2023 in Review

One of these years we will send a Christmas letter that will be an actual physical letter and photo, but this year is obviously not that year.  I think we were too busy having fun!  

We still love the exercise of thinking back through a year and recounting the blessings of the Lord.  This year there have been many!  There have also been hardships along with the highlights, and while here you will just read the highlights, we are grateful that the Lord gives us His own presence and also faithful friends and family members who share our highs and lows.  You know who you are!

This year saw our oldest turn 30 and our youngest two graduate from college.  There was a mission trip to Greece, an epic graduation trip to Europe, and fun little trips to camp in Canada and to watch the Vols play in Alabama. 

Terry is still flipping houses but has changed his business model to renting first, then selling.  He also finally finished fixing up our basement apartment and Sprinter campervan to rent, and both efforts are going well!   This year Terry has taken up two new hobbies during the waterskiing off season- sculling a one-man boat and unicycling.  No injuries yet!  We are so blessed that the MS he was diagnosed with ten years ago continues to slow him down very little.

I am still working from home as a therapist to dyslexic students.  I see about ten students for one-on-one sessions about  twice a week and love the challenge of figuring out how each of their brains are operating and how to best help them. 

Rebecca and Joseph are still living in Virginia with their two small children (who shall remain nameless on social media).  Joseph got a nice promotion this year but is still hoping to relocate to East Tennessee when he gets the chance.  Rebecca does a little photography on the side but is mostly living her childhood dream of being a full-time mom of these two:

Nathan is still working as a nurse in the trauma ICU.  His big news this year is his girlfriend, Hannah, also a nurse and a sister of one of the guys in his Bible study.  He's got a big hiking trip to Machu Picchu planned for 2024. 

Caleb and Meredith have settled in Knoxville.  Meredith is working as a nurse in Oak Ridge, and Caleb took a job as a tax accountant with Pilot Oil.  They've renovated their kitchen this year.  They have been great babysitters to our dog, Piper, when we travel, but last week they got a puppy of their own - our first granddog - Rocky!

Noah graduated in May with a degree in theater and psychology (with minors in deaf studies and studio art).  He took a job with the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina  in Hilton Head, SC.  He’s been enjoying doing a lot of painting. 

2024 is going to start with a bang!  We are headed to Greece on January 10th to work at the Mavrovouni refugee camp on Lesvos. 

Turning 2

 On the day after Thanksgiving, we celebrated our granddaughter’s birthday with the extended family.  

There was a very large cake - larger than it was supposed to be because I misunderstood my directions from Rebecca.  Anyway, I made the cake (vanilla) and the frosting (buttercream), and Rebecca made the filling (biscoff) and did the actual decoration.  It was truly one of the best cakes I have ever tasted and was actually COMPLETELY eaten within a week.  Those are full-size plates and napkins in the photo to give some perspective.  

This little girl definitely loved being the center of attention and was thrilled with her presents - almost all baby dolls in need of bottles and band-aids!

Trillium Gap Trail to LeConte

I had a really fun hike with my sister-in-law, Ann.  I didn't find out until afterwards that this hike was partly to commemorate her one year anniversary since finishing her cancer treatments.  I just thought she wanted to hike Mt. LeConte.  

She originally thought we'd spend the night at the top, but I convinced her we could go up and back in one day, which we did quite easily!  In fact, I don't think I've ever had a major hike go so easily - I think it's because we were able to keep interesting conversation going the whole way!

We chose the Trillium Gap Trail - the one the llamas take to bring supplies to the lodge on top.  It is a 14 mile hike with 3400 ft of elevation gain.

Next time in the snow!

This Year’s Away Game (#TheTideCameIn)

Last year we started a tradition of going to an AWAY game with the Hudsons.  Last year was LSU.  This year was Alabama.   We had a lot of fun until the second half, when the game took a turn for the worse.  

One funny experience was going into a Walmart with my Tennessee gear on.  An old man greeted me with a big “Roll Tide.”  His wife smacked him, and he just said “She had to know that was going to happen to her.”  Well, it was definitely not the last Roll Tide we heard.  In fact, the folks in Tuscaloosa say it ALL.THE.TIME.

We had fun seeing the tailgating scene and also hanging out with my niece, Allie, at her ROTC tailgate. 

Saw lots of interesting-looking people from both fan bases.

It was beautiful weather at the game, and Tennessee was so dominant in the first half that we were enjoying watching the Alabama faithful get more and more depressed.  

We took these selfies during half-time, right before Tennessee self-destructed.   There were no more photos.

Maybe next year . . . . . 

Camping Trip to Bruce Peninsula

My sister and I wanted to camp together in early October, and we wanted to head north for a preview of the fall color.  I ended up just looking at a map and saying “Hey, what’s that bit of land sticking into Lake Huron?”  Turns out that is Bruce Peninsula.  We started reading up on it and chose it as our destination.  

Ann and David took a several-day trip to get there, but Terry and I decided to drive it in a day in our campervan.  It was a VERY LONG day!  Our camping spot was on Cyprus Lake, just a short walk inland from Lake Huron.

From our camping spot, we would take a short hike to the Grotto - 

A short drive to the visitor's center - 

Or a short drive into the cute town of Tobermory - 

One day, we took the ferry to Flowerpot Island and saw some shipwrecks from our glass bottom boat:

We spent about half a day walking around Flower Pot Island - 

Terry and I also took a hike along the Bruce Trail which goes all the way to Niagara Falls - 

And all of us took a sunset hike on the western side of the Peninsula (most of the interesting topography is on the eastern side) -

We also had time to play Canasta* - 

I thought it was quite a fun trip! Terry said it was way too far to drive!  We did have mostly great weather.  Most of the fall leaves were on the drive up to the peninsula and not on the peninsula itself, where there were mostly evergreens. 

*I must share a story about one of our games while it is still on my mind.  I want to remember this years from now.  Ann and I have been playing this game since childhood, but in this game we made back-to-back unbelievably bad moves.  Followed by a little gift from God.  

Here's how it happened.  I was one card away from a natural canasta.  Ann discarded that card to me (big mistake), I didn't pick it up (even bigger mistake), and then the play went to David and Terry.  Ann picked up the deck on Terry's discard and got her card back.  I commented how we all knew that there was one more card like that still in play.  It was obvious that the guys didn't have it.  I said out loud that I wasn't going to pray for God to let me draw that card, but if He just wanted to show me how much He loved me, that would be great.  I then proceeded to draw that very card!  We were all a bit stunned.  All I could say was "He loves me.  Wow!  I knew it, but it seems He just wanted to tell me."