My sister, Alena Stevens has had a wonderful year. In October, her daughter, Lacey married Chris Killinger, and with that union came two new bonus grandchildren, Brooklyn and Jaxon Killinger. They joined the two granddaughters, Elliott and Maya Stevens, that Alena and her husband, Mike already had. Brooklyn and Jaxon have been such a great blessing to the whole family. Elliott and Maya absolutely love their new cousins, and the feeling is mutual for sure.
The past six months, have found our aunt, Sandy Pattan needing several surgeries, and facing several crisis situations. She is doing so much better now, and that is partly due to the caregiver’s heart that Alena has. I was taking care of Aunt Sandy, when Alena came to me and said that she wanted to take several days. It was such a blessing. Caregiving is a big job. It takes a village, and having my sister there to share that workload 
has been awesome. Neither of us would consider taking care of Aunt Sandy to be a burden, because it isn’t. Aunt Sandy is a big blessing to our family, and it is very important that she be ok. Alena has been instrumental in making that happen, and now that Aunt Sandy is doing so well, she and Alena have a friendship that is very precious to both of them. They love to do jigsaw puzzles, and so they have been spending hours working on them, and Aunt Sandy has been loving it. The friendship that Alena and I had has grown much deeper too. She is a huge blessing to me as well. Of course, there are others who have helped, and their importance cannot be overstated. We have grown close to Jim and Deb Pattan, as well as Steve and Wanda Beadle, all of whom were very helpful. It truly takes a village to care for someone who has gone through all that Aunt Sandy did. Alena has always had a heart for those in need. her job as a Refocus Room teacher helped so many students who were having difficulties. Now, she is helping in a new way, and that has really presented itself in these hard days. I will be forever grateful to Alena for her help. She has been absolutely amazing.
Since her retirement, Alena has had the opportunity to spend more time in Sheridan, where her son, Garrett, his wife, Kayla, and their girls, Elliott and Maya live. Kayla has to go out of town for work periodically, and Garrett has to work. So, Alena and Mike have been going up to watch the girls for them. I can’t think of anything that Alena loves more. Spending time with her grandchildren is the top thing on her list of favorite activities. It is a win-win for everyone. Today is Alena’s birthday. Happy birthday Alena!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
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