2016 recap

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.  Job 1:21

Looking back on 2016 reminds me that we saw many blessings this year.  It's easy to remember it as a difficult year especially when it ends painfully, but there was much beauty in this year.

The year started with a formal, school dance, and Savannah looked more beautiful than I had ever seen her.  Her date was a perfect gentleman.

January also brought us a new niece/cousin.  Her personality indicates that she will be a fun and adventurous girl, always wearing a smile.  Right now she climbs everything, and it's driving her mom crazy, but that climbing will turn into a girl who will take risks -hopefully, good ones.

 February brought scholarship news.  Savannah received full tuition to her first-choice school.

We checked some local bucket list items with a hike in the spring.

Andy returned to regular running and completed a mini-marathon in the rain.  His biggest cheer-leader awoke early to do her job.

Prom followed soon after.  Savannah attended with another perfect gentleman.  She truly has wonderful friends.

Graduation with high honors.

 We enjoyed our first vacation in a couple of years, and it was so nice.

 We even got some okay family pictures.

Julia's swim team reinstated themselves as champs, and she enjoyed diving as well.

 We brought the original four cousins together (along with Julia) for a day of coaster riding.

 Some of the little cousins showed up too and proved to be coaster loving kids themselves.

We spent a wonderful weekend on a lake with great and generous friends.  I turned forty-something while there. 

 We checked off another bucket list item when we took Zach to see a cheetah run.

Zach helped his little sister move into the dorm and start campus life.

 Zach turned 21 -must. stop. blinking.

 Another hike...

 Painful loss.  I miss my dad so much, but there is blessing even in this.  I am grateful that he died in his sleep.  I remember the minister saying at my great-aunt's funeral that there is no time when we are asleep.  She went to sleep and awoke in Heaven.  Dad liked that and did the same thing.

We saw our favorite high school team win the state football championship.  Zach and his classmates were seniors when this years' crop of seniors were freshmen.  They liked this class and were so proud of them.  It was fun to watch them cheer for that team like a bunch of proud papas.

We started as colleagues and became friends.  My closest partner at work retired in December, and I will go back to a very lonely place with double the responsibility, but these kids are terrific and will help me greatly.  I love these people all so much.

Wyatt turned fourteen - again - must. stop. blinking.

December also put Zach into a new position as he finally quit his job at a sandwich shop and started working for UPS. Hopefully, UPS will cover his tuition going forward, and it is better money with a schedule that suits him.

The girls and I took a road trip to enjoy some Christmas lights and a fun city.  I had hoped to do a weekend there with Andy as he was planning to take me somewhere for my birthday, but that never worked out.  I almost cancelled my plan to do this when Dad died, but I think this year was a YOLO year.  I tried to return to experiencing things, and while it has been tampered with a bit less wonder over it all, it helps to look back and see what we enjoyed.

Other notable 2016 moments include:

• Watching the summer Olympics held in Rio.  Priceless moments: Simone Manuel's first gold win---loved, loved, loved her reaction, and Aly Raisman's reaction to taking the silver in the all around.  The Olympics brought great stories, great sportsmanship, some national embarrassment (Ryan Locthe), and some amazing feats (most decorated Olympian of all time - Michael Phelps).  The Olympics also wore me out.  I stayed up way too late to watch.
• I saw a substantial pay cut and prayed continually that even with the cut, we would thrive rather than just survive.  God has been faithful so far in that regard, but I have a lot of months left at lower pay before my pay is returned to normal.  I must remind myself that God is faithful.
• A football game between middle school teams where the teams worked together to love on a player who had just lost his mom that week.  It was a reminder that sports are important.  They teach community, respect, work ethic, and how to handle success and failure.  
• We also saw the Cubs win the World Series. I don't follow baseball, but that's still so cool to see that losing streak (or curse) end for a team so rich in tradition.  We also saw an unlikely candidate win the presidential election.  Jesus is coming back, Y'all!!!
• We saw an amazing amount of loss in talent in 2016 with so many celebrity deaths.  Prince, George Michael, David Bowie, Carrie Fischer -immediately followed by Debbie Reynolds, and so many more. I can't even make it through the whole list on the news sites that are sharing them now.  What a year!

I hope that 2017 brings great blessings, and I admit that I enter it with some apprehension.  It is good to remember that 2016 was not all bad. In fact, it was a lot of good.  

Girls' Trip

 Grief is such a curious beast.  Reminders of what has been lost show up in the strangest places - a song on the radio which is weird because Dad is the only person I have ever known who did not like any music whatsoever.  He never wanted the radio played in the car.  On a tour a mention was made of George Jones' He Stopped Loving Her Today, and I think I remember Dad actually liking that one.  Someone mentioned Rod Stewart at Jazzercise, and I remember how impressed Dad was by that rocker's soccer skills.  A friend from far away commented that Julia is getting so tall after seeing a picture of my family.  It made me realize that Dad had not yet seen how much she had passed up Savannah, and that's something he would have been all over during the holidays when seeing them together.  Grief is a curious beast because it comes from nowhere and hits you - in a quiet moment or when watching a TV show where you see a Dad sacrifice for his kids.  As my hairdresser told me today, it never gets better, but it does get easier. I know this because I am acquainted with grief.  As Andy said, he and I did not grow up in families that faced so much loss in a six year span.  Our children handle grief with maturity I did not have at their ages.

 Trying to make the most of the break and take a break from grief, I took the girls on a road trip.  Here are some pics from our day together.

We started with a trolley tour.  I found lots of things I want to return and see through the tour, but in the future, I would prefer to start the day early (we started just after noon) on the trolley and take time to enjoy many more stops.  We were under the threat of storms and used the trolley to get to the must see stops on our itinerary.  I am grateful for Groupon and an online deal to cover the cost of the trolley.  I could never have paid full price for that, and I am not sure I would want to on our limited timeframe. 

Mission accomplished - city skyline for a future work of art from Savannah.  Of course, I took these pictures, and she won't use a picture that she did not take herself, so I don't know what perspective the final product will have.

Julia has a gift for taking selfies.  Julia went reluctantly through the trolley tour but stated that the skyline adventure was her favorite part of the day.

We capped off the day by wandering through a beautifully decorated hotel.

Actually, I lied.  To humor Julia we capped off the day with two hours in a loud and crowded arcade.  It was stressful, and we left for home far later than anticipated making for an early morning arrival back home.  It was half-price game day so 60 tokens went much further than anticipated or desired (on Savannah's and my behalf anyway).

Christmas Day

I went back and did a retro Christmas Eve post, and now I will share our Christmas Day.

Julia awoke early.  It's the one day of the year where she gets up plenty early.  Nobody is more excited in this house about Christmas than this girl.  She loves shopping for gifts, wrapping gifts and receiving gifts.  Julia waited for hours for her siblings to get up and join her and entertained herself at the top of the stairs.

Julia is so funny.  Each child gets a Santa gift wrapped in Santa paper, and they get two gifts from Mom and Dad.  Julia, Savannah, and Zachary also shop for each other.  We were at Sam's earlier this month, and I love their wrapping paper.  The rolls last forever.  I have one roll that I am so tired of, and I am convinced it is regenerating.  We've been wrapping gifts with it for five years, and Julia even took it to school this year where her class used it to wrap 20 shoeboxes, and there is still plenty left. Needless to say Sam's has the most economical, quality paper I can find.  Last year I decided to start buying an additional roll each year to have some variety.  Julia was with me, and we both loved this Santa paper, so I bought it.  It was the first time any of the kids got to see the Santa paper purchased.  On Christmas morning, she kept smarting off about how Santa's paper looked just like the paper I bought at Sam's.  So funny.

I did not get any shots of Wyatt on Christmas Eve, so it's nice to have some Christmas morning smiles from him.  He's growing so fast that we replenished some of his favorite t-shirts with sizes that  leave some room to grow.  This week I will have to take him shoe shopping.  Whether he has outgrown his shoes or not, I am not sure, but they are worn out.

Savannah got some state pride gifts this year which will be fun to take back to school with all of her out of state friends.

A happy guy with some team apparel.

Her big brother came through with a much desired gift.

Zach loves gift giving, and he loves Shiloh, so he made sure she was not left out.

Andy and Savannah cooked a delicious feast, and Joshua joined us, so that was extra fun.  After dinner, we played some of Joshua's new games.  I knew the kids would be bored by midday, so I told Joshua and my nephews to come over so that they could all hang out and play games.  Austin and Logan had other obligations, but Savannah especially loved having her uncle here and winding the day down with some good, clean fun.  Just so you know, Andy and I can both get away with murder when playing Murder and Deception in Hong Kong.

It's been a merry Christmas.