To all our dear friends & family,
A very Merry Christmas to you! It's been quite a year, to say the least. The year has been filled with visits from family and friends, which is always a highlight for us. We also were visited by lots of dolphins and manatee. We had chocolate swims (night swimming), loads of ice cream, not to mention all of our first cases of Covid (minus K who had gotten Covid back in 2020). I spent some time with my dear friend for a girls' weekend in Naples, the kids made lots of movies, L captured some amazing images with his drone, and H learned to do back handsprings in gymnastics. We spent a neat weekend in St. Augustine with our homeschool group as well as overnights in St. Petersburg and of course Legoland...some of our favorite FL spots. H was in performances of The Lion King and Annie at the local theater.
We spent spring break in Iceland, which was absolutely amazing. So many amazing people and vistas to experience. We saw black beaches, a glacier, geysers, whales, a volcano, and even a few northern lights, not to mention some excellent museums. We celebrated (with a few tears on my part) the end of our homeschooling experience, bittersweet to be sure. We transitioned quickly into summer with trips to Indiana and Michigan, New York City with most of my side of the family, and North Carolina where we all experienced our first alpine roller coaster, tree-to-tree zipline experience, and hikes up to waterfalls and on to rock plateaus. All three of our kids decided to get baptized this summer at my folks' lake house, which is super special. We love that they each made this decision for their own reasons. Being at the lake with both of our sets of parents and lots of family made it extra special. L also celebrated the big 1-3 at the lake (and at the farm). It was a very exciting trip to be sure! K & I enjoyed a trip to Louisville with his brothers and wives for a few days. I have learned that I definitely do like Louisville but don't like bourbon. So lots of fun trips this year.
All three kids started school this year and are doing really great. I will be the first to admit that they run a much tighter ship than I did in our homeschool, thankfully, which made the transition for R into second grade tough. But all three kids have proven their strength and grit through some tough things this year, and we're really proud of each one of them.
Quick kid updates:
L is 13 and finding he has quite a knack for all things techie. He's proving to be quite good at filmmaking and photography, an interest he's had for a while now but has become much more sophisticated in this year. He's still an avid reader and pianist and has chosen cross-country and tennis for his school sports. We've also added golf to that list this winter. He is kind and thoughtful and has a huge heart for the wanting to help many global issues. Eighth grade is proving to be much harder than seventh as they get the kids ready for high school next year (!!). He's looking forward to his DC trip at the end of this school year.
H is 11 and is beautiful and creative and a peacemaker. She has transitioned into 6th grade wonderfully. She loved cheerleading this fall and is trying to decide between lacrosse & track and field for her spring sport. (She and L are doing golf and tennis on the side since they didn't choose a winter sport at school.) She chose trumpet for her instrument this year and is starting to enjoy playing it now that she's figured out the "buzz." She's finding an interest in theater and enjoying doing that with friends.
R is 8 and doing great in his new school environment, especially now that he's figured out the 2nd grade classroom rhythms. He's a great friend to his buddies and enjoys seeing them every day. I'm learning a lot about him and his preferences. For instance, he likes to be on time and prepared, and he is very organized. His reading is coming along really well, and we are so thankful for his teachers and reading specialist who got him over the hump of "learning to read" and into "reading to learn." He's playing tennis and golf; I thinks he likes golf best.
They're all doing great, and we're so thankful for that. Our last trip this fall was to Disney World. It was our first trip there, and it was definitely a memorable experience. We had to cut our trip a day short because Tropical Storm Ian was turning into a hurricane, and we wanted to get home to do some hurricane prep. We spent Monday of that week securing the chickens' food & water, getting the guineas all settled inside, bringing in outdoor furniture, taking down the hammocks, filling jugs of water, and making sure our little generators were all charged. We were just going to ride out the storm because, really, how bad could this hurricane be? We woke up Tuesday morning to an evacuation notice. Mandatory evacuation for the whole island. So we packed our duffels for about 3 days and headed to Naples, hoping it would be far enough away from the worst of the storm.
You all know the rest of the story. (If you don't, go back in this blog history and you can read our account of Hurricane Ian.) September 28 changed everyone's life in SW Florida. That hurricane upended our lives and so many lives around us. Three days away from Sanibel has turned into two months and counting. We thank God for his protection of our family and of our home and it's most precious contents. But the layers of loss are so, so staggering. We are still reeling from the weight of it all, still trying to learn from it all, still trying to find the goodness in it (and there is goodness). Earlier this week, I was on the phone with a power washing company, and the woman I was talking to was so concerned when she learned the job was on Sanibel. She asked how we were doing, and I said "ok." And she said, "There's nothing ok about this." And she's right. I've told a few folks, "I'm fine but not ok," which actually says it better.
After Hurricane Ian, we were overwhelmed by
friends from Indy and around the country and around the world, reaching
out to us & sending us prayers, encouragement, gifts. It was
incredible. Neighbors of some of our extended family sent our kids
presents (and we have never met those neighbors!). Friends sent our kids
gift cards and Lego and food. Restaurants gave us free food. It was
humbling and overwhelming. And it made us very thankful and made us feel
very loved.
We don't know when we'll move back to Sanibel. We are living in Ft Myers a few minutes from the kids' school and will stay until we feel it makes sense for us to go back to Sanibel. While our house is now livable and a few friends are moving back and some businesses are starting to open again (all wonderful), we still don't feel it's time for us to go back. We are waiting.
In my favorite Advent book, Watch for the Light, Henri Nouwen writes about "Waiting for God." He writes, "Waiting is not a very popular attitude. Waiting is not something that people think about with great sympathy. In fact, most people consider waiting a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, 'Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don't just sit there and wait!' For many people, waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go. And people do not like such a place. They want to get out of it by doing something. In our particular historical situation, waiting is even more difficult because we are so fearful. [...] The more afraid we are, the harder waiting becomes. [...] It impresses me, therefore, that all the figures who appear on the first pages of Luke's Gospel are waiting. Zechariah and Elizabeth are waiting. Mary is waiting. Simeon and Anna, who were there at the temple when Jesus was brought in, are waiting. [...] And right at the beginning all those people in some way or another hear the words, 'Do not be afraid. I have something to say to you.'"
We are waiting, and listening, and paying attention, trying to live expectantly. We have received the promise that God loves us and cares for us and wants the best for us. So we wait with a sense of promise that God is doing something bigger than what we can see. In this way, these promises allow us to wait. Not just for wisdom on when to move back to Sanibel. But for wisdom regarding our role in it all, what it means for our family & our kids. As Nouwen continues, he describes waiting as active. "Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it." He also describes waiting as open-ended: "Open-ended waiting is hard for us because we tend to wait for something very concrete, for something that we wish to have. Much of our waiting is filled with wishes. [...] We are full of wishes, and our waiting easily gets entangled in those wishes. [...] We want the future to go in a very specific direction, and if this does not happen we are disappointed and can even slip into despair. [...] But Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary were not filled with wishes. They were filled with hope. Hope is something very different. Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled not just according to our wishes."
This is all not only highly applicable to this post-hurricane season we are in but to all of life. It's how we want to live our lives. Expectant of what God has in store, seeing the blessings around us, being thankful for those blessings, and knowing He is at work at doing what is more magnificent than our minds can imagine. We wait, we watch, and we send our kids to school and make meal plans for the week and have coffees with friends and clean up the muck and mire that this hurricane has left behind. And we do it together. And it's really hard work and I sometimes cry when I least expect it. And I laugh when I sometimes least expect it. And that's life, right?
So, as we celebrate Advent and live with joy in anticipation of all that God has in store for us, we remember you, our family and friends, who have walked faithfully beside us through these tough days. I wrote so much about the good that has happened this year because I need to remember the good; it's been a really good year. I don't want to lose sight of that in the wake of the hurricane. Your prayers, cards, gifts, and conversations have been life-giving, breath-giving on the days when I feel the breath has completely left me. Thank you for your love.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Blessings to you all as we finish 2022 and enter a brand new year. Godspeed, be thankful and keep up the good work.
All our love,
K, M, L, H, R and the Wonderdogs and the Guineas
(First six photos are from Iceland. The rest are from everything else.)
