Happy 2015 from the Stones!

Sorry, friends...this is the ultimate lazy way to send a Christmas card/family update, but I just didn't have my act together this year!
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....
Okay, so that is probably a somewhat hyperbolic way to put it, but this year truly has been filled with deeply and wonderfully joyful moments and also times of deep struggle. As I said to Josh shortly after New Year's, "I really hope 2015 is a little gentler on us."
2014 began with an absolutely wonderful blessing and gift. Hadassah Grace, our beautiful daughter, was born after a very gentle and healing labor in mid-January. As much as I can't believe our sweet girl is almost 1, it also feels very strange to look at photos from 2013 and not see her in them! We got to watch Ben become a sibling (and the sweetest sibling he is, too!) and adjust to life as a family of 4-as worried as I was about having 2 kids so close together, I truly wouldn't change a thing now!
The other major amazing thing that happened in 2014 was that Josh graduated with his Bachelor's degree in English in May after years of blood, sweat, and tears hard work! He graduated cum laude (with honors) due to his awesome GPA in English! It is so great for him to be done, and he really had some great experiences in school with teachers who were very validating of his work and talent (which we all knew he had, but sometimes it's nice to hear it from people who don't "have" to tell you that you are awesome!).
One of the hard things this year is that I developed a recurrence of my foot pain. For any friends who don't know, I developed a foot condition when I was a teenager-which necessitated 7 surgeries between ages 13 and 18. I had another surgery when I was in PT school (7ish years ago) and at first I chalked my increased pain up to pregnancy weight/fluid gain and figured it would go away after delivery. Instead, it worsened, and we eventually discovered that I had a bone spur that had formed in exactly the right spot to shred my peroneus longus tendon (tendon on  the outside of my foot), partly due to wear and tear over time, likely largely due to a work situation I was in for 2 years where I was unable to sit at all during my work day. Unfortunately, by the time we did surgery, enough damage had been done that the prognosis was/is not great. I am almost 8 months out from surgery and my pain levels are uncontrolled and severe. There is one thing left to try which I think we are going to attempt next week-if that doesn't work, I'm not sure what we will do, as I am not okay with taking prescription pain medication as a long(er) term solution-but currently without them I am miserable and struggling to function during the day and lie awake at night waiting for the next time Hadassah wants to nurse. Prayers in this area would be much appreciated-the procedure we are going to attempt will temporarily put me back at immediately-post-op pain levels, but hopefully over the next month to 6 weeks will lead to decreased pain-it should be happening next Wednesday. Josh has really been amazing during this whole time in supporting me as I struggle to deal with daily tasks and a job that is mostly on my feet-he has done tons of driving and taken over pretty much all of the housework, and even runs upstairs to grab diaper changes etc. so I don't have to-I don't think I could do this without him!
The other majorly tough thing this year was that we had to come to the reluctant realization that our current situation (me working, Josh at home with the kids) is most likely a permanent solution.We have both deeply struggled with this realization (and in some ways, we still are)-not because we think the kids are losing out in any way (Josh is an amazing stay at home dad and nurturer!) but because my heart longs so deeply to be with my babies and his heart longs to give me what mine desires. We don't know why this is this way (we have some ideas, but really, does it matter?), but it is requiring a pretty deep level of trust that God will "work all things together for the good of those who love Him." To add to this struggle, we were suggested/encouraged (edited at the lead pastor's request as he states we were not forced to leave-we were encouraged to leave as he felt the church would not be a good fit if we did not change our situation-which I suppose is slightly different than being asked to leave) to leave the church we have called home here for the last 3 years for this reason, so we are looking for a new one-always tough, made more so by the fact that we feel pretty gun-shy about that culture in general at the moment. We have been visiting one that seems promising, so we will see what happens. I really struggle to get out of the house on weekends sometimes (many weeks it is all I can do to scratch and claw my way to the weekend and then I spend the weekend trying to recover enough to do it all over again the next week) so regular attendance is hard, but we are trying to make the effort.
Anyway, as I said at the beginning, we certainly hope that 2015 is a little gentler on us! But we know that whatever happens, we are grateful for our precious family and those we are blessed to call friends! We would love to hear from any of you about how you are doing-belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!