The end of the year always brings time for reflection and intention as we begin the next year. This year is no different. As the year ended, we lost a very special person in our family - the matriarch - Amy's aunt Louise. She was 96 years old, extremely sharp classy lady - always gracious. Amy had taken the habit of calling her weekly as she lived in an assisted living home and was lonely, so got to know her determination, her wisdom, her strength. She was an incredible lady and she will be greatly missed. We were blessed to call her our aunt, and so many memories with her as she lived here in Orlando over the years so even the kids had a chance to get to know her well - and a favorite memory was playing UpJinks with her (coin game) and hearing stories about her younger years. We are thankful for the hope of heaven so that we can see her again!
Before she passed, Amy's mom was able to go up to see her in Chattanooga where she lived, along with two of her siblings (Marge and Jim) and they face-timed in Don and Gene - so the six remaining siblings were all "together" at one time which was special. There were 9 total, with three sisters already passed away (Bonnie, Jeannette and Marion).
Another new chapter in our lives, along with our friends the Js, is that they ended up buying a tear down house on Bear Lake, selling their house (so that they didn't end up buying high and having to sell low in the crazy real estate market) and moving into their RV.....in our back yard (this happened in mid October, but we're just getting around to posting about this update on our blog)! Good thing the Zs have 2 acres, becuase we have lots of room, a septic tank and as extroverts we may have just been born with the DNA for communal living - it has been a great experience so far and the kids have had great fun playing outside and making memories together. Amy and Kelli lived together when we just graduated from school so we knew that we'd have no problems as our families have been close now for several decades.
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| Our backyard all decorated with lovely angels and chairs! |
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| And we've enjoyed some campfires for s'mores as well together! |
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| Erik, Elin and Addison have enjoyed making a pretend "town" in the backyard and play out on the soccer field a lot! |
Addison had the fun of going over to the Js tear-down house and taking hammers to the wall to do some demo before the true demo tractors came and took care of it - very fun experience for her and it was fun to see the house coming down (Kaleb and Addison both went over for that part!)
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| On the roof before the machinery gets started! |
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| Watching from a safe distance |
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| Always the climber....watching for her perch. |
One chapter ending, or maybe we'll call it pausing, is Addison graduated with the completion of phase one of her braces! She will now have a short break until more of her teeth come in and then it will likely be onto part 2 of braces as her mouth is very small and won't fit (without some help) all of those teeth!
A new chapter for Kaleb is that he got a small yard job this Fall for Amy's old boss who lives nearby, and so now he is gainfully employed ---- and got his very first bank account all of his own! Hard to believe these boys are growing up so quickly!
At work, Amy is entering into a new phase of experiences in 2023 - her IHS team is being re-organized, her boss is shifting to a new role within the company, and Amy's role will likely morph in 2023 - a new challenge is always fun and Amy is praying for God's guidance and wisdom for whatever the road holds ahead. More to come on that front as things settle in for the new structure.
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| Final Christmas party for the IHS team - thanks Mike for a great experience |
And for other general updates, the fun activities in December always keep us busy and hopping!
World cup soccer was one for the legends - we were rooting for Argentina (really Messi) and what an incredible game it was - even for non-soccer fans it was incredible!
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| Zach had a few friends over to watch it with him |
Semester finals found the boys studying - much to Zachary's horror - not a lover of studying, and Kaleb was doing a high school level math class for the first time so this was his first experience. They both did well on their finals - good job boys!
And in random pictures:
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| Two baby boys now all grown up bigger than their mama! |
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| Never too old to play drums on the kitchen pots |
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| Umm, this is what it would look like if men could be pregnant! |
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| Reading through our book that holds our annual Christmas letters, and the kids' "Year in Review" questionnaires. |
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| We went to a local house that puts on an amazing Christmas light show complete to music |
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| never lose the chance for a selfie with your teenager - they grow too fast! |
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| hot and cold treatment for their feet |
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| Uno Voce program at Forest Lake Church |
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| Addison was part of the church's praise session, when they had a handful of kids come up and sing parts of the songs |
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| Christmas picture with Mimaw and London |
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| Having fun at her friend Michael's birthday party (She was the only girl there but that did not faze her one bit!) |
.HEIC)
