Happy New Year!
Once again my Christmas Letter has been turned into a New Year online letter.
I have been thinking for the past few weeks about the coming year. All that Happened Last year and What do I hope to achieve this Year? I don't do resolutions, because I am bound to break it... for example, I am going to eat healthier this year.....and meanwhile I had a handful of Fairy Floss this morning for breaky! So I have once again decided to list what I want to acheive this year not only for myself but for the family as well.
How sweet it is to be loved.....
....Christmas is full of fun and secrets....
Our Christmas Tree
This is the Little Porcelain Angel mum gave me for the First christmas Toni was not here for, Everyone says how much it looks like her...
Last year we faced many Trials and Tribulations, with health in the family, as well as death, and all the new things we got involved in.
I guess the major event which had the most impact on our lives last year was mums diagnosis of Parkinsons Disease. The stress of all the tests and examinations, the diagnosis itself and the discovering of what the future with Parkinsons Disease holds. The depression that followed the diagnosis and everyday life with this debilitating disease which has no cure to date.
Mum at Anthony's Halloween Party (Oct 2007)
Mum at the Compassionate friends end of year Christmas Lunch
The loss of Grandma Bonnie mid last year, was heartbreaking for us. Especially the children, who had spent nearly every sunday for the past few years talking and seeing grandma. I am glad they got to know their grandma and am sure they will remember her forever.
Another death that affected me dearly last year a few months after grandma passed away was that of my Uncle Harry. He was my "great grandfather figure" all throughout my childhood. And after Great grandma (on my mums side) passed away about 8 years ago, we lost contact with him. Mum and dad managed to locate him early last year and had rekindled the relationship. He was very sick when I finally visited him, and I sat vigil by his bedside for the last few days of his life, holding his hand and talking about the years where we referred to him as the "Hairy Scary Man". I had to say my final goodbye to him, because I couldn't handle the struggle he had to make just to take each breath. The fight for every breath and movement. That was the hardest thing to walk away and know I would never see him again. But I needed to walk away when I did. And I am thankful for those precious few days I did get to spend with him. I beleive he knew I was there, even if he didn't quite understand which great granddaughter I was.
Two major changes to "my little family" last year was m baby started school last year. And she looked to cute. Stephanie began Kindergarten at Bomaderry Public last year, and at the presentation ceremony at the end of year took out the award for Class Citizenship. We were very, very proud. (As was she!)
I entered the workforce last year for the first time in 8 years. I gained employment at a local real estate agency doing mainly Administration and PA work. I love my work and the people I work for/with at the Bomaderry office of Ray White.
Stephanie will enter year 1 this year. I can't beleive she has grown up so quickly. We will have New School Uniforms this year. So I will have to put photo's of our updated, smarter looking uniforms when I have purchased them.
My main hope for Steph this year is to have her complete her home work and hand it in on time. And for her to achieve well in her Home Readers. I would also like to have her begin a sport, whether it is dancing again or something new. I beleive it is important for them to have an interest out of school.
Kane will enter year 3 this year. As he enters his primary years at school, I am hoping I can cool his temper a bit and try to figure out a way for him to enjoy school a little more. He had a bad year last year, where he had a personality clash with his teacher. And since then, he has had a lot of problems.
As with Steph, I am going to be working on geting homework completed and home readers read on time. I have noticed Kane really enjoys drawing, so I am looking into finding out if there is any out of school art classes etc that I can get him into. I really thinks he needs something out of school to focus his attentions on. And I think drawing is something he can achieve well with.
Shannen has a big year ahead of her this year. She will complete her school certificate. She worked really hard last year and we saw a great improvement on her end of year report. So we are hoping she will continue to work hard in her school work and do really well. She has been very busy working at Blockbuster. Although she has a problem with saving money. I wanted her to start banking at least some of her wages but she hasn't yet got the concept of the whole banking and not spending bit. I think the worst thing we did was get her a keycard for her account. She has also got to decide where she is going to go for her student exchange. This was meant to be happening over the christmas holidays at the end of this year, but she has yet to decide on a few major points (like where she is going) for us to begin planning her trip.
This is Shannen and Jimmy at there School Snow Trip
And me, well I am hoping to have our extensions started (and hopefully finished). This is the major thing I will be working towards this year. We are putting on an extra bedroom with en suite, and family room. I am also going to try and get some more hours at work this year and may even look into doing another TAFE course. (I have no idea what exactly I want to do at TAFE.) My book, is something I plan to complete and publish this year. I have been writing now for about 2 years, and I think I am ready to wrap things up now. Which was a major step, because I feel now that the time is right to put the pain behind me and work to making something positive come out of the tragedy. In saying this I would also like to be more active within the BelleToni Association for Child Passenger Safety. So far, I have not had the opportunity to do much for the association. I have spoken to media several times and lots and lots of people on a face to face manner, but I think it is time to look at the bigger picture. With changes due early this year, now may be the time to start to implicate the public meetings and awareness programs with brochures that I had envisioned when I first joined the fight for improvement. I feel my imput into BelleToni so far has been restricted to the naming of the foundation! And I am now ready to take on more. (something!)
I have been thinking for the past few weeks about the coming year. All that Happened Last year and What do I hope to achieve this Year? I don't do resolutions, because I am bound to break it... for example, I am going to eat healthier this year.....and meanwhile I had a handful of Fairy Floss this morning for breaky! So I have once again decided to list what I want to acheive this year not only for myself but for the family as well.
But First.......
Christmas 2007
Toni's Star on the Christmas Tree
How sweet it is to be loved.....
....Christmas is full of fun and secrets....
Our Christmas Tree
This is the Little Porcelain Angel mum gave me for the First christmas Toni was not here for, Everyone says how much it looks like her...
I guess the major event which had the most impact on our lives last year was mums diagnosis of Parkinsons Disease. The stress of all the tests and examinations, the diagnosis itself and the discovering of what the future with Parkinsons Disease holds. The depression that followed the diagnosis and everyday life with this debilitating disease which has no cure to date.
Mum at Anthony's Halloween Party (Oct 2007)
Mum at the Compassionate friends end of year Christmas Lunch
Another death that affected me dearly last year a few months after grandma passed away was that of my Uncle Harry. He was my "great grandfather figure" all throughout my childhood. And after Great grandma (on my mums side) passed away about 8 years ago, we lost contact with him. Mum and dad managed to locate him early last year and had rekindled the relationship. He was very sick when I finally visited him, and I sat vigil by his bedside for the last few days of his life, holding his hand and talking about the years where we referred to him as the "Hairy Scary Man". I had to say my final goodbye to him, because I couldn't handle the struggle he had to make just to take each breath. The fight for every breath and movement. That was the hardest thing to walk away and know I would never see him again. But I needed to walk away when I did. And I am thankful for those precious few days I did get to spend with him. I beleive he knew I was there, even if he didn't quite understand which great granddaughter I was.The BelleToni Association got up and running last year, and the fight for better restraints for children began. Most of those who read this blog are aware and have been great followers and great support for myself and the cause, so I wont go into that anymore for now.
Two major changes to "my little family" last year was m baby started school last year. And she looked to cute. Stephanie began Kindergarten at Bomaderry Public last year, and at the presentation ceremony at the end of year took out the award for Class Citizenship. We were very, very proud. (As was she!)
Stephanie will enter year 1 this year. I can't beleive she has grown up so quickly. We will have New School Uniforms this year. So I will have to put photo's of our updated, smarter looking uniforms when I have purchased them.
My main hope for Steph this year is to have her complete her home work and hand it in on time. And for her to achieve well in her Home Readers. I would also like to have her begin a sport, whether it is dancing again or something new. I beleive it is important for them to have an interest out of school.
Kane will enter year 3 this year. As he enters his primary years at school, I am hoping I can cool his temper a bit and try to figure out a way for him to enjoy school a little more. He had a bad year last year, where he had a personality clash with his teacher. And since then, he has had a lot of problems.
As with Steph, I am going to be working on geting homework completed and home readers read on time. I have noticed Kane really enjoys drawing, so I am looking into finding out if there is any out of school art classes etc that I can get him into. I really thinks he needs something out of school to focus his attentions on. And I think drawing is something he can achieve well with.
Shannen has a big year ahead of her this year. She will complete her school certificate. She worked really hard last year and we saw a great improvement on her end of year report. So we are hoping she will continue to work hard in her school work and do really well. She has been very busy working at Blockbuster. Although she has a problem with saving money. I wanted her to start banking at least some of her wages but she hasn't yet got the concept of the whole banking and not spending bit. I think the worst thing we did was get her a keycard for her account. She has also got to decide where she is going to go for her student exchange. This was meant to be happening over the christmas holidays at the end of this year, but she has yet to decide on a few major points (like where she is going) for us to begin planning her trip.
This is Shannen and Jimmy at there School Snow Trip
And me, well I am hoping to have our extensions started (and hopefully finished). This is the major thing I will be working towards this year. We are putting on an extra bedroom with en suite, and family room. I am also going to try and get some more hours at work this year and may even look into doing another TAFE course. (I have no idea what exactly I want to do at TAFE.) My book, is something I plan to complete and publish this year. I have been writing now for about 2 years, and I think I am ready to wrap things up now. Which was a major step, because I feel now that the time is right to put the pain behind me and work to making something positive come out of the tragedy. In saying this I would also like to be more active within the BelleToni Association for Child Passenger Safety. So far, I have not had the opportunity to do much for the association. I have spoken to media several times and lots and lots of people on a face to face manner, but I think it is time to look at the bigger picture. With changes due early this year, now may be the time to start to implicate the public meetings and awareness programs with brochures that I had envisioned when I first joined the fight for improvement. I feel my imput into BelleToni so far has been restricted to the naming of the foundation! And I am now ready to take on more. (something!)
2 comments:
Hey Lee,
Hope you had a Great Christmas and New Year.
All the best.
Catch ya soon,
Anth...
I read it... I have been here, I have read your blog, and even though i had to ask you how to leave a comment... I have done it.
And yes we did all have a great christmas together didn't we.
Love you
Nikki
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