2009 What a Year

2009 has been an interesting, frustrating and amazing year for us. As with most people, this year has been a struggle. A lot of lay-offs in the states, the housing market went in the toilet and well, it was just plain hard at times. However, we also had some positive things happen for us. Not only just for 2009, but for the years to come. We moved to a beautiful part of the world, Mike started a new journey in his career, we made some new friends and reconnected to some old ones. I think all in all it's been a good year. Play along as we list some high (or low) points of the year and show some pictures. (I promise it gets better after April!!!)

January: We embarked on 2009 thinking THIS was going to be our year. This would be the year we would pay off all our debts (we were close too), this would be the year for much happiness and joy. I am never making a prediction again.

February: Marty was diagnosed with Diabetes and Mike was laid off from Microsoft. To be fair, we knew the lay-off was coming. We actually knew for several months. After going through a few, you can see the handwriting on the wall when most around you don't.

March: Marty had his tonsils and adenoids removed. In hopes that sleep apnea was the cause of his seizures. They have tremendously dropped and as a matter of fact the last known seizure was in July right after we first came to NZ. I posted this picture on Facebook. It's not the best because it's from my phone, but out of all the pics on Facebook this one got the most comments.

The tag line on Facebook read "Marty's tonsils...looks like meatballs."

April: I was laid off from Microsoft. Mike started talking about two job opportunities. One in New Zealand and one in China. China would have been a good move for Mike, but it quickly got the nay nay from me. To be perfectly honest, I didn't believe New Zealand was going to happen and stayed in denial until that day in May that he ran upstairs and told me they were in the pay negotiating phase. Then the panic attacks came in waves.

May: Mike signed contracts with Media Design School and the running about to get all of the paperwork filled out began. That was a lot of work, not hard just a lot of paperwork. I decided to start a blog about our move, but thought it best to hold off on starting it until we were actually approved to move.

June: We put the house up for sale (still hasn't sold) and made a mad dash back home to Texas to visit with family. We brought all of the NZ books we had bought with us to show everyone where we were going and about the country. That was also the last month I saw my babies Cooper and Daisy. I am sure they are much happier being spoiled by my Mom, but I sure do miss them.

July: We got the approval to move to New Zealand. WOOOHOOO!! We had a going away party, the movers came and we were on a plane in under two weeks.

August: We moved into our house, the kids started school and they went to their first endo appointment. We also finally had internet. Almost a month of me stealing wireless from a local McDonald's!!!

September: Started The DiabeticDuo and became involved with Diabetes Youth Auckland.

October: We finally celebrated Kelsey's birthday, Mike went on his first business trip to Wellington and my Mom came to visit us. We also learned how to understand the all too common "yeah no" conversations the Kiwi like to have.

November: Celebrated a very subdued Thanksgiving and took a road trip to the Glow Worm Caves.

December: Experienced our first warm Christmas.

We also traveled to quite a few locations around Auckland. We visited Muriwai, Auckland Domain, Motat, Kelly Tarltons, Glow Worm Caves, Piahia, and the Harbour.

While I am still not going to make any predictions, I will say that we are looking forward to 2010. I know we will continue to make new friends, visit more beautiful places and face more challenges. We are ready to take 2010 on and know it offers us hope and excitement. Happy New Year Everyone!