So, maybe y’all remember that 2009 was NOT OUR BEST YEAR AROUND HERE.  And if you are new around these parts, then Hi! and yes, 2009 sucked like our Hoover Wind Tunnel.

But we in this Woestman house try to turn our lemons into lemonade whenever possible.  It may take us three to six months to be willing to put forth the necessary effort to make said lemonade, but we will do it.  Just you watch us.  So we needed to have a party.  A kind of party where we burned something, because I like burning things.  OH!  A 2009 burning party, of course!

I decided I’d either burn IVF paperwork on how to give yourself injections or a leftover pregnancy test.  (UNUSED pregnancy test, of course.  Gross.)

With that in mind, we invited our two bestie DTS couple friends who have each had a rough, nay; I’d go so far as to say HORRIBLE year as well.  And, honestly, without these friends we wouldn’t have survived our year.  That day in May I was having lunch with Laura when Joey came rushing over to find me at Potbelly so he could take me back to the hospital, and Luke & Becca watched our little Henry for us for I can’t remember how long while I was in the hospital.  They did these things for us, and so much more over the last many months.  We have no immediate family down here, but with friends like these it becomes more OK to be so far away.

These friends have totally gone above and beyond the call of friend duty.  We totally love them.

Sometimes when I think back on all the amazing ways that our friends and the people at church have helped us, I feel totally lame.  I feel like I have been so caught up in MY stuff and MY pain that I have forgotten to be there for my friends when they might have needed me.  Here’s hoping that in 2010 I can figure out how to have a hurt soul and still pour into other people selflessly.

Because that is NOT easy.

Anyway last night we had a mini potluck and they each arrived at the door with some delicious food item, and SOMETHING TO BURN, BABY.

I set the lemonade on the table (because, yes, I had made lemonade for the party because I thought that it seemed appropriate) and we sat around and ate, and laughed, and talked and played this game called…what was that game called?  Querkle?  Yes, Querkle.  I EVEN WON ONCE ON ACCIDENT.

I never win anything.  Not even games I’m good at, because I talk too much and don’t pay attention.  Same reason I’m bad at fishing.

Anyway, Querkle is kind of like Scrabble with shapes and colors instead of letters.  (I’m still undecided if my Mom would like it or not – she’s a Scrabble aficionado – and I tried to figure it out for the entire game.  But I think she would because it’s a game that would be good for homeschooling, and Mom likes pretty  much everything that is good for homeschooling.)

After two rounds of Querkle, it was time.

TO BURN.

Becca took charge of the camera either by accident or on purpose, because there are no pictures of either Luke or Becca.  You will just have to imagine you know what they look like, unless you are one of the lucky people who actually DOES know what they look like because you are friends with them too.

And as far as Laura goes, If I posted one of the two pictures we got  of her last night she would unfriend me on Facebook if I posted on this here blog.  And I don’t want that to happen.

So.

Mostly it’s pictures of Joey and I BURNING OUR 2009 STUFF.

First Luke & Becca their list of dreadful 2009 things.  It was pretty long, Internet.  They couldn’t think of any one thing to burn, so they just made a list and threw it on the fire and with a quick pffffffft, it was down to ash and glowing embers and was gone.  If only things could really disappear that quickly, right?

Then, MY TURN.

First, I burned our IVF schedule.  I wadded it up and threw it on the fire and POOF, there it went.

Then I burned the Presby Infertility 101 packet, filled with information about the different kinds of tests they could perform, complete with the really creepy descriptions.

GOODBYE CREEPY DESCRIPTIONS.

Then Joey burned the IVF Retrieval & Transfer instructions.  That Retrieval day was the most stressful day of my entire life, so let me tell you I was glad to see those puppies go up in smoke.

The waxiness of the paper made a very impressive display when Joey threw it in the fireplace. It pleased me, considering how much stress and ulcer-inducing tension had been all tied up in the instructions on that paper.  And the crazy thing is?  WE HAD DONE EVERYTHING PERFECTLY.  And it still didn’t work.  So…

…BURN BABY BURN!

Next up, Josh & Laura.  Josh burned the Three Year Th.M. plan from DTS and we all laughed really hard while we watched it go up in smoke.  Because that’s how the Three Year plan pretty much always goes, you try to do it and you’re about there…and the last year your life GOES UP IN SMOKE. Incidentally, Joey and Josh and both been on the Three Year Plan; neither one of them is pulling it off, either.  Those summer sessions burn you out.

Four years is good enough for all of us, I tell you what.

And, with that, 2009 is symbolically behind us.  I’m so ready for 2010.  I’m ready to be excited about something again. I’m ready to see what’s around the next corner.  I’m ready to look back on 2009 and figure out what I was supposed to learn from all of this.

I can almost see it, too.