Christmas Cookies

As you can see, Anne is doing really well. She is enjoying hanging out with friends. There was a neighborhood Christmas cookie decorating contest – Anne is #6. We think her sweater cookie has a good shot at winning. Anne, Cassie, and Lillian are planning to go to Discovery place tomorrow, and I think they are going to have an amazing time.

Anne is struggling with food and appetite. Foods that she used to love do not appeal to her anymore and she has a very strong gag reflex to most things right now. We are trying to plan most of our holiday activities to not be centered around food – it is harder than you might think. Earl, Ami, Evie, and Aiden are coming over to watch a movie with us on Christmas Eve, and we will just have some appetizers on the counter if people are hungry. We are so blessed by our family who are just willing to adapt and make it special.

The past couple of weeks have been hard for all of the Ostendorf family members. Anne has continued to struggle with sleep and then she has her new challenges with food. Clark has been finishing the semester and trying to cut weight for wrestling. Clark also had a pretty bad virus last weekend. We were worried not just about him, but about him exposing Anne. Thankfully, Anne did not get sick, and Clark only missed a day of school and a weekend wrestling tournament. It was the first time Clark ever missed a wrestling event, and that was hard for him. Stephen and I have both been pretty busy at work, and we both have a full January and February work calendar. 

Anne has kept busy with puzzles (thank you to my friend Garrett for a new 2,000 piece puzzle that promises to be very hard). She also was able to tutor a student in Algebra 2, and that was such a positive experience. Anne has a strength for explaining math in a way that people can understand. If her first method doesn’t work, then she says, “oh, this other way might make more sense to you.” I love that about her, and I know she loves talking about math. Anne also has started learning to crochet and make carpets. There is this special tool that you use to make carpets. It is fascinating. She has also purchased wire, rocks, and other materials for a 3-D art project that I just know is going to make a big mess – she is very happy.

Speaking of art…my brother, Earl, was one of Anne’s first art teachers. He is an illustrator, and his company has a major Christmas Sweater contest every year. Everyone is an artist and they all make their sweaters/shirts for this event. The contest is intense and the bragging rights are very important. I thought you might want to see Earl’s submission to this year’s contest. To give you perspective, I don’t think he has ever won the contest. He works with some crazy-talented people.

Clark is in the height of wrestling season. He placed for the first time ever at an individual tournament a couple of weeks ago. It was such a great experience for him. Stephen and I were both able to go to his home meet at Catawba Ridge on Wednesday night. The picture below is before the meet, and it is the first time I’ve seen him out on the floor doing “his Captain thing” before the meet. Here is a link to a Fort Mill Prep Sports article about the meet from Wednesday night. Clark won both of his matches. The second match was one of those crazy, heated matches where everyone was yelling. The coaches from the other team seemed way too intense (and said some ugly things), both teams were on their feet screaming, and all the fans were yelling. It was an intense back and forth, and I was so nervous. Clark won. If he had lost he would have moved on and been fine, but I think having a winning moment like that will stay with him. Wrestling is such an interesting sport because you want to win for your team, but you are on the mat alone. I was glad that Stephen and I were both there and that Anne felt good and didn’t need us at home. (Clark is the one in the black sweatshirt in the picture. You can only see his back).

We have a relaxing Christmas planned. Anne has chemo next week after Christmas. I was thinking about writing how thankful we are as this year ends? I also thought about writing what a hard year it was, and that we are looking forward to starting a new year…. Those sentiments do not seem authentic. The truth is that we still feel very much in the thick of things, and I don’t feel particularly reflective as 2023 comes to an end. I know there will be time for everyone in our family to reflect, but right now we are managing, mitigating, and moving forward. We are doing our best to do that with love for ourselves, love for each other, and love for all of you who love and support us.

Merry Christmas!