Our Year In Review

We say this every year, but, as we ring in 2011, it really is difficult to believe that another year has gone by.

2010 began much like it ended, with sickness in our home, medications and dosage cups lining the counter. Our house was on the market and after sharing our bedroom with an infant for nine months, we were eagerly looking forward to moving into a bigger home. We celebrated my grandmother’s 95th birthday with a party at our house. We enjoyed a long weekend visiting our good friends, the Kings, in San Diego where we spent the weekend laughing, sailing, and watching our boys play together. We are thankful for our good friends. After we left San Diego we drove up to Oceanside where we met up with Fernando’s parents and were reunited with Fernando’s brother, Oscar, whom he had not seen in 20 years. It was wonderful getting acquainted with him and his family and we were blessed to be able to introduce Daniel to his two “new” cousins!

In February our sale went through. As the house we were planning to move into wasn’t going to be available until April, we began contemplating where were going to spend the month of March. We happily celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary on February 8th.

Thanks to good friends, we were able to move the first weekend of March. It was bittersweet leaving the home we purchased when we got married, but, seeing as our family has outgrown it, we were excited to be starting a new chapter. We were blessed to spend the next six weeks in a beautiful home, much larger than we needed, but SO enjoyable.

April brought yet another move (our 5th in three years) and hopefully the last for a little while. 

May was a month of milestones and mourning. We celebrated the 2nd birthday of our sweet little princess. She has grown into such a beauty and is as charming as can be. She definitely knows how to get her way with the help of her big brown eyes and ridiculously long lashes. We were thrilled and a little saddened as we watched as our firstborn don his first cap and gown and graduate from preschool. In a blink he’ll be headed off to college and we are determined to treasure every moment we have with him. Unfortunately, close to Mother’s Day, my grandmother was hospitalized because of a very bad cough. We all thought it was a cold that had gone bad but quickly found out that she had stage 4 lung cancer. Our family was shocked at the diagnosis and struggled to come to terms with the fact that her time with us was limited. At the time, we didn’t know just how limited. Meemom passed away on May 26th. It was an extremely difficult and emotionally trying time for us, but we were blessed with visits from almost our entire extended family and, amidst the pain, built lasting memories.

In June, we happily celebrated Isaiah’s 1st birthday. We were amazed at how quickly his first year had gone and are still in awe at how much he has grown and changed. He continues to amaze us and bring smiles to our faces every day.

July is yet another birthday month in the Orona house and this year we celebrated BIG. For Daniel’s 5th birthday we decided to surprise him with a birthday trip to Disneyland. It was not uneventful, as an allergic reaction to some latex balloons landed us in an urgent care in Anaheim and warranted a shot in Daniel’s behind. But he quickly recovered as we headed down the road to the Happiest Place on Earth. He had a blast and enjoyed some quality time alone with Mom and Dad.

August brought continued heat and the anticipation school starting. Daniel started kindergarten at Westar Elementary and fell in love with it instantly. He has grown and learned so much since starting school and he never ceases to amaze us. He is bright and eager to learn.

We spent most of September trying to adjust to our new school schedule and I, quite frankly, had the hardest time figuring out how to get three kids up and out the door before 7:30 am everyday. Sofia took a big step and moved from her crib to a “big girl” bed. To this day, she still hasn’t mastered the concept of staying in her big girl bed. We’re hopeful that 2011 is our year! Fernando and I we’re blessed with a weekend away to San Diego, thanks to a conference he needed to attend. We were able to enjoy some quiet time on the beach, an adult only dinner with Ron and Susan, and a fun evening out with my brother and his girlfriend, Wendy.

October was eventful, to say the least. We enjoyed seeing Daniel in his first school program, in which he played a crow. It was the perfect part for our energetic, chatty little boy! Mid-month, I underwent a long overdue surgical process and finally had all four of my wisdom teeth extracted. The procedure went very well, but the recovery was much worse than expected. Severe nerve pain kept me on strong meds for the next three weeks and made managing three young kids very difficult. Thankfully, Fernando picked up the slack (and my medications) and I learned a VERY important lesson. Percocet is my friend! We also began passing around the first of about 100 head colds we would experience throughout the remainder of the year. In spite of the runny noses, we celebrated Halloween, Orona style, which included pizza with Grandma and Peepaw and trick-or-treating. Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Yoda came back tired and toting pounds of treats!

November started with a bang and a trip to the pediatrician’s office which will never be duplicated- one parent, two toddlers, and six immunizations. We welcomed much cooler weather and enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with family and very good friends, the Hermans.

December was jam packed, but what fun month it was! The month started with a much anticipated trip to New York City for my mom, sister, and I in honor of Mom’s birthday. It was one we’ve been dreaming of and planning for years and it did not disappoint! We spent five days roaming Manhattan, seeing sights, shopping, eating ourselves into oblivion and loving every minute of it. It was the perfect way to kick off the holiday season. Poor Fernando willingly stayed home with the babies and began battling a nasty case of the stomach flu that would sweep through the house in the coming weeks. Once again, this year, we were able to take the kids up north where we spent a day celebrating Christmas with my sister and her husband and then headed to Williams to take a ride on the Polar Express. The kids had a blast and we couldn’t help but enjoy watching the wonder and amazement on their faces as we headed to the North Pole and Santa boarded our train. The rest of the month we spent enjoying the season with our kids, watching Christmas movies and looking at Christmas lights. Fernando and I were blessed to be part of the Christmas Eve services at Palm Valley Church and are humbled to have been able to be part of these services for the past 8 years. We enjoyed the holiday season in spite of the cold and flu season, which we have yet to conquer.

We are thankful for our home, Fernando’s job, our church, and the nearness of our family. We pray God’s richest blessing on you and your family in the coming year and look forward to 2011 with hope and anticipation that the Lord has amazing plans for us and is able to do exceeding abundantly more than we could ask or think.

Happy New Year!

With love,
Fernando, Eileen, Daniel, Sofia, and Isaiah