THE INTRODUCTION:
Merry Christmas, friends! This year has been so weird, so surreal, so long, and so short all at the same time. Pre-lockdown, we were enjoying full-time life on Sanibel, with Stone Soup, gymnastics, tennis, gatherings with friends and even a few trips thrown in there.
Through it all, we walk away more grateful for the small things. For family & friends. For good health. For access to grocery stores and clean water. For face masks & hand sanitizer & take out food. For sunshine & the beach & river otters & seabirds. For Zoom writing retreats & photography classes. For celebrating K's 50th birthday. For my Maps group. For kids that like each other & a husband who cleans up the supper dishes...every night. For Couch Concerts & Art for Kids Hub.
As if the year wasn't weird enough, we got chickens. We've always wanted chickens. Now we have five. And four turtles. It took us moving from farm country to a land of palm trees & predators to start living out our dream of chickens. Maybe bees will be next... We also bought a bigger house here on Sanibel that we are excited to grow into. Stay tuned for our new address!
THE KIDS:
Our oldest one: L is eleven. He is enjoying photography, film making, Rubix cubing, camping, wakeboarding, playing the piano, reading anything he can get his hands on, and training the dogs to do tricks, among other things. And while tennis may not be his favorite past time, he's really good at it. He's a great story-teller & one of my all-time favorite conversationalists.
Our favorite daughter: H is nine. She seems to be an animal whisperer of sorts. Seriously. It's awesome to watch her with all of our animals. She also is a great tennis player & pianist and is enjoying a small dance class that has worked well during Covid. She is Junior Girl Scout and loves spending time with her sweet friend earning badges. So far they have earned Jewelry (Making) and Outdoor Art Explorer badges. She is clever, has her father's quick wit & sarcasm, and a knack for peacemaking too.
The littlest one: R is six and exudes such joy & gladness now as when was born. He just can't help smiling most days, which is really helpful during a pandemic, though he does have a mean stink-eye. He loves playing Lego, sword-fighting, swinging, swimming & fishing. He also is a budding tennis player & might have everyone licked before everything is said and done. He truly is a gifted athlete. He loves camping & adventuring. He's funny & engaging & loves doing pretty much anything as long as his brother & sister are there. But he's growing up too fast.
Both boys are enjoying Boy Scouts. And all the kids have enjoyed Sea School down here. Everyone has done amazingly well at remaining flexible as our plans are constantly shifting. We were able to spend an extended time up in Indiana this summer, which was such a blessing.
THE BENEDICTION:
We look forward to a new year and all the hope it brings. We trust that this season of Christmas will bring you peace and hope in a Savior, because we all definitely need one. I'm going to close with an excerpt from a book called "Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas":
[Bono speaking] "It had dawned on me before, but it really sank in: the Christmas story. The idea that God, if there is a force of Love and Logic in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in s**t and straw...a child...I just thought: 'Wow!' Just the poetry...Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it's not that it hadn't struck me before, but tears came down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this. Because that's exactly what we were talking about earlier: love needs to find form, intimacy needs to be whispered. To me, it makes sense. It's actually logical. It's pure logic. Essence has to manifest itself. It's inevitable. Love has to become an action or something concrete. It would have to happen. There must be an incarnation. Love must be made flesh."
Merry Christmas everyone.
K+M+L+H+R
Gus & Ginger the Wonderdogs
The Chickens: Angel, Camila, Big Guy, Buddy & New Guy
The Turtles: [no names at the time of this writing]
THE PHOTOS:
