induced. Our lives were changed again when he was born under great duress but again we were blessed by having the best doctors and nurses by our side taking care of our little boy. I also left my job to stay home with him which was a very hard decision. I'm really glad I have had these last 3 years to be home and watch him grow.

2007 started with Jackson's heart surgery to repair his pulmonary valve stenosis. He had a successful procedure and after our hospital stay, he came home on Jason's birthday. Everything was fairly uneventful until July. I found out that I was pregnant again and was overjoyed to be having another baby. I was also glad to still have a baby who was a good sleeper which helped me to get through the 4-5 weeks of morning sickness. Jackson turned 1 in November and Jason decided to go back to patrol and worked midnights.

In April 2008, we welcomed our second boy, Brayden. Life for us became super busy with 2 small boys and Jason was now working day shift which was a huge help. We quickly realized that we were outgrowing our home, so we put it on the market and were fortunate to have it sell within 3 weeks. We moved to Arlington in August to our new home and absolutely love it. We couldn't be happier with our new house and neighbors!

January 2009 started with Jason's birthday and the news that I was pregnant again. It was really surprising since we weren't trying for another baby quite yet, but we were excited. We were thankful we had moved already since we were filling up bedrooms pretty quickly. In April, we found out that our baby would never live to be brought home because of Potters Syndrome. It was the saddest day of my life up to that point. In May, my sister got married, so I traveled to Charleston, SC to be there with my family. We had a wonderful weekend and I enjoyed some alone time. Jason stayed home with the boys so I could attend the wedding. Now, I'm happy to say that I'll be an aunt again in April. I can't wait to meet baby Hester. In June, I was asked to teach summer school, so I did that for 3 weeks. I was glad to get back in the classroom and didn't realize how much I missed teaching. July was just another month, and then on August 18th, we welcomed our 3rd son, Patrick into our family. He was stillborn at 34 weeks, exactly 17 weeks after we decided to carry him full term. He was just perfect and saying goodbye to him was the hardest thing I have ever done. In October, we decided to start remodeling our kitchen and after 4 weeks, it was done. We are so happy with it. I also started sewing diaper wallets and selling them at craft shows. It has been a success so far, so I'll keep doing that throughout the year.

That is a lot to process in 10 years, but what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger. I am so grateful to my family and friends, to have a loving husband, and 2 healthy boys to share my life with. Here's to the next 10!