This Could Really Be Three Different Posts

If you have come to my blog looking for our Christmas letter, please click on the picture in the sidebar just to the left!

We have had a crazy three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas...

L got sick within an hour of returning from Albuquerque (think 10 hour car trip).  I am so thankful it wasn't in the car this time! M was only sick once in the wee hours of Monday morning and managed to drag him himself to school for 3rd-7th hours. The rest of the week was somewhat normal.

On Tuesday of the next week, Hubby decided he would have his wisdom teeth taken out the next day (the next opportunity would be while family was visiting and it really needed to be done since they were starting to cause some problems.)  Tomorrow?  Well, we're normally not that spontaneous, but ok.  Thursday, M had a doctor's appt. and Aunt came to the rescue because Hubby was still quite dizzy from anesthesia so she drove.  Before the three of them returned it started icing so what would have normally taken them 20 minutes to get home turned into two hours.  And we were out of school Friday. And Monday. And Tuesday.

Hubby's parents arrived Wednesday (did I mention Hubby went on a business trip Tuesday - Thursday of this week?) and his brother and fam arrived Thursday.  Brother graduated Saturday morning and we had Christmas Saturday night.

From Hubby's Trip

Brother with mortarboard, Hubby in other regalia - he sat with faculty

Everybody was gone by Monday and Tuesday Hubby started saying he didn't feel so well. (Thank goodness I had already planned to have a sub for Wednesday morning for M's other dr's appt.).  Back up just a sec - in the midst of these three weeks I had my second official observation at school and evaluation.  I also had terrible shipping woes (a friend said I should blog it) - I ordered my grandmother's present and right when I hit "submit" I realized that I hadn't put her address in.  I called right away (and waited a long time to actually talk to someone) and got that fixed.  Phew!! While all our family was visiting I got a box delivered.  I guess I didn't make that same discovery when ordering my sister-in-law's present!!  And I had been so excited to get free shipping!!!  Too bad it was free shipping to me and we still had to get it to Colorado!!!!!!!

The nice people who have our last name and live around the corner with the same house number and street number (I kid you not - everything is the same except we live on "Place" and they live on "Avenue".  Well, our first names are different, but I guess Fed Ex doesn't take that into account) called us to let us know they had our box from Omaha Steaks.  I'm sure they were returning the favor for me delivering their box of fruit to them two years ago.

Hubby's brother (not the one who was just here, but the one CO) called to say his box from his Mom had arrived and all our presents were in it.  "Our" box with his family's presents in it is scheduled to arrive today.  See I'm not the only one in the family who does this kind of thing.

Back to Hubby not feeling well.  Wednesday afternoon, he tested positive for flu.  He did not go out of the house from then until this morning for church.  Even then, we quickly made our way to the balcony so not to expose people to any lurking flu germs.  M was in the Christmas choir so I'm glad he felt like being there.

The whole reason I actually started a new blog post was this picture.

I took it before I talked to the good friend who suggested I write about the shipping hilarity.  We had a bit of an ice storm this weekend.  Just bit - no power outages (for us) and no slick roads - just beautiful crystals on elevated surfaces.  I was amazed when I saw that the ice formed on these leaves blown to the side instead of dripping down.

Amazing.  We got a Christmas letter from a friend who said their year had been one of contentment.  My heart was so warmed to hear that because this friend has been through some difficult years.  The craziness of my three weeks pales in comparison to her (and many of your) difficulties.  My heart was also "checked" - this craziness was definitely only ordinary life.  Am I content in the craziness of ordinary life?

Amazing? Content?  I think I'm on to something for a Word for 2013.  And this verse....normally I see people quote it during difficult times, but I think it is applicable always. Even in the ordinary.  I think our Amazing God does this and as it is happening, we can have great contentment.

Zephaniah 3:17

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁷ The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Christmas Letter 2013

From my desk I can see the snow has tapered to light flurries.  With a snow day from school, it seemed like the perfect time to write a Christmas letter.

Last year I did a month by month photo recap, this year, you get a family member recap...

Hubby - Hubby completed two marathons this year and will start training in January for a half-triathlon.  (L. shares Hubby's love of running and has done cross country this year along with some 5ks.)  Hubby was promoted in his job from a director to a "dean".  He also continues to keep busy with the boys and has started a remodel project at my Dad's house.  Our whole family fell more in love with our new niece this year, but ultimately she's the apple of Uncle Debbie's eye.

A (me) - I was able to enjoy a couple of weekend trips at the beginning of summer with my bestie and with my sister (Aunt).  It was actually one of the best summers that I can recall - mostly because of cooler temps and normal everyday stuff.  While I didn't make a job transition this year (I was very thankful that our new principal extended my temporary contract.), I moved from second to first grade.  I work with a team of veteran teachers who take wonderful care of me and I absolutely love my class!  I am amazed at how much first graders can do and understand.  As there is so much controversy surrounding education standards right now, I just do my best to love and teach each individual student.

M - M. started playing tennis in the spring.  Even though he switched schools (local public to a private Christian school), he will be able to keep playing.  He continues to be interested in leadership - in his church youth group and at school.  He is the freshman class vice-president and attended the district and state Student Council conventions.  I just can't believe he will be making college plans in a few short years!

L - I mentioned L's running love and cross country earlier.  In the spring he raised a large amount of money (this year was his turn - M. has done it in the past) for Relay for Life (thank you friends and family).  I don't think he ran at the Relay event, but had fun for the evening with Aunt and then flew by himself the next morning to join the rest of us for our niece/cousin's dedication.  L. also continues to be involved in Scouts- he loves camping and is about to earn his next rank.  Currently, he is on Senior Patrol as the Chaplain.

We were so blessed to spend time with far away family so many times this year. We made our annual Hockey trip to Dallas in February, family has come to visit (and will be again soon!), we vacationed with family in July in Virginia and the Outer Banks, the boys spent time with their grandparents before school started, we camped in Colorado, saw more fam in OKC, and just spent Thanksgiving in Albuquerque. We are also blessed to see Aunt often. She even picks the boys up at school every Wednesday and takes them out. L's new love is Starbucks!

That's about it for the Smith family.  I'd love to hear what your family has been up to this year - please use my blog or FB to exchange a greeting.

We hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son 

into the world that we might live through Him.  I John 4:9

One Thousand Gifts - Vacation and End of Summer

1596  Family trusting us with their son, my nephew, for a week of vacation
1597  The taste of salt
1598  A beach to go with the humidity
1599  A complete night's sleep
1600  Running and screeching from little ones as the waves roll in
1601  A breeze
1602  Discoveries
1603  Little hands
1604  Nephew saying something was wrong with the crabs because they were walking sideways
1605  Entertaining dinner conversation from the cousins
1606  L and J driving on the beach
1607  Watching the pelicans fly just off shore
1608  My teenage son holding my hand walking from the boardwalk to the van
1609  Watching the lightning bolts striking just beyond the Sound
1610  Family to help guide our boys
1611 Transportation down the coast
1612  Photographs
1613  Being well enough to sleep
1614  Ice cream truck stopping RIGHT in front of the beach house
1615  History and learning new things - the person who took the famous photo of Orville and Wilbur Wright's first flight was a surfman at the life saving station we visited.
1616  A less stressful start to the school year
1617  90% of summer bucket list complete
1618  Everyone pitching in to have the house ready to be shown
1619  Both boys having friends to do something with on a Friday evening
1620 Hubby's help with beginning of the year craziness
1621  Perspective
1622  God's hand
1623  Watching the sailboats framed by the trees at the lake

One Thousand Gifts - From Summer

Still counting my blessings - updating from summer (at least until vacation) and pressing on to reach a goal of 2000 by my birthday next April.

1571.  Stretching

1572  Air pop popcorn

1573  Cold creek water

1574  Christmas cards

1575  Summer bucket list

1576  Beautiful color in the front and back flower beds

1577  Relying on God

1578  Time to read a book

1579  Help in the kitchen fro a five year old

1580  Sunday School parties

1581  Hubby's leadership

1582  Safe return from Scout Camp

1583  Much cooler temperatures

1584  Blog posts

1585  New book

1586  Sunday afternoon

1587  Amazing life

1588  Love is amazing

1589  Visiting with old friends

1590  Visiting with new friends

1591  I will take this humidity any day!

1592  Cabos and fireworks

1593  The floor wasn't as bad as we thought

1594  Fun finds - old reading group t-shirt

1595  Very fun 4th of July with family and friends

One Thousand Gifts - It's Been A While

A while? It's been a year!!  I've written some in my journal, but I was shocked to see that I hadn't posted them on my blog in a whole year!  I'm not even sure if Ann Voskamp links them on Monday's at A Holy Experience or not.

I've decided I'll list everything from when I stopped through the end of the school year in one post here, I'll put everything from summer in another post and then I'll be able to start anew.

1541.  Oklahoma skies
1542.  A walk with Hubby
1543.  No bake cookies
1544.  Aunt being with us
1545.  Improvement
1546.  Similarities
1547.  Goodwill
1548.  Sleeping til I wake up
1549.  A Romo jersey for six years
1550.  God is still patiently teaching me
1551. Teaching on margin
1552.  Learning to use digital Bibles
1553.  Birthday Love
1554.  A clean classroom
1555.  Supportive Words
1556.  Lunch, walk, and other time with MIL
1557. Amazing answers to prayer
1558.  The "envelope system"
1559.  Meeting new people
1560.  Room for growth
1561.  Indian fry bread
1562.  Needed refreshment
1563.  A evening with a child
1564.  New columbine
1565.  New mulch
1566.  Nephew's remembrance (Aunt Winna - baseball tournament to benefit cancer research)
1567.  Finding what M needed - suit for cotillion at a good price
1568.  Looking forward to something
1569  New framed photos
1570  Fun of an online jewelry party

A New Chapter for Dad's House

Almost two and a half years ago, I ended a blog post with this " I am very happy to have this done though. There are some odds n ends left in the house, but it’s mainly cleaned out (but not clean!)."  It was in reference to cleaning out my parents' house. (You can read the whole post here.)

Now we're doing the odds n ends and the cleaning!  Really cleaning.  Hubby (with some M & L help) has taken out two closets and part of a wall, pulled up part of a floor and replaced it, made a water line to the fridge, moved the hot water tank out of the bathroom and moved the washer and dryer from the kitchen to its' new spot. 

We have a new dumpster, but not as big as the first.  All that demolition is going in - in with all the things we saved before and now aren't quite sure why.  After I left yesterday to pick up M., Hubby and L pulled up all the carpet and threw it away.

What's left? Well, Hubby would know better than I - he's good at this!  Replace some windows, take some furniture to an antique store if any family doesn't want it, sell the deep freeze, maybe move a doorway, replace the front door, fix some more floor, add in a kitchen cabinet, majorly clean, clean the cabinets and paint them inside and out (my job), have the fireplace checked, put in carpeting and linoleum, and anything else that needs done!

This project is perhaps physically and financially harder, but not quite as emotionally difficult as the first.  The hardest parts - picking the coins up in Dad's room and knowing they were ones dropped out of his jeans pockets behind his bed and cleaning out all the scraps of papers in Dad's spice rack.  The rack had absolutely no spices, but it was a good holder for all those papers written in Dad's handwriting - the four of us and Aunt's birthdays, our phone numbers and Dr's numbers, a recipe or two - and a few business cards from people who had fixed things for Dad.

It does make me wonder why we didn't do this for Mom and Dad ten years ago.  Dad probably wouldn't have let us!

Ranger Lakes Family Getaway

(I know this post is mostly pics. Please bear with me.) About a month ago, we met Hubby's Mom, Brother and Family at his other Brother and Family's home outside Denver.  After some preparation (but not much - Bro 1 and Sis had outdone themselves getting ready for this trip), a dozen of us made our way to our camping destination. (This picture is missing Mom and Bro who were in "town" getting supplies and Another Sis (Pink) and Babe. Well, me too - the photographer.)

 

We camped at Ranger Lakes and spent quite a bit of time there fishing.  Even though at times it felt like all it did was rain, we really did have nice breaks to get outdoors. Pink, Babe, M and I went for a short hike on the last day. A squirrel pelted us with acorns!  I really had wanted to see a moose - there was evidence at the campsite and on trails.  We had to settle for just hearing them.  My disappointment didn't last long.  How could it, with all this gorgeous scenery?

A "real" Christmas Tree

I know it doesn't look like it by the picture, but L. caught lots of fish.  I love this candid picture below.  It doesn't get much better than fishing in the mountains with all your cousins!  I do hope they do something like this together when they are adults.

Hubby loves to fish and loves his family!  This was a much needed reprieve for him (well, everyone).

I didn't actually get a fishing license.  I was completely content though sitting here, watching my family, taking pictures, thinking and just being.

Babe celebrated her first birthday on our trip!  It was tricky getting this part done around rain and napping!  We gave her a Little People van.  I have bought so many vehicles for my sons and nephews, it just seemed fitting that she have a pink one.  Later in the day we were all excited to see an amazing birthday gift given by God...a triple rainbow! (Sorry no picture here.)  We had seen doubles before, but never a triple.  Since our elevation was so high, the bow seemed like it was RIGHT THERE in our campsite! We could see end to end of the first one - even sent the littles out to find the pot of gold!  Ok, I know that's silly.  We truly marveled at God's promise of the rainbow and our Wonderful Creator Who still makes and keeps promises. How wonderful for a 1st birthday and for our family to share!

All that fish we caught has to be cooked, right?  This picture shows fried-the night before was grilled.

M & L are really growing up quickly!

Can we go back next weekend?  I prefer the mountains over the beach any day, but I'm glad my family can enjoy both in one year.  I love being together!  I love my family!