Stats of 2012

Happy stats...the stats of things made!

16 prayer shawls. Definitely my biggest prayer shawl output, and puts the total number I have made at 51.
7 baby blankets for project linus.
2 baby blankets for friends.
6 scarves
4 pairs of mittens
1 hat
2 draft stopper snakes (made from odds and ends of yarn).

Happy stats.

Especially when compared to the unhappy stats I am privy to in following things such as the childhood cancer world, the pediatric heart world, and the world of adoption.

This morning's email brought the sad news that Alyssa Divers' battle with osteogenic sarcoma was over, and that Ethan Hallmark has relapsed again with neuroblastoma. Ariel Gariano and Lily Anderson recently finished their battles after years of rhabdomyosarcoma and neuroblastoma...two words that are so atrocious that my computer's spellcheck doesn't even accept them until I teach it that they are, unfortunately, part of the english language. The adoption ban for USA parents to adopt children from Russia may soon take effect...

Sometimes, in the midst of this, you really think that perhaps it would have been better to have had the Mayans or Harold Camping be right. But then I remember that God has set us here for a purpose. We were never promised an easy life, only that we would not be alone in our walk, no matter how difficult it became, and that we all have a purpose. Words to remember. Live each moment to have a purpose...sometimes, that purpose will be to just relax and do nothing and thereby take care of yourself...sometimes that purpose will be to help others, sometimes that purpose will be to take care of God's creation. Obviously, it's hard to live each moment with purpose, but I really think it comes down to living meaningfully instead of rambling and idling through life as if someone else is driving. This is our life.