This time last year we faced a rather bleak Christmas in hospital.  So we have been really looking forward to spending Christmas at home with Angela as a family.

Angela has been mostly well since her birthday in November.  But she has had several boughts of high temperatures.  In fact I’m writing this at 2am on Christmas Day because Ange woke up in quite a state.  Her temperature was high again and she had pulled out her nasal gastric tube so her feed had spilled all over her bed.  Jen and I have just spent the past 20 minutes cleaning her up and her bed, replacing the tube and settling her back to sleep.  These high temperatures seem to be becoming quite regular.  Every couple of weeks she’ll get them for a few days then settle back down.

When Angela isn’t battling high temperatures she is still having great difficulty with her digestion.  She often spends several hours in discomfort when passing a stool.  This can be very stressful for her and us.

On the upside we are seeing more and more of Angela’s personality.  She has started “chatting” in the past couple of weeks and now says “da da da”, “bwa bwa bwa” and several varations.  This has seemed to open up a whole new world of communication.  We love having little conversations with her and she seems to love being able to chat away back to us.  The most beautiful thing to see is Lydia’s interaction with Angela.  Lydia has ALWAYS adored her little sister and treated her with love and respect.  She plays peekaboo with Angela and reads her stories.  The following video is a perfect example of this.  It was recorded early in the morning and straight onto a computer.  So Lydia is singing slowly because she is watching herself in the computer screen.

In the past month we have moved to the Blue Mountains.  It’s very peaceful here and we have a beautiful view towards the south-east of Sydney.  Our home has more space than our apartment in the inner west.  We are also living much closer to Jen’s parents.  I (Paul) am working from home full time from an office in the garage.  So it’s been nice to be around the family more.  Jen has continued her work from home job coordinating drama examinations.  She  plans to return to her university study from home next year for her secondary teaching qualification.  We are going to the church where we got married, Jen grew up and her parents now go.  Although we miss our old church and friends there we have been able to connect with a local community immediately, which has been great.  We have also connected with some of the wildlife!  A couple of weeks ago we were stunned to see a posse of peacocks walking on our roof!

So Merry Christmas to all from The Richards.  We are still here even if we don’t post as often as we used to.  And we really appreciate all your prayers, love and support.  Thanks to all our family and friends for your support this year.  Please leave comments below as we love to read your messages.