Where to start?  

January became somewhat of a time for me to be silent.  Not that I wasn't active and participating in my life - just that I needed a break from blogging.  I needed time to reflect on where life might be taking me.  What do I really want to be doing?  What do I really enjoy?   What do I have to say? How can I use my gifts to help others?  I'm happy to say I'm somewhat closer to figuring that out.

January was filled with community service hours for school for my boys.  We were introduced to some new charities that we really like.  One's that we will go to and help even when we aren't counting it for hours.  We met a lot of really nice people.  We also have had lots of basketball games at school, and just the normal day's to do's.  We have also experienced great loss.

The day my boys went back to school after Christmas break we received a call that one of our longtime family friends 16 year old son had died.  That's a call you really don't think you are understanding right.  You just say NO - you want to fix it, and you can't.  Your mind just can't wrap around the idea of it.  I will say even now it doesn't seem real.  My boys lost Joey - one of their lifelong friends.  And the loss to Joeys parents, siblings, family - just so unfair.  In his Dad's words "this is just not right!"   Joey was a young man who worked so hard for all that he accomplished.  Things weren't just handed to him.  He was slated to be valedictorian of his class this year, he had recently completed a marathon under the time limit he had been working towards, and even when he didn't have much money he was a 16 year old thinking of others.  He performed random acts of kindness to those around him.  There is so much more, but you get the idea.  Sadly he had been to the hospital with massive back pain - he was misdiagnosed and sent home with pain killers.  He died of a heart aneurysm.  If it had been caught there would have at least been a chance at saving him.  So heartbreaking and hard to understand.  Josh wanted to know why someone so good as Joey isn't here anymore when there are so many crappy people.  We all need to emulate Joey's spirit and enthusiasm for life, and to be the good in this world.

So, that is what has been going on here.  I'm going to start posting again.  Hopefully at least a couple times a week.  I do enjoy this blog - I just sometimes don't really know where I am going with it or the whole why of it.   Thank you for reading along!