Trials and Travels of 2018

Somehow I blinked and found myself in the middle of January 2019! Is time travel a thing now? Am I trapped in someone else’s fantasy or sci-fi book?

Well, however I got here, I’m realizing that it’s been quite a few weeks since we’ve visited. Don’t know about you, but I tend to get nostalgic with each new year. I feel the rush of time and the crush of unmet goals. And I know that the Lord will continue to be faithful, even when I’m not.

2019 looks to be full of MAJOR milestones. I think I’ll save those things for another post, however (although you’ll figure some of them out in the details below). Today, I’m looking back at the whirlwind year that was 2018, and posting some pictures for posterity’s sake.

Last January I had the pleasure of being the special guest at a Tethered World Tea! A nearby bookclub read The Tethered World and put on an amazing tea in the spirit of Aunt Jules, which included Tethered World trivia games and food!

February always brings the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo! Though we try to go every year because it’s what we locals do, such traditions take on a whole new level of fun when you get to bring the grandkids! Whittley enjoyed herself despite there being barely any animals on the grounds that particular day 🙁

Meanwhile, our middle daughter was getting settled into her new digs in my home state of Washington, where she had moved in the fall. My BFF’s husband owns a wonderful salon in the Vancouver area (check out Studio V if you’re local!) and he hired Delaney. If you’ve read the TW, you may also see the parallel with Sadie’s dad’s profession here…

My BFF’s son was doing mission work in Switzerland (#sufferingforJesus) and when their family went to watch him graduate from the YWAM program, they planned to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime vacay while there. They had kindly adopted Delaney as their Texas daughter at this point and invited her to come along! She had an amazing time.

March brought a little bundle of joy in our new granddaughter Kinleigh, born March 5th. She was as pink as a piglet and had a head full of hair along with the cutest dimples! We also got to enjoy her big sister coming to stay at our house to give mom some time to recover. Such fun!

April took Billy, our youngest daughter Olivia, and me to Kissimmee and Clearwater Beach Florida. Olivia won a contest to sing the national anthem at the Silver Spurs Rodeo there, so we enjoyed seeing her blow the audience away with her pipes, as well as time at the beach!

Spring of 2018 was also my last semester of teaching ballet at the fine art school where I had been teaching for the past 15 years. The ballet classes would be performing from the seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia for our recital. This meant I would be finishing my time there on a very high note indeed!

My three classes danced to scenes from Lucy going through the wardrobe (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), Reepicheep from Prince Caspian, and the children in the giants’ castle from The Silver Chair. I also had the privilege of being the White Witch for one of the older class’s performances. I loved every evil moment–muhahahaha!

 

 

Then tragedy struck our granddaughter Whittley. Her right eye/cornea was cut by a piece of wire. She had emergency surgery with six stitches on her eye, and later had a cataract removed (naturally develops with such an injury) and a new lens placed in her eye. Many of you were praying for her and we know the Lord heard our prayers and answered. She could’ve lost her sight, or even the whole eye, if the injury had been slightly different or if the surgery hadn’t gone exactly as needed. Thank you for your prayers!

Whittley has to wear an eye patch for about five hours a day even now, in order to try and strengthen her weakened eye. After surgery it had to stay covered for quite some time in order to heal. Her brain began to shut off use of the eye and so it’s become somewhat lazy among other technical things. Though she definitely doesn’t want to put that patch on each day, she hasn’t lost her smile or her spunk!

Mother’s Day brought Delaney home for a visit and we were able to snap a picture of everyone, including my mom, for once!

Late May took us to Washington for my BFF’s husband’s 50th birthday celebration! This time I was traveling with my guys, Billy and Garrett. It was also a good excuse to see our daughter Delaney again 🙂 Over spring she reconnected with her friend Anson whom she’d known since they were about fourteen and had dated about three years prior. Let’s just say that things were getting serious…and who could be more perfect for this blue-haired cosmetologist than a guy willing to wear a purple mohawk (creation of said cosmetologist!).

 

Summer was super busy! McKenzie, Whittley, and I all have birthdays in July, so there’s that! And of course, Kinleigh was getting bigger and full of personality 🙂

I also traveled with my mom to St. Louis and Branson for a little vacation. I combined it with the award’s banquet for Realm Makers where I got to meet some of my cyber writing friends while cheering on The Genesis Tree which was a finalist in their fantasy category.

 

In August I returned to Oregon and Washington where I attended my first writer’s conference! Oregon Christian Writers puts on a fabulous conference with excellent workshops and keynote speakers. (Yeah, I don’t have anything to compare it to personally, but a lot of seasoned attendees say this is their favorite of the many different ones they attend). I got to meet up with many authors from my publishing house, Mountain Brook Ink. Enjoyed getting to know the kind and talented Jill Williamson and Taylor Bennett too!

Olivia joined me after the conference and we had fun eating our way around Portland (and drinking tons of coffee) with her sister Delaney. While we were there, the subject of Delaney moving back to Texas came up. She and her boyfriend Anson were getting pretty serious and it seemed like the sensible thing to do since he lived in Texas now too.

But wait! First Delaney was coming back to Texas for her birthday! Something she had planned before we had discussed her moving home. She came down in late September and got a lot more than a birthday dinner–she got engaged! We had a surprise engagement party for her, since we all knew what was happening the day that Anson took her out for her “birthday” 😉 Anson is a godly and talented young man who’s a worship intern at a local church. We are excited to have him as part of our fam!

A bonus of this development was that Anson was able to move Delaney back to Texas in October. Though I enjoyed the experience of the four day drive when I helped move her up, my backside was not sad to miss a repeat performance.

About this time our youngest, who is no longer young at age 20, began school for her future as a pilot. Olivia is the most determined young woman I’ve ever met, and I’m looking forward to watching her, literally, soar!

When Delaney finally arrived back home, Billy and I were in Pensacola celebrating our 29th anniversary! We had pretty good weather for late October and also enjoyed watching the Mississippi State Bulldogs trample Texas A & M when we drove up to Starkville with Billy’s cousins to attend the game (in between enjoying their company and their beach house!). I had my first tailgating experience, which I definitely enjoyed (it’s like a professional sport that the fans take part in before the game).

Also, a rather life-altering development happened in October…I made contact with my half sister! Thanks to McKenzie’s ancestry research, she learned she had a “cousin” whose DNA was a close match. That cousin turned out to be her aunt–my sister on my father’s side. I’ve tried to find her over the years, wondering how she would react if I did. Long story short–we’re both thrilled to have found one another and hope to meet in person in 2019!

November means fall, which is my favorite time of year. I decorated, as always, while Delaney settled in. Thanksgiving brought Billy’s parents out from Mississippi, which is a treat. Unfortunately, his dad had a ministroke the day after Thanksgiving, while we were downtown looking at Christmas lights. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital and stayed for five days.

We are thankful we were able to get him some help pretty quickly, though it turns out he had also had a stroke the morning they drove to our house, but neither he nor my MIL recognized it. My FIL turned 90 this year, so even little things can turn big at this point. I’m happy to report he’s doing much better now!

I expected to finish out the year with decorating for Christmas and wrapping presents. But wait! My sweet husband decided to surprise me with a trip to NYC in the middle of December! Did I mention we’re practically empty nesters? Yeah, getting old has its perks 🙂

We enjoyed seeing the city all decked out for Christmas. Though I took a gazillion pictures, I’ll just post a few here with some descriptions so I can wrap this long post up.

Finally, we ended our rather rushed Christmas season (thanks to our trip) with the celebration of our Savior’s birth. We enjoyed times with family, both here and in Mississippi. Having a three year old here for “Missmas” helped to bring back that childhood wonder and magic that little kids exude!

Though Whittley’s eye may have a long road ahead to full recovery, we were all so grateful it wasn’t any worse. Her struggles, and her strong spirit, have both colored and encouraged this past year. We’re also extremely grateful and blessed to have added Kinleigh to our family and can’t get enough of her dimples and giggles.

We’ve been blessed with family, friends, and God’s grace in the midst of accidents and ministrokes. I’m incredibly thankful that the Lord brought my sister Debbie into my life, as well! His provision for our family to travel s often as a special way to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries is also more than we deserve.

If you’ve made it to the end of this ridiculously long post, you are probably really bored or you are related to me 😀

Or maybe you’re just a good friend that I am blessed to know. So…what did 2018 bring your way?