Pics 2008

Christmas Newsletter 2008

Another Year Has Passed

It's hard to believe that another year has already passed. It seems like just yesterday that we were sitting down to write last years blog. As 2008 rolled in we were optomistic that it would be the best year ever...Jeff and I would be celebrating out 5th wedding anniversary, we both still had jobs and everyone seemed to be doing well. Well...it wasn't quite the year we thought it would be. But glad to say, we still have jobs.

As last year was ending Melissa's brother was in the midst of a divorce from his last wife but we were all happy that he had came back to South Bend. Since then he has met a special woman with a 10 year old daughter. Lora, Melissa's brother's new girlfriend, connects with her brother on a level that no other relationship has...an intellectual level. For once it seems like he has finally met the person he is supposed to spend the rest of his life with. She's great. She likes the Cubs and Notre Dame, graduated from an IU school, and feels that her faith life is important. Its also great to see Marty so happy. And we look forward to having Lora as a new sister-in-law sometime in the future...its inevitable!

After the tree was down...

A few days after Christmas (on December 28th to be exact) we had to put our dog Sadie down. Sadie, who had been Melissa's Grandma's dog, came to live with us in late spring 2007. By fall we realized that the tumors on her belly were growing and by October she had become incontinant. We made the decision that rather than let her suffer that it was best to put her down. Her eyesite had gotten so bad that she couldn't see and began running into things. It was the hardest thing Melissa has ever had to do because she was so attached to Sadie. She not only taught us things though...she taught our other dog, Faith, how to get along with another dog. When we had adopted Faith in 2004 they said she'd have to be the only dog because she didn't get along with other dogs. Well, in February 2008, for Valentine's Day, Melissa got a new dog. Rockne, another Boston Terrier, has joined our family and Faith has accepted him as her own little brother.

We also began volunteering with a Boston Terrier Rescue Group. Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue group is a no-kill rescue group located in Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio. We assist with transports of some of the dogs and volunteer at events. Nothing is greater than the unconditional love of a dog. Our dogs are our children as we continue to deal with infertility. We keep hoping and praying to get pregnant but still no luck. Melissa's doctor has even stopped asking if we'd like to try something else in the realm of fertility treatments.

5 Years...we made it!

May 24th we celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary. As part of our celebration we saved money to go to Jeff's cousin's wedding in San Diego, CA. We were eager to go as we had only last been to California when we were in Lake Tahoe on our Honeymoon. Plus, to celebrate his cousins wedding made it even more fun to see some of the cousins again. It seems as though the only times we see each other anymore is at funerals and weddings. It was a great wedding done U.S. Marine style and while we were there we got to do some sight seeing. We arrived in San Diego on May 18th and left on Sunday May 25th. While there we stayed at the Lawrence Welk Resort with Jeff's parents. It was a beautiful resort and we had nice hot weather for the first couple of days only to be followed with rain and cold weather every day after. This is California! It shouldn't be cold and rainy! Funnier yet, while visiting a friend of Jeff's parents who lives in nearby, it started to hail and there was a tornado spotted about 30 minutes from where we were at. A tornado! In California!

We visited the Sea Lions in La Jolla on our last day. If you ever have the chance you have to go see it. Not only is it awesome to see he sea lions but the area is beautiful. On the day of our anniversary we attended Matthew and Maria's wedding on the base at Camp Pendleton. After assisting our table with finishing off 10 bottles of champaign we decided to relive the cake sharing incident from our wedding and ended up smashing it on each other like we did on our wedding night. We loved San Diego and California and hope to someday return.

Back to the Convent....

Earlier this year Melissa received a letter stating that there was going to be a former Sister's reunion. Melissa was a bit nervous about going. It had been 10 years since she left the convent and many of the women attending were older than her and had left in the 1970's and 1980's. Finally, she agreed to attend as long as Jeff was going to be there too. It turned out to be a great weekend. Melissa was able to reconnect with some of the former sisters that left within the year or two before she had and also to make some new friends. The most touching part of the weekend was a prayer service remembering the Sisters who had passed on. From the ceremony in the Catherine Kasper Living Center Chapel everyone processed to the cemetary and placed lit tea lights on the headstones of the Sisters they wanted to rememer. Later that evening when it was dark and everyone was leaving the Kasper Living Center after entertainment, looking at the cemetary was touching as what seemed like hundreds of lights were flickering in the dark. It was amazing. Melissa is grateful for her time as a part of the Poor Handmaids and for the time for healing that occured in August at the reunion.

Not a healthy year...

Again Melissa, Jeff and her siblings walked in the Sunburst 5k here in South Bend. Unfortunately her dad was unable to do the walk with them this year as his health declined a little in the last year. You may recall from last years letter that we, along with her siblings, walked the Sunburst 5k with her dad in 2007 to celebrate his recovery from his stroke. This past February and March he had 4 episodes of passing out, including one time where he was rushed to the hospital and where initially they told us his blood work came up showing that he had had a heart attack. Turned out to be a lab error and he was released the next morning. But, regardless he doesn't have the energy he used to. He watched as we crossed the finish line for him and we even had recruited a couple people that were walking behind us to push us when we wanted to give up, which was needed. Turns out Melissa tore a tendon in her foot near her ankle during the walk. This fall she began therapy and wears braces to also start stretching out the achillis which are tight and slightly torn. Turns out she has a bone chip on both heals that nearly tore the achillis.

Melissa also started having headaches daily during the summer and out of concern she made an appointment with the doctor. By the time she saw the doctor in August she'd had the headaches daily for almost 12 weeks. Concerned that she had the same genetic problem with a thin blood vessel in the brain as her dad, the doctor ordered a CT scan. A week after the test was done we found out the culprit of the headaches...black mold! As we were preparing for out of town guests and recalking the tile in the shower, several tiles fell off to reveal black mold on the drywall. Turns out that when the pipes were fixed in the shower last year the plumber sweated the pipes which caused moisture on another area of the tub and the caulking would not stick when it was done. As a result, everytime a shower was taken water got in the wall. We hadn't been planning on redoing the bathroom at this time. We ended up replacing all the tile with a tub surround that afixes right to the studs. It looks much better and the headaches have gone away.

As we write this, both of us are down with a horrible cold. It has hit Melissa's parents and siblings all within the last month and now has hit us. Jeff has had it for 3 1/2 weeks now and is on an antibiotic. Melissa is going the organic route and attempting herbal supliments and teas. We hope to be healthy by Christmas.

Our Christmas Wish

With the economy problems as they are, everyone is hurting financially and barely making ends meet. We completely understand that. Recently we became aware of a story of a local family whose children are being poisoned by lead paint. The Grandmother is bedridden and the little kid's mothers can't find work. They can't afford to fix the problem with the paint and with the economy they can't get loans or find work. The health department is able to get a grant to help them fix it but the family has to come up with $1800 first because of the grant requirements. We didn't have alot of money but we could at least try and figure out resources to help them find food to get through Thanksgiving. When the story of this family hit the local news, hate and negative comments abounded online. We were astonished how people could be so negative. People made comments about the family needing to find a job and pay their own way and even commented negatively about the young mothers being bad mothers because their children had been exposed to the paint.

Our wish this Christmas is for compassion. It's so easy to judge others when we are struggling in this economy...when some people don't know if they themselves can pay their bills. If our world could become more compassionate and help each other out, we'd be able to survive these trying times. Even thought we couldn't afford to help this family financially, they were so grateful for the food we were able to get donated to them. This Christmas, pass it forward. One kind act can cause a tsunami of love.

Peace to all. --Melissa and Jeff

The Letter....Christmas style

I apologize for any of you that have come online to view the official Christmas letter and saw the shorter revised first posting. Here is the official letter that was sent out:

So what has gone on this year? Last Christmas we were fortunate to have Jeff’s entire family in for the holidays. It gave us a great chance to spend time playing board games, going to movies and basketball games, and just visiting with each other. Due to everyone living so far away from each other, these opportunities are few and far between.

January and February led to plenty of men’s and women’s basketball games at Notre Dame, It kept us busy and helped pass those cold wintery days. March and April were pretty quiet but May and June kept us busy. In May, Melissa’s oldest niece Sarah graduated from High School and we celebrated being married for 4 years now. Its hard to believe that 2008 marks our 5th Wedding Anniversary.

We marked June with a visit from the whole Murawski clan. Jeff’s 35th birthday was at the end of the month and his brother Kenny and his wife Katie were planning on leaving a day later for a whirlwind trip around the world. The start of their trip began with them visiting South Bend. Jeff’s sister Kim and nephew Lance came in town as well and we all went down to the lake house that Jeff’s parents and aunt and uncle jointly own. Evenings of card games and trips on the lake provided for a great visit. The day before Kenny and Katie were to fly out to Italy the family spent the day at Navy Pier in Chicago. Aside from the thunderstorm that plowed through that day, the time was well enjoyed.

This past July, Melissa’s sister delivered her second child prematurely on July 22nd. Delaney was born 6 weeks premature. She is doing wonderfully now and is such the princess. We also had the opportunity in early August to get away for a few days and drove down to Bedford, IN. Bedford is the Limestone capital of the world. There we visited a farm in which an underground cavern was discovered many years ago. If you ever have the chance, go to Spring Mill State Park. There we were able to visit an old pioneer village, a working grist mill, as well as the official Gus Grissom Museum. We also got to connect with one of Jeff’s former college buddies who he hadn’t spoken with in 12 years. On our return trip home we stopped at Oliver Winery for a tasting and fell in love with some of their wines.

This year also saw a change in Melissa’s family. You may recall last year Melissa’s Grandmother had a stroke in August of 2006. In June of this year she moved in with Melissa’s mom and dad and put her house up for sale. At the end of October the house sold and the entire family worked over 2 1/2 weeks to clear out her house in preparation for the closing. It was a time filled with memories or our childhoods as we pulled box after box out of crafts, decorations, picture albums, etc. She has settled in to Mom and Dad’s house but there still tends to be times where the two matriarchs don’t see eye to eye. Grandma will be 92 this February.

This past August we also had the opportunity to celebrate with Jeff’s Grandma and Grandpa Honkoski their 60th wedding anniversary. Many of Jeff’s cousins and out of town aunts and uncles came in for it. It was an interesting drive that evening as thunderstorms and winds blew in, bringing in a fear of a tornado. Fortunately we had nothing to worry about.

This year at work we were both faced with the question of whether we would have a job as of January 1, 2008. St. Joseph County faced a large budget crisis to the tune of $10 million. Until October many departments didn’t have clue as to what faced them. To top things off, Melissa, who basically ran and worked her department by herself for 4 months on her own, had to write three grants in less than a months time. One of the grants, a state grant, was cut once again. If Melissa is unable to obtain additional grant funding in 2008 for 2009, one of the positions in her office will be cut. For 2008 both of us have a job. Please keep us in prayers for the next year.

Overall our health has been doing okay . Melissa, a self proclaimed klutz, dislocated her clavicle this spring in an attempt to catch a domestic rabbit from our backyard. She did eventually catch him. This summer she messed up a tendon in her foot and for a few weeks was wearing a walking cast (boot). All these appear to be related to a much larger issue which she will be seeing a doctor about after Christmas. Melissa has Fibromyalgia and has begun experiencing addition pain not conducive with her Fibromyalgia. We hope that the doctor can find the root of the pain and help it get under control. Other than for a few colds that we both have experienced already this holiday season, we maintain fairly good health.

Additional prayers are asked as we look into the possibilities of adopting. This fall, Melissa was approach about a young woman who was pregnant and planning on giving the child up for adoption. Shortly after we expressed interest to this young girls mother in doing a private adoption, the baby’s father returned to the picture and it seems as if our opportunity has slipped away. Our dreams of having a family seem to get slimmer and slimmer as each year passes. Please keep us in your prayers.

After Christmas we will also be putting to sleep one of our beloved pets. Sadie, Melissa’s Grandma’s Boston Terrier whom we adopted from Grandma when she moved in with Melissa’s mom and dad, has several cancerous tumors wrapped around her bladder. She has increasingly become more incontinent and has for the most part gone blind. She sleeps most of the day and is bound to wearing a doggy diaper at night. The tumors have been growing fairly rapidly and rather than have her suffer, we thought it important to give her one more Christmas before she goes to doggy heaven. Sadie was a rescue dog through Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue. She had been abused and neglected. Her oral health was never cared for so shortly after Grandma got her she began to lose teeth. She loves to cuddle close up to Melissa on a warm fleece blanket. Melissa and Sadie are very close and it has been very difficult for Melissa as we’ve been preparing mentally for the day we say our goodbye to her.

As we write this, Melissa’s brother Marty has moved back to South Bend, IN from Bridgeman, MI. It is nice to have him local again. This year, no more than in the past, family means a lot to us. We wish both you and your families a very merry Christmas. May all of your wishes be granted and all your dreams come true.

Merry Christmas,

Melissa and Jeff
Murawski

Oh What a Year It's Been

Its been quite a year and we've decided to write our Christmas Newsletter and post it online. The cost of the ink and everything led to us to go technological this year. So much has happened in the last year and we can gladly say that this year there have been no major deaths in the family to report. For this we are grateful. We have included pictures in this blog to see what we have done and where we have been this year.

This year saw change for Melissa's family. You may recall from last year's newsletter that Melissa's 91 year old Grandmother and her Dad both suffered strokes last fall. While Melissa's father has made great strides in his rehabilitation process, Melissa's Grandmother has needed to sell her house and move in with Melissa's mom and dad. This has been a real change and a challenge as Melissa's mom and dad are often the babysitters for Melissa's neices and nephew.

This year also brought a couple additions to Melissa's family. Melissa's younger sister, Melanie found out right before Christmas that she was expecting her second child. Delaney Rose Dolph was born a 6 weeks premature in July and spent almost 2 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Although born premature, Delaney continues to develop and is obviously not slowed down. She is a beautiful 4 month old baby!

Earlier this year we welcomed an addition into our family. We welcomed into our home Melissa's Grandmother's dog, Sadie. Sadie is a 14 year old Boston Terrier with bad breath and recently developed cancer. While we don't believe that we have much time left with Sadie, Melissa and her have gotten close and we are hoping to help her live out her last days to the fullest. The thoughts that soon after Christmas or shortly after the NewYear that we will have to have her put to sleep are difficult. Sadie has been a true gift to Melissa. Recently Melissa was having problems with migraines and Sadie refused to move from her side, making sure that Melissa was okay. Since that day Melissa and Sadie have been inseperable.