Monday, December 30, 2013

Looking back at 2013

Looking back, we had some really great moments in 2013. We also had some REALLY, REALLY hard moments. Moments full of disappointment. Moments full of sadness. Moments (LOTS OF THEM) filled with sickness. But overall, God has blessed us. The struggles, the trials? They have been hard. But I know ultimately God is using the difficult times to mold us, to draw us closer to Him. We aren’t promised that life will be easy. We are promised that He will not leave us or forsake us.

So, what did 2013 hold for us?

January and February are when we were first attacked by sickies. Ava and Reed were constantly back and forth with illnesses, including ear infections, burned bottoms from antibiotics and even the flu! IMG_8059IMG_7908IMG_8070 IMG_8083 IMG_8217IMG_8211

February was also an exciting month as we found out that we would be getting three nieces/nephews in the fall!!!!

March was a good month in terms of being healthy and we had a fun weekend trip to Oklahoma City over Spring Break and we also celebrated Easter!IMG_8729IMG_8752IMG_8804IMG_8883 IMG_8884 IMG_8909

April had some good moments:

The weather warmed up and we started getting to eat dinners outside. IMG_9072

Zach and I had a fun date night! IMG_9168

Zach celebrated his 29th birthday!!!  IMG_9285

April also had some tough days. Lots of pain, lots of tears and lots of asking God why. On a particularly hard day, Zach’s school held a special assembly where he was awarded an area wide Teacher of the Month award! God meets us when we need Him.IMG_9491

The end of April was also the first time I felt Reed’s cyst. I had no idea what it was at that point and after a particularly stressful situation regarding his pediatrician’s office, we had to take him to a walk in clinic where they told us it was just an infected lymph node.IMG_9504

May found us with Ava having another illness. It was short lived thankfully.IMG_9736 

My kids grew up over night.IMG_9585IMG_0121

Ava had her dance “recical” as she still calls it.IMG_0080 IMG_0096

The kids had their last day of school IMG_0207IMG_0211

My parents sold and we said goodbye to my childhood home. My mom also joined my dad in OKC. This was a very hard time for me. IMG_0217

At the beginning of June, Reed’s cyst began swelling again. We saw our pediatrician and we first heard they words “thyroglossal duct cyst”. We scheduled an appointment for him to be seen at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in July.IMG_0407

We enjoyed the slower pace of summer days. IMG_0303

Ava went to Oklahoma City and while she was there, they had a tornado go through and she spent the evening hiding out in some underground tunnels in the downtown area. I was happy to get my hands on her when we got home.IMG_0368IMG_0394

We celebrated Father’s Day!IMG_0688

Ava took swimming lessons!IMG_0741IMG_0774

In July, we celebrated the 4th!IMG_0180

Reed had his first appointment at Arkansas Children’s Hospital where he was officially diagnosed with a thyroglossal duct cyst. We scheduled surgery for the beginning of August.IMG_0285

We went to the beach!!!!IMG_0563 IMG_0569IMG_0583IMG_0370 IMG_0399

At the end of July, Reed’s cyst became very infected. We had to go to ACH to have it drained and it postponed his surgery. IMG_0748 

We moved right into August and Reed had his first hair cut.IMG_0946

Ava got hand, foot, and mouth. IMG_0990

The kids went back to school. 1157628_10100763502621627_1216629053_n IMG_1132

I celebrated my 30th birthday! IMG_1433

On August 28th, Reed finally had his surgery. IMG_1498

In September, we celebrated birthdays early!  IMG_1766 IMG_1778

We had a follow up appointment for Reed at ACH. Later that day when we got home, we were hit from behind. We’re still dealing with the drama that came from the girl saying she didn’t hit me. The weekend after that happened, we went to OKC for my birthday present. Zach got me tickets to see Wicked!IMG_1931

Ava turned 5 and we celebrated with her friends at a fun party at the park downtown with a ferris wheel and carousel!IMG_2121IMG_2171

At the end of September, Reed’s incision from surgery became infected. He went back to ACH and we got a medicine and were told to come back November 1 for a follow up.

The beginning of October was marked with another plague of sickness as we all suffered from a tummy bug. 

Reed turned TWO!IMG_2695

I got to be there to meet my sweet niece the day she was born! IMG_2891

We took Reed to his first movie!IMG_3201

And we ended the month celebrating Halloween! IMG_3358

On November 1st, Reed and I traveled to ACH for his follow up appointment. At this appointment we were told that his cyst had returned and that he needed a 2nd surgery, which we scheduled for December 30th. IMG_3452

We had family photos taken!edwards family (64 of 68) edwards family (33 of 68) 

Zach and I celebrated seven years of marriage! IMG_3787

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Zach’s family and we got to meet another of our new nieces! IMG_3827 IMG_3837

We traveled to St. Louis to meet our last niece and celebrate her baptism!IMG_3852While we were there, my car got hit for the 2nd time this year. We weren’t in it, but we’re still also dealing with getting that fixed. I’m thankful that even with two accidents, they were both minor.

The first week of December, Reed fell at school and bumped his head pretty hard so we took a trip to the ER. IMG_4017 

Then we had a big ice/snow storm come through that let the kids out of school for two days.IMG_4052

We made Christmas memories, like riding the Holiday Express! IMG_4164

We met Santa Claus! IMG_4241 

Ava won the WWJD award!IMG_4284

And we had many wonderful Christmas celebrations!!!!IMG_4406 

2013 is coming to a close for us with Reed’s 2nd surgery happening this morning at 9:10 a.m. We are hopeful that this will be the last operation we will need for this and that he will be healed wholly as we go into 2014.

As I said, while it was a tough year with many trials, we’ve had many happy happy times this year that I wouldn’t trade. Even the bad times I wouldn’t trade, as they’ve brought us to this point, and this is right where we are supposed to be. I never imagined 2013 would go like it did, and I have no idea what 2014 has in store for us, but I welcome it and whatever comes our way with open arms.

Happy New Year!

The Edwards Family

The Edwards Family
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