2012

The year of 2012 was not the best year for me. There was a lot of pain & a lot of heart ache. I lost friendships, health issues came up, and I was hurt time after time by some that I loved dearly. Pain and hurt from the past came back to haunt me. I was called to overcome a lot of obstacles in my life last year and some of those obstacles I still haven't crossed over. Even through all of the trials I went through last year, there were some diamonds in the rough. Everything that I went through made me stronger and even brought me closer to the Lord in some ways. I've matured spiritually, emotionally and mentally. I may have lost friends but I've also gained friends. I may have been hurt by people that I loved, but I've found healing in others. 2012 may not have been everything I wanted, but it wasn't entirely everything I didn't want.

Dad's health update:
Last year my dad was in the hospital several times. He is still suffering from MS. In 2011 he had HiCy (a high dose of chemo) which wiped out his immune system, in hopes that it would basically reboot (like a computer) and that he might possibly be cured of his multiple sclerosis. But that was not the case. He has had a few more lesions grow since then and had several extreme and very scary seizures. The HiCy did not work as we and the doctors had hoped. But God has a plan! My parents decided a few months ago to try a "treatment" called Plasmapheresis (PLEX) which is where he has two ports put in his chest that lead to his heart, a machine is hooked up to the ports (one out port and one in). His blood is then pulled out by one, filtered in a machine, and put back into his body through the other port. That was not working as well, since last Friday he was suffering from old symptoms of extreme dizziness and blurred vision (which we thought the HiCy had cleared up). We were hoping it was just his seizure medications, but after the doctor saw his MRI results, we were told he had yet another lesion on his brain stem. He was admitted to the Hospital that day and my family is now looking at a treatment called Cytoxan (or Low Cy; a low dose of chemo). He will get that once a week. My dad is still in the Hospital and whenever he is there my mom stays with him because the nurses don't always take very good care of him and he can be quite difficult. lol (: He got his first dose of chemo last night and is supposed to be released from the Hospital today! We are praying this is the Lord's will that he comes home this soon and that dad won't have any more complications at home. That is the latest update on my daddy. (:

{Excuse the quality of this picture, it was taken with my phone.}

Family update:
My family has had a rough year. I won't go into all of it because honestly, it's not worth talking about. Satan is doing his best to destroy God's children and their witness for Christ. But Christ has already won that battle! In March of 2012 my family and I joined a new church. We LOVE our new church family and it feels like home to us all! We've made some amazing, life-long friends there (I consider some of them to be family). We've grown closer to each other and closer to God, as a family. Yes we have our rough patches, we disagree, we may even argue sometimes, but we all love each other very much and most importantly we love our Father in Heaven even more.


Sisters update:
My younger sisters (you guys know them as Caldirwen and Esara) were baptized into Christ last May!! God is SO good and I'm so very happy that my sisters have joined His Kingdom! My three sisters and I are all single. No boys at all, just focused on family, friends and Jesus right now. (; We enjoy drinking hot tea together and going to the movies, blasting the radio in the car when it's just the four of us and singing to What Makes You Beautiful at the top of our lunges. (: Narthea is now 20 (her birthday was New Years Ever), Esara is now 15 years old and Caldirwen is 14! Aye, the years have flown! Esara is a sophomore and Caldirwen is in 8th grade. Narthea has a job making calls for a company my dad used to work for and get this: she gets to do it from home! She loves that because she can be here to help the family, while working. It's a blessing!

{Left to right: Esara, Narthea, Caldirwen, me}

Me update:
Lol time for my "me update". Well, in 2012 I really got into photography (like, REALLY! It's a HUGE passion of mine). I graduated high school, I turned 18 and I'm currently working on getting my drivers license. I have to take a 6 hour class online and I also had to pay $50 for it. Insurance will be going up as well, so my family decided to wait until after the Holidays for me to get my license and then I will be looking for a job! I'm excited, but nervous at the same time. I want to pursue photography (and possibly pursue writing again), so if I went to college that would be my main focus. I might just take some photography classes at our local college this fall, but it's expensive so I'll need to get a job to save up for that. Also, to save up for a car! (: And I also have to pay my phone bill. lol. Needless to say I'm excited about growing up, but nervous about all the responsibilities that come with it. 2012 held a lot of surprises for me, not all good. lol. I was having really bad health issues last March-August. In March I passed out while I was home alone. I wasn't exactly sure how long I was out but I definitely knew I ate some carpet cus my face was throbbing from the fall. lol! My mom took me to the ER as quickly as possible. They took blood and ran some other tests and said that the only thing they could figure was that I was dehydrated. I was sent home. Over the next few months I was having extreme fatigue and dizziness all day long, every day and also having extreme pain in my kidneys. I literally lay in bed for almost a month. At some point I had a very high pulse rate. Sitting up my heart would race & even walking across the room I could feel my heart pounding so hard as if I had been running. Mom called my doctor and she had her take me back to the ER. Again, they took a bunch of tests and found nothing. I told my mom that I didn't have a good feeling about the doctor that saw me in the ER. He didn't seem to care and I was tired of not having any answers. SO! My mom contacted a friend of hers who is a holistic doctor. She took some blood and ran lots of tests. And guess what she found out! I am apparently hypoglycemic which means my blood sugar is low all the time and I need to have a little bit of protein all throughout the day to keep from feeling fatigued. She also found out that I have a gluten intolerance, which means my body can't process gluten (wheat), which was causing all kinds of other problems! Turned out my kidney pain wasn't actually my kidneys, it was my adrenal glands which are found on the kidneys. She said my gluten intolerance was probably causing them to flare up and that's what was hurting so bad. She also said my liver was extremely stressed from the gluten that my body couldn't digest. Needless to say I am now on a gluten free diet and trying to eat healthier as to hopefully reverse my hypoglycemia and get rid of the symptoms caused by my gluten intolerance. I am doing much better and have a lot more energy! I still have a ways to go before I'll be completely healthy again but I'm getting there. (: I'm really thankful that my mom's friend cared about my health. It's hard to find caring doctors nowadays. ON a different note, I bought myself a pretty sweet DSLR with my graduation money. I'm SUPER excited to see what adventures me and my camera will have together! Maybe we'll both fulfill my dream of going to Italy someday. (; Who knows. I hope so!

So that is the latest scoop! There's probably some things I left out but I'll fill you all in along the way. (: I am thankful for 2012, even though it was a very rough year for me. There were good times and bad times, but hey! Every year will consist of those. As long as I have my family and Jesus Christ to guide me and help me, there's something to be thankful for each and every day.