{"id":459,"date":"2010-12-30T12:48:16","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/?p=459"},"modified":"2010-12-30T12:48:16","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:48:16","slug":"looking-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/?p=459","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Lord; Well Father, it\u2019s almost the end of another year.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly been a roller coaster, and I\u2019ve spent quite a bit of time the last few days reflecting on everything that\u2019s transpired.<\/p>\n

Financially, 2010 has been a nightmare for myself and my business.\u00a0 Coming off a very positive 2009, the first half of this year saw one drain after another as the crippled economy took it\u2019s toll on our clients.\u00a0 We adjusted as best we could, and gained some ground back mid-year, but even today we\u2019re still dealing with digging our way out of the hole that was created.\u00a0 And like any other business owner, that shortfall has carried through to my personal finances, putting a significant strain on our household income.\u00a0 The one positive financial change that happened this year was the additional income produced by the wonderful new job Shannon got in September.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t completely balanced out the deficit, but it\u2019s been an amazing Blessing to our household during these rough times.<\/p>\n

Family health was all over the board this year as well.\u00a0 On the positive side, Jonathan\u2019s disease has stayed in remission and he\u2019s done very well this year.\u00a0 Thank You for that amazing Blessing!\u00a0 Shannon had a couple of injuries during the year, including seriously straining her back in the spring and later in the year bruising her tailbone.\u00a0 I managed to get Lyme Disease in the late spring, which caused me some significant issues, but other than some continuing joint discomfort that too seems to be staying at bay.\u00a0 Other than that, we\u2019ve all had bouts of the typical Delaware sinus crud but have remained for the most part, healthy.<\/p>\n

This year was not without it\u2019s heartache as well Father.\u00a0 Following a painful battle with cancer, my best friend of 26 years left us to join You in August.\u00a0 He was a wonderful man, the best man at my wedding, and Jonathan\u2019s Godfather and we all miss him very much.\u00a0 I take great solace however in the fact that he\u2019s no longer in pain, and is now dwelling in Your Kingdom.<\/p>\n

On the positive side though Father, we\u2019ve had a number of wonderful things happen this year as well.\u00a0 As I mentioned earlier, Shannon got a new job this year that has been an amazing fit for her as well as providing us with some additional income.\u00a0 It\u2019s wonderful to see her come home feeling appreciated, and fulfilled with what she\u2019s doing, and I\u2019m very proud of her.\u00a0 We had another fantastic family vacation this summer in the Pocono Mountains.\u00a0 We\u2019ve come to really love Chestnut Grove<\/a>, and the kids are already looking forward to going back there again this coming year.\u00a0 Over the summer Shannon and I also celebrated our 15th<\/sup> Wedding Anniversary with a surprise (to her anyways) Renewal of Vows Ceremony led by the Pastor that married us.\u00a0 It was a wonderful affair with family and friends in attendance, and a time of great joy for us both.\u00a0 And finally, a few weeks back Lord I was truly Blessed to be able to act as Your Emissary to bring two good friends together in the bonds of Holy Matrimony.\u00a0 That was an amazing honor, and Your Presence was obvious to all that attended.<\/p>\n

On the Blessings side Lord, I have actually quite a few to Praise You for.\u00a0 My marriage to Shannon has never been stronger.\u00a0 She\u2019s an amazing lady Father, and my love for her continues to grow deeper with each passing year.\u00a0 My children are growing, and learning, and happy, and healthy and dreaming Father.\u00a0 They\u2019re my light and my inspiration, and I thank You so much for making them a part of my life.\u00a0 We\u2019re surrounded by wonderful friends, and we feel their love and caring on a regular basis.\u00a0 And possibly most importantly Father, this year has been an amazing time for my personal growth in You.\u00a0 I feel Your Presence in my life more and more every day, and give Thanks and Praise for Your Grace in my journey to You.\u00a0 And although this has been a tumultuous time for many of us, I\u2019m quite secure in my Faith that in You, all things are possible.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n

~Phather Phil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Lord; Well Father, it\u2019s almost the end of another year.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly been a roller coaster, and I\u2019ve spent quite a bit of time the last few days reflecting on everything that\u2019s transpired. Financially, 2010 has been a nightmare for myself and my business.\u00a0 Coming off a very positive 2009, the first half of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[514,181,22,529,516,526,340,530,132,236,375,4,245,528,59,534,444,89,471,525,520,121,521,523,519,116,109,222,407,133,234,533,527,515,418,517,531,41,532,227,524,518,522,108,346,379],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-emails-to-god","tag-514","tag-aidan","tag-anniversary","tag-best-man","tag-business","tag-cancer","tag-ceremony","tag-chestnut-grove","tag-children","tag-death","tag-delaware","tag-family","tag-financial","tag-godfather","tag-grace","tag-growing","tag-happy","tag-health","tag-healthy","tag-heartache","tag-household","tag-illness","tag-income","tag-injuries","tag-job","tag-jonathan","tag-journey","tag-joy","tag-learning","tag-love","tag-lyme-disease","tag-matrimony","tag-moses-lewis","tag-new-year","tag-nightmare","tag-personal","tag-poconos","tag-presence","tag-renewal-of-vows","tag-shannon","tag-sinus","tag-strain","tag-tailbone","tag-vacation","tag-wedding","tag-wonderful"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p18mMc-7p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460,"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions\/460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phatherphil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}