MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE O'DONNELL FAMILY

Merry Christmas from The O'Donnell Family

As you all know 2010 brought our family a tragedy that has kept us on our toes throughout the entire year. We started out the year with "Hope". Hope that our Mother and wife would make it through the day, week, month and ultimately the year. Our Faith kept us strong during trying times when we just were not sure what the outcome would be. Our Love for each other grew even stronger than ever before and when you add them all together we ended up with a year of Faith, Hope and Love that resulted in a Miracle from our Lord. Our Family is truly blessed this year.

Billy now 18 has grown up so much this year and has become a gentleman. He recently finished high school and is preparing to head off to the navy early next year. Billy is a waiter at local restaurant and enjoys skiing twice a week.

Tana is 16 and now has her drivers license and is a Junior in high school. She has a boyfriend and works at an Ice cream store at the mall, babysitter and hangs out with her friends.

Alyssa is 14 and is in 8th grade. She has been doing great in school to prepare for high school. Alyssa is also a babysitter and enjoys hanging out with her friends. She is still our little artist of the family and she is painting many pictures. She has taken a special interest in her Mothers care and I will not be surprised to see her someday working in the health care industry.

John is 8 and still the smiling joy in our house. He works hard at school work and plays every spare minute with the neighborhood boys. Legos, dart gun wars, Xbox, WII are some of his favorite things to do.

I spent the entire year in hospitals praying next to my wife. I watched her for 6 months as she continued to get worse and worse and while I never gave up Hope I continued to pray by her side and ask God to give her back to her family. I watched my children grow up quickly this year and I was amazed and proud on how well they responded to every battle we faced as a family. They flew out to Florida the week of Easter as I felt that their Mother may not make it and all of them handled it well and the week we spent together in the hospital will never be forgotten.

Michele will attend Christmas Eve mass with the family and she will be home Christmas day to spend the holiday with her family. Michele should be home on January 27th exactly 1 year after her fall and we are blessed to have her back.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Miracle Michele, John, Billy, Tana, Alyssa and John John