How 2007 Will Be Better Than 2006

2006 has been a very hard year for my family, but looking back on it, there are ways to make the new year better.

We started the year by gaining a new member to our large family. A five year old step daughter was removed from her parents home and placed in ours. We already had her 7 year old sister, so now my family consists of 2 teenagers, a college student, and two little girls. It has been a very hard transistion for all of us. The 7 year old was used to being the baby, and now a new person, who she barely knew, was moving into her room, wearing some of her clothes, and playing with her toys. The five year old was confused and not very happy with the whole thing either. The rest of us were just bitter with the whole situation, but it was something as a family we had to do. With time, the situation has gotten better. We have all accepted the changes we had to make. I am still very bitter. My first resolution is to get counseling. I have 13 more years of raising this child and I need to give here the best life I can give her.

In the middle of the year, my father-in-law died. We have not spent much time with family members in the past, because we live so far away from them. We are planning more small trips to visit the people we love and they are in turn planning trips here to visit us. You never know when we will be removed from this world, so it is important to enjoy loved ones as much as possible.

The end of the year has been the roughest for us. My husband has been diagnosed with colon and liver cancer. The colon cancer has been removed, but we are still dealing with the cancer in the liver and the chemo. Cancer cannot be prevented, as far as I can see, but there are ways to make it harder for it to develop. Healthy eating and excercise has to be a good start. We both are overweight and he has high blood pressure. We are looking at ways to live healthier in the new year.

I wish you all a prosperous, healthy, happy New Year.