Advent! And a life update

Hey all! Been a while since I updated this blog, eh… Well I thought I would keep myself organized by posting an update every so often in December to show off all my advent calendar adoptions and Christmas presents and all! So first off here is Este from the PLAC. Bred by Kathleen and very cute!

Regrettably I have been pretty absent from Petz all year so I just wanted to write a (maybe too personal) update. I have missed the community while life kept me away. Advent always brings everyone out of the woodwork (myself included this year) but I do intend to stick around as much as I can.

Anyways, 2024, like every year, has been a year of ups and down for me. The first little while was life as usual. I made a line of NIB cream patch & sheepie coat tail dalis! And showed some of my 2023 advent petz.

For all last December and the first bit of this year, Tom’s dad was having major health issues and over the course of many discussions we decided that the stress of providing month-to-month for him & Tom’s mom was just not sustainable at his age and that the two of them should move into our basement permanently. It was a big adjustment (largely just making the space for everything in our little house) but we are making it work. In many ways it has made my life better and easier! But my computer is still downstairs basically in what is now their living room so it felt strange to sit and petz like I used to. I did get a laptop for us to use upstairs but getting everything transferred from my super-slow desktop is just a work in process. Getting there!

Also starting last year our church community was getting too large for the building so Tom and I signed up to help spearhead starting up a second location with a new priest. This has been a massive and wonderful adventure but has involved a lot of time and work and commitment. Through this we have met many lovely people and feel so glad to be part of it. The best thing is that there are a lot of babies in our life again. We love babies!!! But I don’t want to birth anymore babies 😛

September marked the start of my third year homeschooling Adam but now we had Owen homeschooling as well and it definitely made things more complicated and chaotic. Overall I think things are going well but I do struggle to get them to focus and do work. In my mind I waffle back and forth over whether this is normal and fine and enough, or whether I should be stricter with them and make them accomplish more. In my moments of self-doubt I remember all my meetings with the person who facilitates between us and our school board– and, honestly, thank God for this woman because she is reassuring in her support and person, having homeschooled all her own children to illustrious ends. Anyways, I am still happy with my choice but there are some hard days.

Over the summer my best homeschooling buddy– really the reason I had the confidence to actually homeschool at all in the first place, how lovely and encouraging this girl is– was having health problems and getting a new theory every time she went to the doctor. Persistent cough? Walking pneumonia?

Then just a couple months ago the hammer just slammed us all– she has stage 4 lung cancer. She’s in her 30s, never smoked. Her son is Adam’s best bud. We can’t know what will happen. For a while she looked and seemed so healthy and so herself but as time goes on there is visible deterioration. My brain just can’t comprehend that my best friend could really die. Obviously this weighs heavy on my soul at all times and often I’m one thought away from crying. It’s so unfair that this is the lot of this sweet person. But as much as she has given life to everyone around her in past years, she is getting it back in support now and it is easy, heartening, and an honour to help her now in this horrible time.

So, it is with a more sombre heart that I come to advent this year and I have to say how truly grateful I am to the petz community for the good cheer and festive spirit! Hug your friends close, you just never know what life has around the bend. ♥ ♥