Playing catch up

December 2007
Dear Friends and Family,
This has been truly an eventful year for our family. We are all doing fine and our family continues to grow in more ways than one. In January our 2nd oldest daughter announced her engagement to her high school sweetheart of 5 years. We began to set in motion plans for an August wedding. We got the dress ordered and started stocking up on supplies for the decorations. We found material for the bridesmaid dresses and our plans came to a halt.
Last February I had to have an emergency hysterectomy because I was hemorrhaging. That kept me down for a couple of months and left me tired and anemic, but I am constantly gaining on it. I am still blessed to be able to share what limited music ability I have at church by being the ward music director.
In April my dad, eighty nine years old, underwent surgery on his neck to fuse the vertebraes together. They had twisted until the spinal cord was pinched and calcification had grown in between. His discs were deteriorated. They went in through the front of his neck and scraped out the calcification. Then they had to realign the vertebraes and pin them together with a plate. We knew the risks at his age were high. If he didn’t have the surgery and kept falling with his dizzy spells he could be paralyzed the rest of his life, however at his age the anesthesia could cause problems. He went through surgery well, but he had a terrible reaction to the anesthesia afterward. He hallucinated and thrashed out at the nurses and mother. He also couldn’t swallow because of moving his vocal chords and esophagus out of the way for the surgery. They put him on thickened liquid diet, yuck! He was placed in a rehab hospital and moved from El Paso to Las Cruces. This didn’t go well either. He thought we had put him in a nursing home and he wanted out. Mother ended up putting a cot in his room and staying with him. The doctors thought his reaction to the surgery was causing Alzheimer’s and depression and gave him medication that he didn’t need that made his mental state worse. They sent him home with a neck brace and put him on home health care to rehabilitate him. He just has gotten worse and worse. He is now almost completely wheelchair bound and can hardly converse. I miss my dad! My mother has been a saint. She works way to hard and her health isn’t what is should be. We celebrated daddy’s 90th birthday at Thanksgiving in Silver City. All of the kids were there and several of the grandkids.
Steve is still working hard at Transcore and still loves playing golf. He has been such a support to our family throughout all our experiences. He is such a great husband and father and we love him dearly and don’t often enough give him the praise he deserves. He continues to sing in his church Choir and share the talents God gave him.
Kristin is still attending UNM. She has been quite busy. She is in the Relief Society Presidency in her singles ward at church. She is in the institute choir and just did a wonderful Christmas program. She attends religion classes. She is pursuing a degree in elementary education.
Eric is now a junior in High School. He has become interested in Computer Art Design Architecture (well besides girls) and is doing quite well. He has plans to pursue this field for a degree after he graduates. He is the only priest left in our ward at church and has to pull a lot of weight in his church responsibilities. It is tough at times and he misses many of his friends that have either been split into another ward area or have graduated and moved on to college or missions. He has many young men looking to him for guidance and examples. A few new young men will become priests soon. He is still such a help to me at home. I don’t know what I will do when he leaves home. He has me spoiled. He better pass down his skills to his brother Aaron before he goes anywhere!!!!!!!!!!
Aaron is in 4th grade this year and still loves school and reading. He is having a competition right now with one of the boys in class to see who will finish the Harry Potter series first. His first love is knights and dragons though and he has completed several books on the subject. I am still trying to get him into some other genres. He is a great boy and so obedient. He loves God and it shows in all he does.
Our summer was spent making wedding decorations dresses and invitations. On August 4, 2007 Danielle married Chad. She was beautiful and the wedding was so tender and beautiful. It was the first time in a long while that we as a family were able to do music together. It was such a rewarding experience. The kids were having a house built and wouldn’t be able to move in until Nov. so they lived with us for a while. I think they are enjoying having a little privacy now! Danielle is so busy. She got a job as a nurse tech III in the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital. She works there 36t hours a week, goes to school at UNM and still works her job for 10 hrs a week at Defined Fitness Gym. Now that they moved out neither her husband or us get to see much of her.
After the wedding, we (including Danielle and Chad) drove to Utah to be with Matthew and Katrina our oldest. Danielle and Chad honeymooned in the mountains just NE of Salt Lake. Matthew and Katrina being married civilly 3 ½ years ago, were sealed (married for eternity) in the LDS Salt Lake Temple on August 8th. A day we will never forget. They made vows and covenants to God to follow all his commandments and live righteously so to be man and wife not until death do us part, but for time and all eternity. Their children will be born under this covenant and be sealed to them as a family for all eternity. We drove back home on the 12th and moved Chad into the house.
In September we celebrated Mom and Dad’s (Leo and Susie) 50th anniversary in Santa Fe. It was wonderful. Mom and Dad Catanach have also had a rough year with health and stress. Dad’s dementia is continually getting worse and it wears on Mom so much. All of Dad’s brothers and sisters were here for the party. We ate, danced and got acquainted with family again. We hope to stay in touch more often.
After trying to have a child for the last couple of years and going through some frustrating months even seeking help from infertility specialists, Katrina called us in October to tell us that they were pregnant and we were going to be grandparents. They were just getting ready to start some infertility meds when they found out. It is always hard to hear that it will happen in the Lord’s time, but all things happen in His wisdom and timing. It is great to see her so happy. The due date is July 4th, 2008. Isn’t it ironic to have such an independent child have an Independence Day baby! Ha! Ha! They are coming home for Christmas and we are so excited.
Through all the trials and joys this year we have been greatly blessed by the companionship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God our most kind a gracious Father in Heaven. It never ceases to amaze me how much abundance, love and support they pour upon us for even just small little requests. At times I feel my needs are so small and insignificant compared to the needs and trials of the world, and yet no righteous request from me is too small to be granted by God in His time. I feel His constant companionship in all I do. I recognize His hand in all matters of our lives. The more we read his Holy Scriptures, Pray, and ask His guidance, the more blessings he bestows upon us. It is easy to use life’s busyness and excuse our way out of doing His will. If there is one thing I have learned in life is that tomorrow may not come, so live every day as if it is your last and you will be standing before God this day for judgment. Time is a short and precious thing. Make the best of it and have no regrets. If we slip, fix it now and don’t procrastinate.
I pray that we all recognize His hand in all things and show gratitude for His greatest sacrifice in our behalf. He sent His only begotten son even Jesus Christ to this earth to set an example for us to live by. Despite the miracles, love and shedding of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane in our behalf, he was cast down, tortured and hung on a cross for all mankind. As we celebrate Jesus' birth this Christmas season may we more remember that as he was born, yet he lives. He was resurrected, His body reunited with His spirit as we too can be resurrected and live again after this mortal life. As a parent I can’t imagine making that kind of a sacrifice with my own child. God loved all of so much that he wanted all of us to return to him and together with his son Jesus Christ created a plan of salvation so that we might return to him. We don’t have to sacrifice as greatly as Christ for our salvation. We just have to believe, take upon us His name, follow his example and try to live our lives the way he has shown us. We have to live this life not only during the holidays but all year. May we turn to him daily and ask what we need to do to make a difference and do as he asks. He is always with us! “Knock and it shall be opened unto you ask and ye shall receive….” Miracles do still happen every day and will continue to happen because God loves us. May God bless you and your family this Christmas and throughout the year to come is my prayer in Jesus’ name, Amen


With all our love and best wishes for everyone now and always,