I'm just shaking my head - where did the time go??? Has it really been almost a year since I last posted?? That is just crazy. Well, I'm going to try and not bore you with a ton of details over the past 10 months, but I do have some highlights I want to share!
First thing I thought of was Nathan bought a car last summer just before school started!! We told him we would match what he had saved, and since he had worked with a handyman all summer he was able to pull together $1,000. So the question was, what could we possibly get that was any good for $2,000? Well, the Lord provided by putting us in touch with this sweet older Christian couple who had babied a 1997 (the year Nathan was born!) Toyota Avalon with only 93,000 miles on it. Even though the owner had wanted to ask $3500 he felt like he should sell it to Nathan for $2,000, not even knowing that's all Nathan had to spend!! It has been such a blessing to him and our whole family these past several months - we couldn't be more thankful! Here's a picture of Nathan and the owner and his wife - aren't they adorable?!
First thing I thought of was Nathan bought a car last summer just before school started!! We told him we would match what he had saved, and since he had worked with a handyman all summer he was able to pull together $1,000. So the question was, what could we possibly get that was any good for $2,000? Well, the Lord provided by putting us in touch with this sweet older Christian couple who had babied a 1997 (the year Nathan was born!) Toyota Avalon with only 93,000 miles on it. Even though the owner had wanted to ask $3500 he felt like he should sell it to Nathan for $2,000, not even knowing that's all Nathan had to spend!! It has been such a blessing to him and our whole family these past several months - we couldn't be more thankful! Here's a picture of Nathan and the owner and his wife - aren't they adorable?!
Another milestone happened when Nicole got her first job shortly after school started!! She is working at an upscale breakfast/lunch restaurant as a hostess on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and even got Nathan to join as a host in November. He worked the same days Nicole did until the beginning of this year when he felt the Lord told him to back off his hours, so he's just working there on Sundays. Here's a picture of Nicole and I enjoying a meal at the restaurant - so sorry it is blurry - didn't look that way before I uploaded it. And why can't I ever know where to look at with these camera phones??
Another thing that happened this fall was that I was able to live a dream through my daughter - she became a cheerleader her senior year for our homeschool football team!!! She had had no interest in cheerleading and I never mentioned or pushed it, but when I noticed that tryouts were coming up I asked her just to consider it - no pressure - and just go to the tryouts to see if it might something she would possibly be interested in. She came home pretty excited because she knew many of the girls and started looking forward to the idea and finally said she wanted to do it! I had so much fun going to games and watching her cheer - she was a natural at it and had a blast! My sweet friend, Hollyhead, came to one of her games and snapped these pictures:
| I have no other reason to include this picture of Nicholas - no special occasion or anything - just that he looks like such a cool dude I had to upload it here! He looks like he should be in one of the Blues Brother movies! |  |
The first week in October saw me getting my 4th biopsy since this whole bladder cancer ordeal started almost 2 years before. Unfortunately, the results were positive, so I was sentenced to 6 week 'chemo' (really immunotherapy using the turboculosis vaccine, BCG) treatments from mid-Nov thru the end of December. But before that started, I met my best friend and roommate from college (who lives in Orlando) for lunch half way between our homes, and whom I hadn't seen in probably a couple of years! The first thing she said when I got out of the car was, "No WAY!" We were both dressed pretty much exactly alike! It was hilarious! We had a great time together, and getting that time in after such a long time made me appreciate our friendship even more!
Then the first week in November, Tim and I celebrated our 27th Anniversary with a weekend getaway to the Tradewinds in St. Pete. We had such a great time, and felt even more grateful for the years together than ever!
Then, November 16, the triplets turned 18!!! Ahhh!! That can't be true!! But it is - we now have 5 adults in the house. Here are some pictures from their fun and wacky 18th birthday party:
Then, November 16, the triplets turned 18!!! Ahhh!! That can't be true!! But it is - we now have 5 adults in the house. Here are some pictures from their fun and wacky 18th birthday party:
Thanksigiving I took a week off of 'chemo' to go on a family vacation to a friend's cabin in North Carolina! We had such a great time together (despite having to buy a new battery and a new tire for the minivan). The boys hiked on a nearby mountatin and spent the night freezing to death while Nicole and I were dealing with the flat tire I got while driving home from dropping them off. We made some very good memories despite the challenges and just enjoyed not having to be anywhere or do anything!! Here is a picture of the brave hikers - what a motley crew they made! ahah!
My birthday is 7 days before Christmas, and it kind of snuck up on me being in the middle of 'chemo' and all. And then it was the week of Christmas!! Yikes!! So I got an Amazon Prime account and ordered everything on Monday and everything but 1 thing came by Wednesday, and then my good friend, Marie, came over Christmas eve morning and helped me wrap everything! It ended up being a very stress free and relaxing Christmas. Nicholas and his friend, Andrew, did a great job putting lights on the house, so I have a picture of that along with the tornado look of the inside of the house after we opened our presents Christmas morning:
We have a friend who works at Lazy Days and who recommended us to the TV show Big Time RV on the Travel channel that shoots some of their episodes right there at Lazy Days. So at the beginning of January we were invited to do just that - spend a couple of days on site shooting an episode for their next season. Nicholas had to be in school, but the triplets were available so the 5 of us had a blast looking through RVs and commenting on this feature or that, and just reminiscing about our time living in our RV. It made us all miss it so much!! It also made us realize how boring our family would be without Nicholas!! We missed the spice he adds to the mix! But overall, like I said, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the experience. Here's a picture of the triplets taking a break between shoots. We're not sure when our episode will air, but I think it will be some time this summer.
My awesome brother and sister came to visit in January and timed it so that they could go to one of Nathan's basketball games!!!! I was so thankful to get that time in with them!
The triplets had a fellow homeschooled senior and budding photographer take their senior pictures and wow - I was blown away! Her name is Abigail Hodges, and we couldn't be happier with what she did!! Check out some of her work....
Nathan came home from work one day in January to let me know that a radio station was set up next to the restaurant and was giving away free tickets to Dancing with the Stars on stage if you spun a wheel and it landed on a certain thing!! So I hopped in my car and raced over there and spun that wheel, and guess what? I won!! So Nicole and I enjoyed a fabulous girl's night out going to dinner and then going to the Dancing with the Stars show! We had a BLAST!!
Nathan and I had our own little excursion in February. We went to the University of Tampa where they were playing a basketball game against my alma mater, Florida Southern College. Florida Southern won in a close game that wasn't decided until the last few seconds of the game - it was very exciting and I was happy to experience Nathan's first live college basketball game with him! As my mom used to say, we made a memory!
February was incredibly busy with all of Nathan's basketball games and with me being the team mom - but I just love basketball and enjoyed every minute! Their team did great, only losing once in the regular season and making it all the way to the finals but lost to the same team that beat them during the season. I was so proud of our guys - the did a great job and had great attitudes! My parents from Michigan (my father and step-mom) came down to Southwest Florida for a couple of months and then stopped by to see us for a couple of days on their way back home. They came to one of Nathan's games, took Tim and I to breakfast at the restaurant where Nathan & Nicole were working, and also took us all out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant - yummy!! Granpda spent some time with Nathan teaching him golf and a thing or two about investments, and I think a nice little bond was formed. It was great getting that time in with them!
Then came March and Nicole finally getting her driver's license!! She's now in the market for a good, cheap, reliable car, so we're praying for another situation like Nathan's! Nothing's too difficult for God!
Tim really wanted to go back to his home town for spring break, but the rest of us wanted to stay here and chill out, so we worked out a compromise where he drove up on Sunday and then I flew up on Wednesday and drove back with him a couple days later while the kids stayed here by themselves for a couple days. That Wednesday night we ended up going to the restaurant where he had proposed to me almost 28 years ago!! Such good memories! It was pretty cool being able to leave the kids and they all lived to tell about it!!
| At the end of March I had the privilege of helping to chaperone some of the finest teenagers I've ever met on a trip up to the capitol in Tallahasse to participate in the annual State Assembly of the YMCA's Youth in Government program. I was really blown away at the professionalism and poise of these young adults, and had a great time seeing all branches of government represented by these fine young men and women. Nicole had the honor of serving as a DLA (director of legislative affairs - very prestigious!), and Nathan's bill had the honor of being 1st on the docket and made it past 1st and 2nd committee, was passed in the Senate and then passed in the House, and made it all the way to the Cabinet but the governor decided not to sign it into law (boo hiss!). Noah's bill won the best bill award! I was just very impressed with and so very proud of all 3 of them!!! |  |
Which takes us up to a week and a half ago to the homeschool senior luncheon and the opportunity to honor our seniors. My wonderful sister drove up from Port Charlotte, and our best friends, Lee and Marie, came to celebrate the triplets. I happen to have a picture, in the same order, of the triplets in high chairs and then a picture at the luncheon - they've changed just a bit, wouldn't you say?
Well - that pretty much covers the past 10 months in a nutshell! Stay tuned for my next blog entry with information about our family's upcoming missions trip to Lebanon this summer!!
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