Wow - it has been over a year since my last post - let me give you an update on 2010.....
Clayton
Clayton started the 3rd grade this year at Beech Elementary. He moved to "Little Beech" this year to be closer to my school, and it also works out great with grandma Dyer working next door at the high school. Clayton has done very well in school (as always) - he really loves reading adventure stories (for fun), Math, and Recess (in his own words). This year, Clayton has really found his true athletic talents - he is a defensive specialist in just about everything he plays. We already knew that in soccer he had a special talent for finding and taking away the ball from the opposing team. This spring in baseball, Clayton got the chance to play shortstop for his team all the time, and made a habit of stopping some really good hits from the other teams! He was known by the other coaches for stopping and knocking down lots of their line drives! Clayton also started playing football this fall - Tim and I were very nervous at first (OK -maybe just Mom) but Clayton proved to be much tougher than even we thought. We were not sure what his football talent would be - but soon found out that defense was again his specialty. Clayton played cornerback all season (occasionally on the line) - he made lots of other boys twice his size cry when he put them right on their backs! haha He even managed to pick off a few passes this season - so exciting! Football was something that he really loved playing - and we found out he had a great talent for it! I think he will probably be able to take that natural defensive talent (from Dad I am sure) and be able to play with lots of teams in the future!! Clayton continues to love to play video games (the Wii is his favorite), loves Star Wars shows and toys, and loves to play outside with his dogs. Clayton has a great sense of humor and is an all around well behaved and polite young man. We were thrilled for him when he got one of the "lead solos" in his school musical for Veterans Day - he did a great job, didn't seem nervous at all, and showed that true Nagel musical talent - again from Dad! We are so proud of him when his coaches come up to us at the end of a season and talk about what great sportsmanship and work ethic he has for them and that they would love to draft him on their teams in the future. That makes us very proud of him as a person/athlete/student/son!!
Briley
Briley started Kindergarten this year! She also started at "Little Beech" with Clayton - we think this has made the "new school" thing easier on everyone! Briley has done so well this year - her teachers constantly tell us what great progress she is doing with her reading, sight words, counting, etc. We are very proud of her and she absolutely LOVES school and her teachers! It has definitely been a year of "firsts" for her so far - first day of school, first field trip (to a local Pumpkin Patch), first time riding on a bus, first lost tooth, etc! She is really growing up fast and we get a little teary when we notice it! She also got her ears piereced (for her 5th birthday in April) and recently got all that beautiful blond hair CUT OFF right below her ears in a super cute bob that she has wanted forever! She is just hilarious - never stops talking at home, constantly needs attention from someone, and yet has the sweetest heart and is so loving towards everyone. She loves Barbies, iCarly, baby dolls, playing "school", doing crafty projects, and playing outside. We have promised her that she can start taking gymnastics classes in January and she is very excited about that!
Angela
Just a short update on Mom....
School - Still LOVE teaching technology at KDDC Middle School - I work with the greatest staff, have the best bosses, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to work there. Got to start a new Volleyball team there this year - LOVED being able to start coaching again. My co-coach and I worked so hard this fall and we can't wait to start again in the spring with our 2nd year team. I missed coaching so much - I am so happy for the chance to start that again now that my children are a little bit older! Still get to work with teachers in my school and around the county teaching them new tech skills and coaching them with using the new programs - my favorite part of my job! I have gotten to part of some great committees for this and hope to continue to build on this.
Fun Time - Still love going out with Tim for date nights - most nights we are home doing "TV date night" (is there such a thing) - we make a point to sit by each other and cuddle on the couch, chat between commercials or while making kids lunches and snacks, and catch up on our favorite DVR shows like Dexter, True Blood, Fringe, and our Thursday night comedy shows (you know all the ones we can't watch while the kids are around). I try to read more these days - I am dreaming of the day I can own my own Kindle and read all the time....:-)
Tim
Ok, here is big one - anything new with Tim this year? If you know us, have talked with me lately - then you know the answer to that one is a big YES.....
Just to recap from this time last year - Tim had been having problems since about February of 2009 with his epilepsy. The medications were not working, he was having breakthrough seizures, new symptoms from the medications they were adding to him, and new seizure symptoms. He had a constant battle each day just to get up and get to work from Feb. through October of last year. By November, he had to go on permanent medical leave from the bank b/c of his health. Needless to say, last year was a really dark, low point for our family. Tim was struggling with his health, and our family was struggling just to survive. It affected us at home and at work - it depleted us spiritually, financially, emotionally, and any other way you could imagine. I often think of that time now as being in the bottom of a well and seeing the light up above, yet knowing no way to get there.....
I can write all this now that we have come through the other side - if you asked me about how things were going at this time last year through about May of 2010 - I would have just broken down and cried - so I tried not to speak of anything to anyone and we basically just hid for about 6 months. Our family was trying to get out of the valley that we had been placed in for whatever reason.....we are still struggling spiritually to answer that question.
In February and April we traveled to Minnesota to visit the Mayo Clinic there. They have the #1 rated neurological surgeons and doctors in the country - we knew it would be out of insurance network, knew the costs involved in just getting there - but we went anyway. We were out of options at that point - the doctors here just kept medicating him to death and had no new ideas for us at all. So we went - LONG story short - after 2 weeks there, they determined that he had been treated incorrectly for about 7 years now and started him on an entirely new treatment plan. We were hopeful, skeptical, and grateful when we left.....
Now it is 8 months later - and I have my husband back! Tim is the man he once was - happy, healthy, 65 + pounds lighter, new job that he LOVES, and our family is back on track. He is once again the father, husband, and man that he was always trying to be even through the daily health battles. I am so happy and proud of him - he smiles so much more, is happy to do even the smallest things as a Dad and Husband, and can't wait to get up every morning and go to his new job as an Accounting Manager at a large local benefits adminstrative firm. I am so thankful that we made that leap of faith to travel all the way to Minnesota (by CAR both times and once with 2 kids in the car - not recommended by the way) to visit that hospital.
If I can say one thing about 2010 - it has been our family's re-birth literally. From 2009 to the end of 2010 - we were on an emotioal roller coaster. Now, as we wrap up 2010, I feel as though the roller coaster has stopped, is parked, and we are all getting off together to go to the next fun event in our lives as a family. Thank you for any prayers, thoughts, comments, etc that you offered to us in this last year - I know they were heard and I know they contributed to those doctors in MN that helped save our family and my husband.
We absolutely can't wait for 2011!!
