Christmas Letter 2024

“Tears. You never know what may cause them. The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you've never seen before. A pair of somebody's old shoes can do it. Almost any movie made before the great sadness that came over the world after the Second World War, a horse cantering across a meadow, the high school basketball team running out onto the gym floor at the start of a game. You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. 

“They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go to next.” (Originally published in Whistling in the Dark by Frederich Buechner)

I’ve never had trouble crying. Happy tears. Sad tears. They come easily for me, especially the longer I live. So much goodness. So much sorrow. And I’m learning to pay attention and be curious about those tears. We are learning to get familiar with vulnerability. We are learning that for God to do His marvelous work, we sometimes must get deeply uncomfortable. In this season of Advent, we remember that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her “Do not be afraid!” right before he told her about this really difficult thing God wanted to do through her. And she said yes.

Our family motto has always been to “say yes to God and adventure.” We’re learning that this requires more courage than we originally thought. Adventures aren’t always safe & happy. Things like hurricanes happen that turn your world upside down and require you to completely reorient on a new adventure, the kind you would never ask for. And if you allow it to, these adventures unlock parts of yourself that you didn’t even know were there, parts that need compassion and attention. So, with eyes wide open, we continue to say yes to God and adventure in a way that says yes to the present, to what God has put before us, trusting all along that God is Emmanual, God with us.

Below is a photo of a painting our friend Kyle Ragsdale painted for us after Hurricane Ian. It hangs across from where I sit and work, so I see it every day. It’s a picture of us in a boat during a storm with our dogs, our chickens, and our guinea pigs. Jesus is at the helm commanding the storm. The sea creatures are swimming below. The brightest part of the painting is the white fish that R is grabbing. When we asked Ragsdale about it, he told us the fish is a reference to the Book of Tobit and is about “surprising provision.” So every day, I am reminded of God’s surprising provision.

We pray God’s blessing and provision on you all this holiday season and in the new year. Merry Christmas!!

 

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UPDATES & PHOTOS: (Special thanks to our talented friend, Bobbilee Tanner at Bobbilee Tanner Photography, for taking our family photos this year here at our home in Ft. Myers! For those who don't know, we are selling our Sanibel home. If you need our new address, please just let us know!)

L turned 15 this year and is now driving. He got his learner’s permit in July and is diligently working on fulfilling the numerous road hours required before taking the test for his license next summer. He’s an excellent driver! Canterbury continues to be a great school for him. He’s in 10th grade, has a great group of friends, and is doing well academically. He’s giving track & field a try for the first time in the spring. He’s finishing up the requirements for his final badges for his Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts. We’re proud of him for sticking with the Scouts all these years! We are in the beginning stages of college planning, which feels unreal to me. He’s an amazing young man, thoughtful, insightful, loyal, curious and diligent. L's highlights from the year include "Daintree Rainforest in Australia, Hobbiton and caving in New Zealand, getting my driver's permit, getting my braces off, going to Universal Studios, seeing sea life while snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, snorkeling in Turks-Caicos, waterpark at Baha Bay in Nassau."

H turned 13 this year. She is continuing to homeschool for 8th grade, attending a great homeschool program in Naples once a week with her best friend here. It’s crazy to me that she’ll be in high school next year. She is strong and smart and beautiful inside and out. She cares deeply for her friends and her family and pets, always looking for ways to bless them/us and make us smile. She is back in gymnastics and enjoying that. And she continues to challenge me to look for ways to not “let schooling interfere with [her] education” (Mark Twain). H's highlights from the year include "the Taylor Swift concert, my 13th birthday with friends and cousins, Great Wolf Lodge, getting to go to school with A, the Turks-Caicos trip."

R turned 10 this year. Double digits. He is spirited, an amazing friend & helper, committed to doing his best, and loves to be outside. We’ve stepped into YMCA rec sports with some of his classmates this fall, just finishing soccer and getting ready for basketball, which has been a lot of fun. He enjoys playing Minecraft with his older cousins, whittling, and Ripsticking to decompress. He is an avid reader, devouring every Rick Riordan book written. And he ran 17 laps in the school fundraiser for the American Heart Association! R's highlights: "Great Wolf Lodge, Weta Studio and Hobbiton in New Zealand, coral reef in Turks-Caicos, the duct-tape weapon battle with my friends."

 

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We have enjoyed a year full of amazing travel and great music and have been fortunate to include good friends and family with us for much of that. Our travels took us as far as Australia and New Zealand by way of Seattle/Whidbey Island as well as Turks-Caicos to celebrate K's parents' 60th anniversary (four years late). And we're heading to Iceland over New Year's to celebrate my 50th birthday. The world is such a beautiful place. We feel grateful to be able to share it with our family & friends. We celebrated our 23rd anniversary in August. And we've loved having house concerts in our living room again!

New Zealand

Australia

 Turks-Caicos

Misc Photos!

Hurricane Milton #2

Good morning! Everyone is safe! No damage to K's parents' house though still no power. No flooding. In Ft. Myers, house stayed dry and power is on! We still don't know much about Sanibel other than fire trucks crossed the causeway to check on things. So that means the causeway is operational! And our neighbor sent some Ring footage showing water flooding the street last night and dry this morning. Also good. Not sure if we got water in the house. I believe power is out everywhere on Sanibel. We don't think anyone will be allowed onto Sanibel until tomorrow after the city deems it safe enough for folks to come back. We're waiting to hear from some friends in Sarasota/Tampa area on how things are on the ground there. Pray for K, that he gets a solid night's rest after all the stress and prep from the last several days. He has earned it!

Thanks to all for your notes and for checking in and for all the prayers. It has meant the world to us. 

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UPDATE: K is just returning from Sanibel and gave a great report. Our home is totally dry! No water in the house or in the garage! This is a HUGE praise. We thank God for this good report, especially as others got water in their homes yet again. So much devastation and chaos from storms like this. Praying for all of those who face displacement and grueling recovery and remediation in the days & months ahead. It's no small task to recover from a major storm.

Hurricane Milton

It’s crazy to be posting about yet another hurricane. This one is coming closer to us. Evacuation orders are in place for Sanibel and Ft Myers Beach (but not where we are in Ft Myers). Kids and I are en route to Indiana. K is staying. School is canceled for the entire week. We’ve buttoned up Sanibel as best we know how. Should be less surge than Ian. Praying that’s true. It’s supposed to make landfall Wednesday morning. Praying for our friends, our home, and those who don’t have a safe place to be. This is a big one. Will keep the blog updated as best I can. And of course will respond to texts and calls as best we can. 

Today is R’s 10th birthday! Text him a happy birthday message if you have a minute!

Hugs to all!

UPDATE: Evacuation mandates are in place for Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach, and now our area of Fort Myers (Flood Zones A & B...Sanibel/Ft. Myers Beach is flood zone A, our part of Ft. Myers is on the edge of A & B.) The surge projections are 6-10 feet for our county (Sanibel & Fort Myers) and 4-7 feet in Naples area. That's a lot of water. (As a point of comparison, Hurricane Ian had 15-ft surge & Hurricane Helene had about 5-1/2 feet of surge on Sanbiel.) Looks like the storm is very strong and has shifted a bit north. Looks like it's going straight through Tampa. Will know more tomorrow. 

UPDATE #2: A very specific prayer request (in addition to the storm just dissipating) is that peak surge occurs at low tide. Peak surge at high tide is very bad! And pray for “dry air to erode the southern eyewall.” 

Hurricane Helene #2

Hurricane Helene was a monster. Tragic. Horrible. Our hearts break for those farther up the coast & inland (!!) who got hit so very hard. Flooding, mudslides, wind, even loads of sand where it shouldn't be. When I see the huge Chinook helicopters in the videos and photos, my stomach knots up. I remember those. The damage is so hard to comprehend, to absorb. The damage which leads to displacement...trying to help, trying to remediate, trying to salvage and make sense of it all, all without water and power. It was a terrible thing to go through two years ago (today), and we are so sorry others are having to go through this. It's all so tender still for us. And that's probably the way it should be. Shouldn't we be walking through life with tender hearts, with empathy, with the desire to help others?

It's pretty crazy to us how much this storm affected our area this far south. It was that surge. I heard on the news that while meteorologists are getting really good at predicting paths of hurricanes, it is still really difficult to predict the real storm surge. (Here is a pretty helpful explanation of storm surge, better than what I posted yesterday, I think.) That is definitely true here. I think I heard we got 5 feet of storm surge, which doesn't sound too bad. But that above the normal high tide on top of an already saturated Sanibel means flooding. 

We were able to walk around our house and property yesterday afternoon and are thankful to report we stayed dry. It seems that our entire street stayed dry inside. To say we were relieved and thankful is a complete understatement, especially as we continue to learn of more and more friends who took on water inside their homes. I think the least amount of water we heard someone got inside was 4 inches and the most was 2 feet. Ugh. The good news is that most folks have power and water and can immediately start cleaning things up before real structural damage can happen. And I'm also hearing that there is little to no mud to remove from inside. That's another huge difference from Ian. I think everyone also tried to remediate from Ian by making their lower levels easier to clean should flooding happen again (as it did). For example, some of our friends replaced regular floor/drywall areas with Durock, which is easy to hose down. 

It seems there's another storm brewing in the Gulf. So we watch and we wait and we prepare. Thanks to everyone who has checked in on us and shown us such great love & support. We are grateful for you!

Hurricane Helene

Greetings from Southwest Florida. We wanted to post an update regarding Hurricane Helene. As many of you know, this hurricane slammed into the Florida coast up near Big Bend/Tallahassee area. While we didn't get hit by the hurricane, we were affected by storm surge. (This is what caused the majority of flooding we experienced during Hurricane Ian, which incidentally happened two years ago tomorrow.)

We were here in Ft. Myers for the storm and had rising water in our back yard from the nearby waterway. We never lost power and the water never rose to be a threat. We are so thankful for that. This house has yet again served as our lifeboat. 

Reports from friends on Sanibel are that there was lots of flooding. Again. Lots of water in homes. Our neighbor across Periwinkle said they got 16 inches. Unbelievable. She peeked in our house this morning and said it looked dry, which is nothing short of a miracle. I dare to hope. We head over there soon to assess the situation. (As some of you know, we were about to list that house for sale next week.)

There's something bigger at play here. As my mom would say, "What's happening isn't what's going on." Our story from the last two years post-Ian has been one of grief, letting go...hope and faith. I couldn't sleep last night. I had a huge knot in my stomach about what was happening yet again on our beloved Sanibel. But rather than get lost in my "future-tripping," I chose to stay present and grounded right where I was (thanks, Onsite). So I played some of my NY Times word games. Wordle is one of my favorites. (Spoiler alert...) Low and behold, as I'm trying words, the answer emerges. FAITH. I let out a cry. I confess that faith has been hard for me these last couple of years as I have ground myself into exhaustion trying to do everything myself, carry everyone myself. But it's been something I've been trying to reclaim. I am a person of faith. So as I crawled back into bed to try and get a few more hours of sleep, I kept picturing that Wordle, not knowing what waits for us on Sanibel, and choosing faith, knowing that this doesn't mean everything at our house is fine, but knowing I trust the God who has provided faithfully for us through these last very difficult years. For my whole life, in fact. 

Our 15-year-old went outside to check the water line in the back yard this morning and quickly ran back in. "There are otters on the dock!" What?? I am immediately transported back in time to the pandemic. It was April 2020 and I was doing an online writing workshop with my cousin, trying to process all that was happening. Otters showed up in our backyard, playing without a worry on their minds. This is the poem I wrote in response to that:

The Morning the River Otters Came to Play in My Backyard on Sanibel Island (April 2020)

There is a pandemic
but they didn’t know; they came to play
anyway on a Tuesday morning.
My smallest child & I lie in bed chattering
when my husband motions for us to Come!
My feet, not yet ready for the day, scream
Snap! Crackle! Pop!
as I step toward the window. Otters! Otters??
Two balls of fur rolling and tumbling for a few short minutes.
We gasp in wonder.
Then they are gone.
My faith is renewed.

I don't think it's a coincidence that God sent otters to us this morning. "My faith is renewed." So we head to Sanibel this morning in faith, ready to face whatever awaits, knowing we can trust in a God is sovereign. We will post another update as soon as we can.

UPDATE 1: We are currently unable to go over to Sanibel. The causeway is only open to emergency personnel. They hope to open it later today. 

UPDATE 2: Our neighbor just went into our house on Sanibel. It's completely dry on the lower level, even the garage. And the power is on. Praise God! I have been crying tears of relief and thankfulness. Kyle is still going over today to put eyes on everything as soon as the causeway opens.

 

Christmas Letter 2023

It's hard for me to believe another year has passed and Christmas is upon us. Last year at this time, we were still reeling from being hit by a massive hurricane that upended our lives. A year and three months later finds us still in Fort Myers. Sanibel is recovering beautifully, both our house and the island. Friends are moving back. Businesses and beaches are reopening. The green foliage is returning. But something broke for us last year on September 28, and we find ourselves still praying about moving back to Sanibel.

I don't want this Christmas letter to be a hurricane update. In many ways, it feels like old news. And yet, the full impact of the hurricane continues to affect us. The physical impact came first followed by the emotional and psychological impact. We thank God that we have friends, family and lots of helpers walking this road with us. We thank God that our kids are ok and doing well overall. We thank God for our Sanibel community as well as our growing Fort Myers community.

So here's the quick family update: This last year has found us in some wonderful places including Costa Rica for the first time in April. We saw sloths and loads of monkeys and amazing leaf cutter ants and so many other amazing things. We had a fun time with K's family in Sarasota at the beach early this year. We went to South Africa with some of our very best friends and their kids (18 of us in total)! We spent some wonderful time with my family at my folks' house on their beautiful lake. L graduated from 8th grade and is now a freshman in high school. He ran cross country this year and did a great job getting up for all of those early morning runs. He also really enjoyed his 8th grade trip to Washington, DC. H is in 7th grade and enjoyed cheerleading again this fall and is still really enjoying theater. She's doing great in school and enjoying her friends. R enjoyed an epic birthday surrounded by friends (swimming, Nerf battle, giant waterslide) at our home on Sanibel; we made up for not being able to properly celebrate last October thanks to Hurrucane Ian. He's doing great in third grade and is really enjoying his friends. He loves science and math and all things Lego. The boys are still in Boy Scouts on Sanibel. K is still enjoying working with Ball Project and all of his amazing partners there. He faithfully ran with the high school cross country team to support L and the other kids. And he's enjoying time with friends both here and elsewhere. I started library school this fall at Syracuse University (an MS in Library and Information Science), which stretched me in a zillion ways including how to do school asynchronously. And while I loved it, I'm taking a leave of absence to focus on some more immediate things. (I'm not sure my timing was great on that decision...)

Last night, we watched one of our favorite Christmas movies called Nativity! There's a song in it called "One Night, One Moment." (You can listen to it here.) There was one night, one moment last year that changed everything for our family. And there was one night, one moment 2,000 years ago that changed everything for all of us. The connection of these moments is not lost on me. A line in that song says "we'll never be lonely again." And while I think we all still feel lonely sometimes, I do believe we are never alone because Emmanuel is here. God is with us. Merry Christmas, everyone. May you truly find hope in this season.