(most links are now active - if there is something you particularly wanted that was not, leave me a note, and I'll get on it ASAP)
I believe that the last NEWSY note that I sent was at least four years ago (there was an attempt at a cute poetry version, that a limited number of close friends and family got, two years ago, but we shall all just agree that that never actually happened!) I had the best of intentions to send out a newsy note, after the move, and/or last year for the holidays, but the move was a bit exhausting, and you'll see that the time when the holiday letter would have been written last year was not 'the best' time for me to be writing a 'cheery newsy note' (we also had 'pending news' from Annie and Josh, and thought maybe a letter the first of the year would be better, and of course, never got around to it...)
So, (enough with the excuses and explanations) here goes:
The last few years in Huntsville were filled with mostly trying to have a "quiet, 'normal' life", after the craziness of the tornado. My broken leg healed very quickly, due to excellent physical therapy. The kids were busy with Pathfinders and Adventurer activities, all six were homeschooling, and I was teaching several outside students as well, at various points, and I also taught a weekly art class for a group of students that came to the house. Lon was working in Nashville which had him gone 2-3 nights a week, and working from home the remaining days. We were renting, still, so not much 'house project' work went on, though we did make an attempt at building a cob chicken coop. We did get a new 'big dog' that Tommy had been longing for, for some time (he got Snoop for his birthday, in 2011), and then, later, added several cats to the family, too. This last fall, we lost our sweet dog Maggie, and buried her in our back yard, she added love to our family for over 11 years, and we do miss her.
Summers would see Annie disappear to MiVoden for several weeks, and Sarah even joined her one summer. We did manage one short trip to the Gulf Shores area, with just the three older girls, in the fall of 2014. That was a nice, relaxing trip!! We also drove over the S. Carolina, and had a visit with the three younger kids' older two birth sisters, and two of their three cousins who were all living together, there, at that point. Also, Emma convinced Lon to take her on a canoe camping trip, which I ended up tagging along on. That was quite fun. And thanks to a *very* generous donation, after the storm, Lon and I were able to make a 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii, in December of 2011. There were also a myriad of Pathfinder trips, including another Oshkosh trip. And of course several trips to our beloved Northwest, which are mostly mentioned below.
In November of 2013 Lon and I drove up to Tennessee for our anniversary, to a little town we were eyeing as a potential 'place to settle in the country'. We fell in love with this little town. It is quaint, and sweet, and just the right distance from Lon's work (a 55 minute drive), that it would be practical for him to live at home full time, again. Part of that trip involved a visit with the local SDA school teacher. We were excited to hear that she would be willing to take Ricky! We had ended up enrolling him in public school for most of the final year in Huntsville, as his special needs were sucking up an inordinate amount of my energy, and the other kids were getting short-changed. Public school really did NOT work well at all. He tested as being eligible for their 'autism track' which was *supposed* to have meant that he would be in a special classroom most of the day and mainstreamed for just a few periods. But in reality, the opposite happened. I had been working on 4th grade material with him, and they basically dropped him into 7th grade and simply 'made accommodations' for him by eliminating two choices on all the multiple choice questions. He was getting C's just by guessing (50% chance of getting it right!) and learning NOTHING. The teacher there (in Woodbury) was willing to have him be working at his grade level, and there are all grades together in one class, so kids his age, to interact with. While he is not particularly chummy with any of the boys, there, that are his age, we still feel that it is the best fit for him, for now. In the end we decided that it would be best if Tommy and Mayahna were also enrolled, as I was finding that really, all three of them were causing me to 'short change' the other three, on their homeschool experience, often leaving them to 'teach themselves' - which they were doing reasonably well, but I felt that I needed to focus my attention on them for a bit, before they all headed off in different directions!! (which ended up happening much faster than we expected!!)
We did end up buying a house in the Woodbury area, and moving up, in March (2014). In late April, Lon was specifically invited to come to Alumni weekend at Walla Walla University, and take part in a college bowl retrospective event. So we decided to go, and to take the two birthday girls (Emma and Annie) who would basically miss their birthday celebrations, since we would be gone the week that both of their birthdays were. We ended up making a couple of detours out to the Oregon Coast, and over Mt Hood on that trip. Annie ended up deciding to just stay at her grandparent's place, since she would be coming right back a few weeks later, for another summer at MiVoden. What this meant was that Annie really only 'lived at home' in this house for a few weeks, because she ended up taking an 'internship' (used to be called Taskforce) at MiVoden, and staying for the winter, too (sound familiar? - Lon and I worked that position, the first year we were married, even worked for the same awesome people!)
Sarah had taken a 'nanny job' for a family in Huntsville just before the move and was driving home just on the weekends. In early June, she was done with that, but on the same day that she was gathering her things down there so she could 'move home', Annie called from MiVoden, begging her to come for one more summer - several staff that had been hired, were unable to come at the last minute, and they were scrambling to fill some positions. That was a Tuesday, and Sarah was on a plane Friday!!
The following school year was a pretty 'typical year' - the three younger kids were settling in to the whole school routine, and Emma was at home, Sarah was doing a *little* bit of school work, but in November got a job, at TJ Maxx, and then in December a second job, at Panda Express. After the holidays she quit the job at TJ Maxx and just worked at Panda. She had sort of freaked herself out, regarding the SAT and thought she would not be going to college. As a mom, I knew she would be fine, *and* that she would have to figure that out on her own. So I sort of consider her 'stint in fast food' as part of her education process. It helped her realize that she simply HAD to do at least OK on the SAT and get herself to college, so that she didn't have to work in fast food all of her life. By about March or April of this year we had reached that magic point, and you can read more about Sarah's plans here.
Meanwhile, Annie had been introduced to a fine young man, Joshua Brooks, via a text-messaging prank that her friend, Jennifer, played on her. They started out texting each other, soon switched to skype conversations (he lived in Walla Walla), and then met in person on one of the camp bus-runs to Walla Walla, that Annie was along on, as a staff member. Soon Josh was making frequent trips up to MiVoden, to see her on the weekends... you can read more about Annie and Josh's courtship here.
Meanwhile, back in Woodbury, Lon was working on getting his old Volvo running again, so that it could be driven out to Annie, to have for the winter. It was a LONG, and ARDUOUS process, involving several fellows from work who enjoy tinkering on cars in the evenings (not entirely sure 'enjoy' was an adverb they would use for THIS particular project, but...) and a 'new' engine, 'new' seats, and several other 'upgrades'. We planned a trip for 'late September' which got moved to 'mid October' and eventually we set out on the 26th. You can read the 'saga' of the final days of the volvo here.
While we were out in the NW, delivering the car to Annie, my father, who has been failing with Parkinsons, complicated by Diabetes, fell. He has been moved to an assisted living facility just a few weeks before, and my sister Anita and her husband Mark were over visiting him for Sunday Breakfast, and he got up to 'see them off' and somehow tripped either on his feet, or on the chair, and fell and broke his hip rather badly. We were still at MiVoden, delivering the car to Annie (sort of - see 'saga' link, above) and meeting Josh, and his parents, when we got the phone call. We had already planned to go, the next day, and spend our last few days of our visit to the NW, in Yakima, with Mom and Dad. We were able to get there early enough on Monday to say a few words to Dad before they wheeled him in for surgery. He seemed happy to see us, and even spoke to Lon by name. The surgery went well, but the dementia from the Parkinsons and the anesthesia is not a good mix. He was very uncomfortable and agitated in the few days we were able to stay. I was able to help Mom 'shop' for a rehab facility for him, and decided that, rather than staying on, at that point, that I would go home, settle some things there that I had left unfinished, and come back for two weeks the end of November, to cheer him on through his rehab. So Emma and I returned to Woodbury and Lon stayed, to get the rest of the car situation sorted out. (the volvo had not actually made it all the way to MiVoden at this point - see 'saga' link above.)
When I got home I went down with the flu for a week (so was glad I had not stayed there, to 'be with Dad'). Dad was transferred to the re-hab facility on Thursday or Friday of that week, and seemed to be settling in well. He would start the work of regaining as much function as possible the next week. On the 12th of November I got a (second) phone call from Mom, which I answered in an eerily familiar, cheerful way, surprised to have heard from her twice in one day. (she had answered the phone in a similar manner the day that I called her, a second or third time that day, to tell her that we had been hit by the tornado.) Just as I had had to drop bad news on her happy greeting, she had to let me know that Dad was already gone. He had apparently had a severe stroke, early in the morning, they had called her, to come quickly, but he was gone before she could even get there. Talking about it with her several weeks later, we were both glad that he did not suffer for long. And that in the end, he went peacefully. He is resting now, and that is better than the suffering he was experiencing!! My opinions about 'end of life wishes' have certainly been changed by the process of watching his decline.
He had indicated that he really did not want us to have a service for him. He was never one who liked having a fuss made over him. He said we should just 'sprinkle his ashes on a river'. Mom was not sure where to do that, and when I suggested the favorite family camping spot, on the North Fork of the John Day river she was excited about the idea. Unfortunately it was inaccessible that time of year, so plans were made to make a trip up there in the spring at some point, once the snow melted.
Two weeks later, on December 1st. I got another 'unsettling' phone call, this time from Annie. Her first words were "I'm ok, but..." Yeah, us moms know that this conversation is not going anywhere good!! She had rolled the Volvo. And walked away! She was sitting in a trucker's cab, waiting for the first responders to come, an ambulance took her to an ER in Ritzville, where they found that she seemed to have a partially collapsed lung, along with a few scratches on her face and neck. They held her for 6 hours of observation and then released her with instructions to see a doctor in two to three weeks and make sure things had cleared up. Lon's folks were able to drive up and pick her up, and take her back to Walla Walla to recuperate for a few days. Needless to say, this event was a turning point in her relationship with Josh. Things got very serious much more quickly after this point. They had already realized that they were likely headed into a 'long term' relationship, but the accident sort of made them realize that waiting was really not needed, they knew, now, what they wanted. So, while they had been discussing the possibility of a wedding in the spring of 2016, after the accident, that date got moved up to 'maybe as early as fall of 2015'. In January Josh had a lengthy skype conversation with us, asking our permission to marry Annie, and plans were made for a proposal. We knew the date and the plans, and Annie worked HARD to get them out of us, but we were actually able to throw her off the trail a bit, with some comments about him not wanting to do it in TOO obvious of a way. So she was completely surprised when he arranged to have a special dessert delivered at The Olive Garden, when they stopped there, on the way to Walla Walla in February. He was picking her up to help move her there, in order to take a job that was available at that point, and MiVoden had reluctantly let her go a few months before her contract was over, so that she could take that job. Plans were made for a September 6th ceremony, originally slated to be held at MiVoden, but that changed... more details about the wedding planning are here.
Meanwhile, back in Woodbury, things were... shall we say 'rough' between Lon and I. Most people who know us know that our relationship has not been terribly smooth over the years. And parenting kids with special needs added a great deal of stress to the situation (look up the statistics, some time, on how many marriages fail, when there is a trauma-affected child in the home. We have TWO). In early March we reached a point where a short separation was needed in order to clear our heads a bit and figure out where to go from there. In the process of that happening I sent out a prayer request to several close friends and one of them responded privately with a potentially very helpful resource that had recently brought her marriage 'back from the brink'. It was a week of intense counseling at a place called Northwest Biblical Counseling Center. Plans were made for a visit there, in mid May.
So May ended up being a VERY busy month, with Annie coming home for a week, in the early part of the month, to gather her things, and get them ready to 'ship' to Walla Walla (we ended up getting most of them to her with the 'extra' luggage that we had when we all flew out for the wedding, including a MATTRESS!!), then Sarah and I flew back out with her and did dress shopping, etc, for a week, in Spokane and Walla Walla. After that week, Sarah flew home and Lon flew out, and met up with me, for our week in Seattle. There had been several books that were recommended for us to read and other things to 'help us do some processing' before we arrived there, and things seemed better already, even before we got there. (turns out there was another reason for that improvement, too!) The week in Seattle at NWBCC was a turning point for us, though, with me finding healing for some past deep hurts and Lon gaining tools for how to contribute further, to the healing of our relationship.
Summer was sucked up with kids going to camp, Emma working at the local vet (she had volunteered there for several months, and as soon as she turned 16, the vet hired her!) and me continuing to volunteer time at a local domestic violence shelter, SAVE, where I was hoping to get hired, once some grants were secured. Emma had been considering going to Highland Academy for her Junior year, and as the time to leave approached, and as my 'employment status' did not change as we had hoped it would at SAVE, (allowing us to afford academy tuition) she decided that possibly a year at the little local school would be a good idea first, anyway. Finances were not the only reason, as she was also nervous about going off to boarding academy, not really knowing anyone, and also about being ready for her Junior year, since she was sort of half Freshman, half Sophomore. So we all agreed that a year here, getting her credit situation under control, so that she was ready to be a Junior NEXT year would be a very good idea, and it would help her get used to 'real' school, and it would mean that there would be four of them, moving from 10th grade here, to the Academy, all together (it also helped 'just a little' that there was a certain someone, here, going to our school, who would be in her grade, and thus graduate with her, too!). So, in early August, all four of the younger kids started school, and about a week later, Sarah and I headed out to Walla Walla for three weeks of final wedding preparations with Annie. The rest of the family followed a few days before the wedding.
The wedding (sorry, I promise this link will be live soon) went off BEAUTIFULLY and was a blessed day all the way around. Thank you SO MUCH to so many of you who made the journey to join us for this special day, your very presence was a blessing to all of us! Annie and Josh make a lovely couple and seem to bring out the best in each other. We are very happy for them, and will continue to 'support' them (emotionally) as they adjust to their lives together. They are very young, but they come into it with two sets of parents standing at their sides, ready to help them navigate the challenges they face, and become a strong couple for the Lord. They are devoted to being a part of their local church and they seem to be off to a very good start so far! Joshua graduated last December with an associate in Criminal Justice and was hired by the Washington State Penitentiary in early spring. He has been really enjoying his guard work there, and gaining needed experience so that he can, at some point in the future, possibly move to a police force somewhere.
The day after the wedding, Anita, Mark, Mom, Lon and I, Emma, Mayahna, and several of my cousins on Dad's side, drove up to the North Fork of the John Day, to sprinkle Dad's ashes. It was a lovely, quiet 'service' just as Dad would have wanted. It is comforting to know that he rests there, in one of his favorite spots, waiting for Christ's soon return. I also took a few ashes, and left them at my Mother's grave when we were in the Portland area on Tuesday, along with the rose I had carried at Annie's wedding.
Since returning from the wedding this fall, we have mostly been settling in to 'normal' life, here in Woodbury. The situation at SAVE has gotten more and more bleak, as grant after grant did not come in, so I began looking for other employment. I am subbing at the local school district and I am looking toward taking a full time position, should one open up. There have been a few, already, since school started, but two were filled before I could get appropriate certification in place, and I'm not sure I would have wanted the third one, as it is at one of the 'rougher' schools in the district. I was able to renew my Washington certification, and am in the process of transferring it to Tennessee, right now. I will need to take three 'praxis' tests over the next several years, but will be 'eligible to teach' immediately upon receipt of my initial certification, which should arrive some time in the next 6-8 weeks. I'm planning, at this point to test for Special Ed, Art, and I am considering, possibly Math (there is a HIGH need for math instructors in the entire state, and some districts are paying $35K signing bonuses!!). It would take a fair bit of studying, but I honestly believe I *could* do it, if I set my mind to it. We'll see. In the mean time, I'm subbing 3-4 days a week, and finding that I actually enjoy the High School the most! This is a surprise for me, since I was always afraid of High Schoolers when I was studying Education, back in College. I did two days in kindergarten, just before Thanksgiving and it just about wore me out!!!
I'm also learning to use Adobe Illustrator, so that I can do some free-lance graphic design. I guess between Dad dying, me turning 50 this year, us putting all the kids in school, and Annie and Sarah both 'moving on' I have sort of had to 're-assess things' a bit. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. I would appreciate your prayers as we move forward from here.
Lon is still working at Schneider Electric in LaVergn, about an hour from here. He works from home about two days a week, and still very much enjoys his work. He is still contracted to them, not an employee. But that is working well because they really like him (alot) and there are some aspects of some of the projects he has worked on where he is the main person who knows the ins-and-outs of what needs to be done.
Just a few weeks ago, Lon and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed a quick trip to Gatlinburg for our anniversary. I had been over for an (amazing!) 'trauma mama's retreat' in late September (HUGE thanks go out to those who helped contribute to the 'gofundme' that my good friend Donna set up for me), and discovered that there is an 'arts and crafts' loop there, with literally hundreds of galleries and art shops, in an 8 mile loop. We drove over on Sabbath morning, and enjoyed Great Smoky Mountain National Park, on Sabbath, and then drove the Arts and Crafts loop on Sunday. It was a LOVELY time. It's so nice to be enjoying our marriage again. Whoever recommended that I read that book, thank you!!! (if you follow no other link, follow this one, it tells more of the details of the miracle that is happening in our home - Lon wants people to know, so that, maybe we can save someone the years of pain we went through, before we discovered this solution - click on 'book' above.)
As I write this, Sarah is waiting to hear whether she will have a position at Panda, in Madison, or whether she will be moving down there with no job, and just keep trying to get on at Publix (the job she really wants). She has a place to stay, at a friends' parents house, and all three of her best girl friends will be home for the Christmas holidays, so she'll be enjoying that over the next few weeks. We went and chose our Christmas trees, yesterday, which will be dug over the weekend or early next week, and we'll pick it up next week, and then Christmas will start in full swing - I'll post pictures here when I get things done. We are still on the path of working toward simplifying Christmas and making it more about family time, and memories, and less about stuff. For the most part, it's working. Annie and Josh can not come this year, since he just started at the Pen in the spring, and he used all of his time off for the honeymoon, but plans are already in place for them to come for a couple of weeks, next year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We'll skype with them, this year, as we did last year.
We are hoping that you will leave us a little note, or send us your Christmas card, as we DO enjoy staying in touch with so many family and friends from so many places we have lived, that God has richly blessed our lives with. And hopefully soon we will have a few little guest cabins put up, so that you can come visit us in our beautiful Tennessee country life.
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| This is the view, often, in the morning, from our front porch. |
(also, if you have time, and you have not already read the previous post, which I wrote on the day after my birthday, I would highly recommend it. I just re-read it, and am thinking that perhaps I just need to do that now and then, to remember to ground myself in God's love for me!!)
