October Thirty-One, Twenty Twelve

I am joining the masses...blogging about their child's Halloween adventures.

For the first hour of trick-or-treating, I was fighting back tears.

Every year since Ty and I have been married, we've been going downtown Gig Harbor.  We get to see many of our students and it's such a feel-good community event.  The past several years have been especially difficult - infertility and then the waiting game of adoption. But we stuck with it.

 

And this year, finally, it feels like our year. 

After one "trick or treat!" (which we've been practicing for weeks) rewarded by candy, Lainey had it down.  You should've seen her, marching from vendor to vendor.  Claiming downtown Gig Harbor as if it were named after her.

Yes.  It was our year.

Our first stop.
Immediately after this, Lainey put her purple
pumpkin down to dive into the candy basket with two hands.

Our second stop.  Began at the Brix for candy and ended at the Brix for drinks.
Love!

"I got this, Mom."

Watching the flash mob.

Mother's Day Resolve - Success

I made it my personal resolve this year to not complain, feel sorry for myself, or say anything negative on Mother's Day.  And guess what?!?  It wasn't a challenge.  I might've griped a little bit leading up to the weekend, but once Sunday rolled around, all was peachy.


It must've been people's positive thoughts and prayers, amazing and understanding friends, and the best friend a wife could ask for.  Thanks!

On Sunday we slept in, got coffee together, and picked out some plants at home depot. I worked in the yard for a few hours.  We read and watched TV.  It was a relaxing, all about us kind of day.

M-E-R-R-Y C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S Letter 2010

M

...Merry Christmas!  Christmas can be the most wonderful time of the year, but also emotional and hectic!  We hope you find time to do the things you enjoy and spend time with those you love.

E

...Ever After.  We celebrate our sixth anniversary this holiday season.  Also, two couples we are friends with were married, and Ty was the officiant of one of the ceremonies!  (His first, and according to him, last.) Love is a good thing.

 

R

...Relatives.  One of the most difficult things is living far from my family, and the time we spend together is precious.   My mom visited twice this year - in March to celebrate my birthday and again in October.  Ty and I flew to Henderson in July and were able to celebrate Audrey's birthday with Mom, Dad, Jeff, Mari, and Audrey.  Ty's mom still enjoys her teaching position at Kinder Care, and she is also happy in a relationship. 

 R

...River Rafting.  Ty talked me into it.  We went with friends to Leavenworth for a rafting & wine tasting trip.  I think I did all right for my first time; I only cried at the beginning. 

Y

...Youth Group.  Ty teaches Jr. and Sr. High Sunday School at church.  Occasionally, I am his sidekick.  He also sings on the worship team every third months or so.  We call Olympic View Baptist our church home and appreciate the connections we've made there.

C

...Close friends.  With many significant changes and tough decisions this year, we are grateful for our network of friends to offer support, advice, and love.

H

...Home.  We recently moved from Fox Island to a home in Gig Harbor.   I've enjoyed decorating and making it ours.  We absolutely love it and plan to be here a long, long time.

R

...Did you know R is sometimes called the canine's letter?  (I'm sure it's true if wikipedia says it is.)  Both our canine, Boone, and our feline, Forrest, brought us joy this year.

 

I

...I formation.  Yes, the offensive line up in football.  Neither of our teams (Ty's Hawks or my Colts) are coming through for us as we hoped, but we enjoy each and every Sunday together watching football. 

S

...Sound.  Puget Sound, that is.  We live in a beautiful area and are blessed to have great friends.  Friends with a boat!

T

...Travel.  This year we were lucky enough to go to Hawaii twice!  In February we went to visit my cousin, Nick, who is stationed on Oahu.  And the week after school let out for summer, we went to Kauai for five days.  You know it's a relaxing trip when it just seems like too much work to go to the beach.  We spent most of that trip rejuvenating poolside.

M

...Middle School.  Ty continues to enjoy his position as Assistant Principal at Key Peninsula Middle School.  This year, I also took the jump up, taking a position at Harbor Ridge Middle School to teach Language Arts. We both enjoy the challenges and rewards of working with such a unique age group!

A

...Addis Ababa.  This is the capital city of Ethiopia. We decided to adopt an infant from Ethiopia!  We've been accepted by YWAM, our paperwork is submitted, and we are waiting for a date to begin our home study.  The entire process will likely take 6 - 12 months.   (Visit http://www.ywamethiopia.com/ for more information on the agency and process.)

S

...Snow (and Spirits)!  Yes, we've had snow this winter in Western WA.  Three snow days and counting.  We've also had windstorms, hailstorms, record amounts of rain and flooding.

Thanksgivings Past & Present

This is a holiday season like no other.  It defies any sense of tradition, and Thanksgiving was no exception.  We don't really have a Thanksgiving tradition, evidenced by the following chronicle of the Thanksgivings since the year we were married.


2004 - Went to Portland together.  It was our last family get-together with Uncle Dale before he passed.

2005 - The only Thanksgiving we spent at our Tacoma 6th Ave house.  We enjoyed dinner with a teacher I worked with, Jenny, and her husband.  We just got Mia, our first attempt at having a puppy.  Later, we gave her to Ty's mom, and what a blessing she's been to her.

2006 - I had to take the week prior to Thanksgiving off because I had pneumonia and bronchitis.  We had Thanksgiving at Ty's second high school family, the Wilsons.   Bryce's mom, Marilyn, was also very sick.  Neither of us had a voice, but it felt so good to be welcomed into their home.

Here are Bryce and Ty (two years prior).  They'll always share a history and bond.

Later, we celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas with Ty's parents.  This was my first turkey dinner, and it turned out all right.  I went to the local cooking shop and said, 'I have get to cook dinner for my in-laws.  What the hell heck do I do?"

2007 - We brought take-out turkey dinners to the hospital.  We sat in a hospital room in silence, looking at our meals.  This was the day before Ty's dad was transferred to hospice.  Exactly one week later, he passed.

2008 - Just the two of us in our condo, and we made it romantic.  Ty's mom was spending Thanksgiving with Billy (his brother) and Trisha on the East Coast. 

2009 - Just the two of us in our condo.  Still romantic, but being the second year in a row, I was a little sad.  (You may notice I didn't even bother to put on make up in the picture.)
 

2010 - This year we planned for 4 guests up until the Monday before Thanksgiving: Marsha, Aaron (Marsha's boyfriend), and Aaron's dad and dad's wife, who we would be meeting for the first time.   I was pretty darn excited, and had the table set a week in advance.

 

We had an unusual bout of winter weather and were fortunate enough to have the entire week of Thanksgiving canceled due to icy road conditions and multiple power outages.  Thankfully, we had power. 

One thing led to another, and by the time Thanksgiving rolled around, we had a grand total of 12 guests.  Ty invited a teacher from his school and her son.  I invited Dave, Brenda, Liam, and Eryn - my pseudo-sister and her amazing family.  And the night before we discovered that my former co-worker, Tony, and his wife Kim did not have plans either, so what the heck, the more the merrier.  And merrier it was.  It was a blast.   I only had one minor moment of panic, right before dinner was served.

I didn't mention Tanner, our friends' dog, who we were watching for the holidays, in the list of guests.  She's hiding under the table.

I've often wondered what I have to offer others, and this year I discovered how much I love to open our home to others. I am grateful for our home and the opportunity it provided us this Thanksgiving to reach out.