There are many reasons for a person to neglect a blog. In my case, neglecting the blog was much preferable to neglecting my husband and children. In fact, the year 2010 has absolutely no representation whatsoever on this site or many others. There are lots of good reasons for that. Suffice it to say, we discovered that some of our children had been abused. Our hearts and their innocence seemed broken beyond repair, and that would be the year we worked to put us all back together. It was the toughest time of my life, even to this point. It was the hardest time in my husband and children's lives as well. Perhaps at a future season, I will share the hard-earned wisdom that was to be gained during this chapter. I would like to add some pictures related that time in this blog. This is mainly for my own benefit, as few others are likely to be interested in the news from two almost three years ago. Here are some of the highlights.
Early in that year, we were sad to learn that Michael's sweet grandpa, PaPa Halford died. This was soon after the New Year's arrival. We love him dearly and know that he is in a better place now. MeMa moves forward without her companion of more than half a century, but her pace has slowed. I'm sure she spends much of her waking hours missing him. These are two pictures of PaPa in 2007, with Big B, then our youngest.
Not long after PaPa died, we were blessed to have Freckles baptized. He was so happy to be a new member of the church, and all of us enjoyed the family visiting on that day of celebration. Here is a small picture of us in front of the font. Thanks to Uncle Steve for taking the only picture we have of that special day.
During the early months of 2010, I was in great need of comfort, and I was blessed with a beautiful dream, in which my sweet Grandma Geneva visited me. I found myself back in California at the Saratoga Institute of Religion for the LDS church, near the college where I earned my AS degree. In this lovely place, I lived out some of the happiest years of my young adult life. Always waiting there to love and greet me were two of the great mentors in my life, Carl and Carol Nielson. In this particular instance, I was walking into Brother Nielson's office, anticipating one of our chats about whatever was going on.
But instead of Brother Nielson sitting in the chair, I was surprised to find my sweet Grandma. It had been many years since I'd seen her, because she died when I was fifteen. And here she was, with open arms to greet me, as she had always done in life. She said something like: "I'm sorry that it has to be you living here instead of someone else." I took that to mean that she felt compassion for me in my present circumstances, and wanted me to know that she loved me. I found myself sitting on her lap, and being held in her warm embrace. The dream continued on, but she was gone. I thank the Lord that I was allowed to see her again for this short moment, even if it was precipitated by the sorrow in my life at the time. I love you Grandma Geneva!
This is a picture of Dash and Freckles playing in the cemetery on the day we buried Grandpa Ira in early 2009, right next to Grandma Geneva. It is situated across from the Manti temple, a place where they enjoyed retirement, and worked together as ordinance workers for a number of years.
I made the first quilt of my life in May of 2010, and I'm quite proud of it. It was made with love, and I felt some healing and peace come into my heart, as I put it all together and gave it away. Thanks goes to my sister Susan, for helping me work out the details of cutting and piecing everything together.
One bright highlight of 2010 was the trip that Michal and I took to Alaska. The whole affair was a gift to us from his employers, as a celebration of Michael's ten-year anniversary with the Modellers. We are ever thankful for that beautiful window of respite, and for my family members who kept our children during that week. It was badly needed. Thank you as well to the Brazells who made it possible.
As the year came to a close, we were happy to put it behind us. But I can honestly say I would not change it, because we were compelled to grow tremendously during that time. We know that the Lord was with us throughout all of it, day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute. If we ever doubted his love or existence before, we could not do so again. We have too much evidence to the contrary.
It was about summer of 2011 that life began to feel normal again. This is one of my favorite pictures from that time. Next post, I will try to fill in some gaps for 2011.
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