Hello and Merry Christmas!
We hope that all of you are having a wonderful holiday season! Our family is adapting to our very first
Christmas in Alabama. We have will have
lived here for five months on Christmas Eve, and some days it still doesn’t
seem real – but life can be like that!
This year was a complete whirlwind for our family! We moved out of our house in Colorado in the
end of May and became homeless. Not a
good feeling. Thankfully we have some magnanimous
friends who allowed us the use of their home and address while we traveled to
Europe for the month of June and stayed with them for the month of July. Vacation craziness can be found on previous blog posts. This Christmas I am very thankful that we are
once again settled.
Michael: Michael has
had an eventful year. In April he took a
job as an assistant professor. We
packed up, sold our house, and made a 1400 mile move to Alabama . He just finished his first semester and he
LOVED it. He taught four classes,
supervised a bunch of practicum students, and served as an advisor to a bunch
more. Next semester should look similar –
he’s teaching the same basic classes, though I think one is a master’s level
course. Michael also has the added
responsibility of being in our ward bishopric, which keeps him busy and gives
him a place to serve.
Luke: Luke is about
to turn 11 (6th grade) and is absolutely the happiest I have ever
seen him. He found friends quickly and
has integrated himself into his new school.
His teachers seem to enjoy him and he has completely embraced the formal
manners of the south. He picked up the “Yes
ma’am” and “Yes sir” concept within a couple days though he does relax it a
bit at home. He often comes home and
tells me that he spent time troubleshooting IPads or helping to teach computer programming
code to one of the younger grades during study hall – one day he came home and
told me he helped the librarian build a Christmas tree out of library books. This fall he played on a district
championship soccer team, attended his first school dance, saw Dicken’s A Christmas Carol at the Fox Theater in
Atlanta, and earned his Webelos, Arrow of Light, and Religious Knot in Cub
Scouts, and returned to Tae Kwon Do.
This week he celebrated his birthday early by taking his two closest
friends to see Star Wars. He is a lot of
fun to have around – when he’s here!
Isa: Isa just turned 9 and is in 3rd grade. She has struggled more with the move than her brother, but she is finding ways to enjoy herself. This has been Isa’s year to explore what she likes and it turns out she is full of creative joy. Isa inherited my love of singing, art, crafts, and pretty things and has been keeping herself busy in her free time exploring the artist within. She played soccer this fall and had lots of fun – her team came in second in their division. She also had the opportunity to perform in the Children’s Nutcracker with her ballet class – they had four performances at the university and a performance outside in the town square. She is enjoying school and loves her teachers. Isa is also working her way through the Harry Potter series right now – she’s on book five. She is growing up very quickly and we are enjoying watching her develop her identity.
Gabi: Gabi is seven
and is in 2nd grade. She
loves and detests it here all at the same time. She goes on and on about how wonderful everything is in her life – she loves
her teacher at school, her teacher at church, her friends, having PE every day,
having her own room, etc. But if you
then extrapolate and ask her if she likes it here: Oh, no, absolutely not. She enjoyed watching her brother and sister’s
soccer games this fall (she didn’t want to play) and was thrilled to get back
into ballet in November. She also performed
in the Nutcracker. Gabi has also made
huge strides academically this year, jumping about a year’s reading level
already. She’s totally engrossed with
the A-Z mystery series and Geronimo Stilton – books that this time last year
she would have refused to open. This
year she asked Santa for a book! That
has been so wonderful to watch. She’s
our family comedian and she brings lots of laughter into our lives. 
Debbie: I have been
keeping busy trying to find a place to be useful. I volunteer at the kids’ school once or twice
a week, have gone with each of the girls on an all day field trip (with Isa to
De Soto Caverns and with Gabi to the Tennessee Aquarium), and serve as the wolf
and bear den leader at church. I have
the house completely unpacked and functional and have been working hard to make
it feel like home. We enjoyed having
lots of visitors this year, both before we left Colorado and since we arrived
in Alabama, and expect more after Christmas. I am considering going back to school next
fall to work towards my master’s degree, so we will see how that internal
debate turns out. My challenge in the
new year will be planning our 2016 vacation, and I am looking forward to that!
Here are my two favorite Christmas videos for this year. I hope that you enjoy them:
It is affirming to me
that no matter where we live we always have love and strength from our family
and friends. We appreciate each of you
and the bonds that we share. We hope you
have a wonderful Christmas season.
