Christmas Greetings & the year in review (briefly!)

OK so I though, we are at the end of the year, we have failed to send out many Christmas Cards, so if you haven’t had one from us and expected one the our apologies, if you have received one your one of the few. So if you could accept this little blog post, complete (if it all works) with an animated video Christmas Card! a few shots we took in the snow the other day, as our Christmas Card to you, that would be great.

Christmas Greetings from the Cavanagh Family – Click on the link to get the video, it seems I am unable to import the clip at the moment, for some reason!

Also, the trend these days is towards sending out ‘news letters’ with Christmas Cards, so in an effort to not miss the boat on this trend I am giving a brief (well lets see just how brief when we get to the end shall we!) precee of the year, if your not interested or already know all this just stop reading here. OK so if your reading on then I assume that you want to know the following info. The year started on a  low, certainly for me personally, Depression was keeping me at rock bottom, it got even worse, January, February & March were pretty grim, some of you know just how grim it got but it wasn’t good. Fortunately we have a number of really good friends who have been there for us in our times of need, I cant even begin to mention those who did so much, through this year and the end of last year, to support our family for fear of causing offence by missing some out . Suffice to say, we have been extremely grateful to those who have been there for us, who have supported us in so many ways, who have, at times, walked through a huge amount of mire and grime with us and taken a huge amount of negative stuff from me in the process, you guys know who you are and thanks is not enough to cover it, I love you, each of you and can only hope that, if the tables are turned, I will be there for you just as you have been here for me. Depression is not an easy condition to live with, even more so for a Christian, for all sorts of reasons, but it is one that I have had to live with for some time now, I would readily swap it for something else but God has seen fit to allow this to affect my life and all I can do is trust in him in and through the dark times. At the beginning of the year, for me, everything was so bleak and black that I didn’t really care whether I lived or died, I felt as though I was just existing, and barely doing that at times. In spite of the fact that I started the year so low I have to say that much has been achieved in me this year, it is incredible to think where I was at a year ago and look at where I am now. At Easter we managed to get away to Dalesdown, a holiday run for Families of Autistic Children, we had a fantastic support there, from the team as a whole, both kids had carers allocated to them, allowing us to  have some breathing space. Incredibly, Natalie got offered a place at a special school in the area, this was incredible because we had been convinced, based on the initial reactions, that the LEA were not going to allow her to go without a fight, in the end they just agreed. So it is with very mixed feelings that this summer Nat had her last day at her village Lower school, a school that had really taken her and our family into their hearts and had come to mean so much to us, the staff had all been fantastic, we presented the school with a new ‘friendship bench’ as a token of our gratitude to them for the care they had shown to Nat. During the Spring Bank Half Term, we had the whole house completely re-wired (electrics)  we took the kids away for the week to allow the work to go on unhindered, we went to Southwold and had a great holiday. After we were back I re-decorated Nat’s bedroom, she has had a complete makeover, with new furniture, new lamp shade, new bed, painted walls & border, most of which was chosen by her, especially the girly pink paint. Painting was something I struggled with, I don’t do paint if I can avoid it, but I managed it. During the summer both children went on summer playschemes for 3 weeks, which they both seemed to enjoy. then we went off on another weeks holiday, to Mersey Island, a beautiful little island that is tucked away in Essex, not somewhere we would usually think of going but we had a good time. Whilst we were away, Johys mum and a friend from church got in and decorated our living room, as well as helping clear and de-clutter the rest of the house. The summer ended with me back to work, part time, initially just 3 mornings a week, In the autumn I had 2 conferences to go to, both in London, which is some feat for me as I don’t like travel in London at the best of times, but God was gracious and the journeying, on the second conference, when I was on my own, went incredibly well. In September as well, Natalie started her new school, she is loving it there, and thriving, in no way do we want to criticise her previous school because they were excellent but we have realised even more since she changed school that this was the right time to do it, I think the previous school achieved as much as they could with her and its now over to the special school to work on this and move her forward, indeed the new school have been really impressed with the way she settled into the school and the fact that she didn’t have as many issues as other children coming from mainstream settings, a testimony to the skill and dedication of the staff at her previous school. She is thriving in the school and is a very popular child, with staff and children alike, which is just how it was at her previous school. As for Steven, he is still happy and enjoying life, he has just turned 15 last week and, even though he doesn’t speak it is strange to hear his voice having now broken, when he gurgles and giggles, Steven seems to love life generally and especially loves to swim. We have now had to start looking at his future, beyond schooling, which is a scary prospect in itself. He is still having big problems with hi epilepsy, there has been a sharp increase in seizure rate over the past few weeks as we have decided to try a different medication, which means withdrawing one of the 3 meds he is currently on before introducing the new one, the withdrawal process has an inevitable effect on seizure frequency although not as bad as we had feared it might be. Steven is also a very popular child and all the staff, both at school and his respite placement, love having him, we feel so honoured to have such adorable children, even though they are extremely hard work. Joy has continued to soldier on through thick and thin, she has been a tremendous support to me and taken on a huge extra burden this year as I have been unable to do as much as I should through large parts of the year, this has inevitably left her shattered at times, well most of the time, especially with having to be up at all hours with Steven’s seizures, which mainly occur over night. So to today, I have just finished my last morning in the office this year, it feels good to be able to write that. Christmas day we are at church in the morning then, following on from the success of last years Christmas Day meal, we are out again this year, at a Restaurant, a bit of an expense but one which helps to make our day special.