We Don't Know Why, But We Survived

Not to turn a year-end happy, moment into one of doom and gloom, but if you will so allow, our family is still working through the past several years:

Thanksgiving 2018 - Tere's mom fell while making turkey and hit her head

Dec 6, 2018 - Tere's mom passed away

May 17, 2019 - John suffered a hemorrhagic stroke

February, 2020 - COVID shuts down retirement centers and restaurants where John plays, canceling a slew of jobs for the rest of the year

October 26, 2020 - Tere's dad passed away after almost 2 months on at-home hospice

December 10, 2020 - John is in accident that totaled 2008 Kia (the first new car we had ever bought off of the showroom floor) - I know it sounds silly, but we are still grieving the loss of that van.

The following week John's dad was involved in an accident.

December 29, 2020 - John's dad succumbed to injuries suffered in accident and passed away

2021 spent trying to regroup and build back music gigs while John and his sister and brother-in-law clean out parents house to get ready to sell and settle John's mom in a retirement center.

Nov 5, 2021 - Tere comes down with COVID, and the rest of the family eventually follows suit in various timeframes. John was the last to get it, and his oxygen dropped to 87 and spent 5 days in hospital. 

Dec 10, 2021 - Tornadoes ripped through the midwest narrowly missing us (thank you God!)

I'm sure there are dates and details I left out.

A lot of loss. A lot of trauma! But, God had a plan and still does. We just don't know what that plan is.

For some reason, battered and traumatized, we are still standing. We are still surviving. We don't know why. But, each of us, including the three kids who feel like their childhoods ended in December, 2018, are working through all of the losses and all of the trauma.

Graham had started to take college courses, and his dad's near death life-changing experience through all of that out of whack and put things on hold for him as he still tries to grasp where he's going in life and how to get there.

Jale'na was just starting a relationship with her now fiance' in 2018 when her world stood still and stopped. Her body still feels the stress as she works through some health issues that never seem to go away.

Eliana lost her childhood that December day in 2018 and has since suffered a great deal of trauma and stress from eating disorder issues to misophonia to many more anxiety-related issues. She continues to work through it all.

John suffered physically in 2019 but still struggles to read and make his way through a world that is now forever changed for everyone due to Covid restrictions and other changes. We don't recognize this world.

Tere has been the glue to hold it all together but feels as though she has no one to lean on and has failed her children miserably as she watches them struggle.

Thankfully, God is still in it for us. 

Thank you for reading. I just had to get it all out there on a list.