2021..or as I like to call it, “2020 the Sequel.” This year started out a few hours before the new year began with the surprise return of the missing piece, my Baby B, Paige. She returned from nearly a year deployed with her Army unit. There is a pretty good video of the shocked look on my face. I was wearing my “2020 was still better than my first marriage” shirt. Apparently he had the same shirt, so at least we agreed on something! Early the morning of January 1st Paige and I headed out for her to see her new rental house and do some shopping. There was another moment caught on video (security video this time) when Paige forgot that freezing rain causes the ground to be slick and totally wiped out in the driveway!
Early March James and I and Paige and Peyton did a weekend in Indy for their birthday. The hotel room was not ready when we got there, when we came back later the girls’ room had someone else’s belongings in it and clearly had not been cleaned. We got some more humiliating video of Top Golf. It is super fun but I very bad at it.
Spring break we headed to the Dells. Reese brought her friend Lily and we went with Stephanie and Gary Tidwell and Micah and his friend Max. The resort was super crowded but the trip was great fun. Steph and I headed to the outlet mall and my shoe shopping was interrupted by a call from my sister telling me that our pool was gone. Gone! She sent pictures. It was crazy. Our dog sitter assured us the pool was right where he left it a few hours before! Thankfully the DVR on the security cameras caught the moment the 18 thousand gallons of pool water spread across the yard . (Can anyone tell that our luck on trips is traditionally not the best?)
We tried our luck at a trip again at the end of May. This time we increased our chances of better luck by going on vacation with Matt and Kristin Shuey. They are the good luck charms of trips. We spent 10 days split between Orlando and Bradenton. Both part 1 and 2 of the vacation were fantastic. The weather was amazing. It was a great trip to have fun and then recharge with some beach downtime. The only drawback, besides having to leave our absolute favorite place, was the poor fishing luck. And we won’t forget the Chinese Fire Drill and my apparent obsession with hot sauce!
We stayed close to home the rest of the summer, definitely no swimming! Reese had a great time at church camp and basically running around outside all summer. We occasionally saw the twins, they have the audacity to have their own lives at 21 and are super busy.
Summer turned to fall and Reese was back to school, sixth grade has been a little easier (for James and I at least) than fifth grade. Reese continued with
Gymnastics and dance. She attends Sunday night youth group at Connexion and spends as much free time with her friends as possible. I am loving having all the pre-teen girl giggles in my house again. James went from night shift to day shift this fall. This has been a huge change! He is not particularly happy about all those pesky cars on the road during the day that get in his way.
It is December now and I am writing this year in review recap quite late. My Facebook memories from two years ago today are pictures of us relaxing around a fire pit at the same Orlando resort that we are currently staying at. I walked around the grounds and tbought back on that last family vacation with the five of us together. It really was a great trip. I am so very blessed with amazing memories and am excited about making new memories in the future. This trip just started, but the Shuey’s did not come with us. So it is not a surprise that the room that we were assigned to and tried to enter with two twelve year olds and our luggage was ALREADY OCCUPIED! Lol.
Seriously though, God has been so very good. God has been teaching me, or trying to teach me about having faith and to be content in my circumstances, not in spite of them. I am also learning that my responsibility to others is to love them.
Hebrews 11:1-40 is worth a read to challenge your faith by reading about examples of faith.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11:1 NL
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Beautiful family 💜
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