Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our Friends and Family!

2023 is almost in the books and it was a year like no other! To celebrate 20 years of marriage and surviving the raising and educating of the first of our 7 children, we took the whole family to Alaska!  Not on a cruise, not even a few weeks after a long plane trip.  Oh no, our family always does everything the hard way.  But the cheapest, most difficult way always has the greatest reward, am I right?  The kind that builds grit and character and gets dirt under your nails…and just about everywhere else.  

We took the excruciatingly slow way and drove across the continent and took the entire summer to do it.  It was at times amazing, ridiculous, ludicrous, wonderful and terrible.  We hauled 9 people and everything we needed to keep them alive for 8 weeks in a 15 passenger van and a camper.  Over 13,000 miles and 300 hours of driving.  If you kept up with us on our blog then you know all about the ups and downs of our trip already.  Overall the trip was a huge success.  We battled a stomach bug all through the Canadian Rockies and into Alaska as we drove some of the roughest roads in North America and dealt with the coldest, wettest, gloomiest summer I have ever experienced in my entire life.  Combined with close quarters we had colds almost the entire trip (until we headed back into the steamy lower 48) and passed pinkeye back and forth for weeks.  I know, I know, at this point you’re all wishing we had invited you along.  It was as ridiculous as it sounds.  But besides all that, in all seriousness, it was the most incredible summer of our lives.  Tim and I were able to return to the place that set the tone for our entire married life - the place where we honeymooned and spent 8 years and had our first 4 children.  Where we discovered what real church and real community looked like.  And we got to take our kids there and show them everything and everyone.  So yeah, it was pretty amazing.  Top that off with 9 National Parks and a few other amazing sites, it was in many ways, the trip

we were both dreading and dreaming of.  Because anyone who thinks taking 7 kids on a trip that long sounds hard, is totally right.  But in the end, not a single one of us regret it one teeny, tiny bit.  We visited Crater Lake, the Redwoods, Lassen Volcanic, Glacier, Yellowstone, Dinosaur National Monument, The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, and Jasper (Canada).  The highlight for everyone was definitely the 3 weeks we spent in Seldovia, Alaska.  We went fishing and snagging and caught dozens of salmon, went hiking, boating and reconnected with many old friends.  Explored all the old spots that our children had heard about but didn’t remember or had never seen.  And, the favorite, spent a whole weekend on the islands - visiting the Island Church and a visit to Cohen Island as well as a few nights on remote Tutka bay in a friend’s houseboat.  No one was ready to leave the magical place.  

But, at some point, we did.  And the road home was equally exciting and this time, thankfully, barf free.  Freedom came to a screeching halt once we hit the driveway and the fall has been incredibly full.  

Abigail (18) graduated this year and entered adulthood.  What a feat!  I’m not sure who put in more hard work to get her there - me or her!  She briefly toyed with the idea of enrolling in ETSU’s music program, but chose instead to continue pursuing her musical aspirations through her band, Appalachian Heartstrings, and to continue teaching fiddle and guitar lessons both privately and as a teacher with JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians). And that brought us to the purchase of a tiny home together for her to plop on our land. 

It provides a place for her to “move out” and also a studio other than our living room. As a studio it has been a wonderful space, but we are still completing finishing touches before she can officially move in. Electricity is coming soon and hopefully we’ll have the final touches wrapped up and her moved in soon!  

Hannah (16) decided to try something Abbey had always refused - dual enrollment (half public/half homeschool) through the high school so she can play sports. It’s been a bit of a learning curve for all of us. Online classes, real tests with grades, teachers, principals. Answering to someone else… She thoroughly enjoyed her spot on the Lady Patriots Varsity soccer team as center back. They are quite good and made it all the way to the second round of playoffs for the state championship! Quite a feat for our small county. She also played in the top tier soccer league in travel ball this fall. When she’s not keeping up with practices and games and grades she is painting or playing the guitar or the piano or hanging out with friends. She got her license a few months ago and that has helped her social life out immensely and given me a break from playing chauffeur!  

Micah (14) also enrolled dually this fall so he could play on the Men’s Patriot JV soccer team.  His season was not quite as successful as Hannah’s. In fact, they lost every game.  A character-building kind of season that was pretty tough on top of all the new things high school brings.  But he came through determined to give next year another shot in the hopes that things can only go up from here. He takes out his frustration on his dirt bike and, though he’s taking guitar lessons, we have yet to find something else that captures his interest more than tinkering with his bikes. Although he has developed quite the little side business locally weed eating, mowing and other side work.

Malachi (11) on the other hand has shown a natural talent

for the guitar and loves to pick it up to try out his latest piece.  Lately it’s been “Here Comes the Sun” and “Joy to the World”.  He and Elias played on the boys u12 soccer team and they are fantastic players. We enjoyed a great season with an awesome group of 10 and 11 year old boys.  I enjoy coaching - that rowdy group of boys is always the highlight of my week and brings me back to childhood memories of brothers and cousins and backyard soccer.  

Elias (9) is just as spunky as ever and enjoys the fact that he plays soccer with the big boys. We always have to bump him up a level to eliminate a team, but he loves it! He also picked up the guitar this year and Mom has been teaching him how to play the piano as well. He is probably the most excited that we are expecting puppies again this winter!  

Moriah (7) FINALLY got her two front teeth this summer! She lost one as a baby from a fall years ago and it’s now a bit strange to see her without that gaping hole after all these years.  She also is playing the piano and Abbey is teaching her the fiddle and this year she got to “busk” with Abbey at the local farmer’s market and earn some tips.  Extremely motivating.  She also enjoyed soccer with the “Flying Squirrels'' this fall and absolutely fell in love with Alaska and can’t wait to go back.  Actually all of our children can’t wait to return.  

Zipporah (Zip, Zippy, Zip-zip, etc) has somehow managed to remain as cute as a button and everyone’s favorite 4 year old wherever she goes.  And it hasn’t gone to her head. She is still the sweetest, happiest, most loving little person around and she spreads joy wherever she goes. To say she is loved in return is an understatement. Her favorite things right now are Bluey, books, Dragomino (look it up if you need a good game idea for your little kids - we are big board gamers and this one is a winner! Because some of those preschool games are a bit boring…)

Lucy is expecting her next litter in January and we are all so excited for another round of those soft little bundles.  In case you’ve never heard of Old Time Scotch Collies, look them up!  We are convinced they are simply the best dogs in the world - and most people have never heard of them!

And that about wraps it up.   I’m sorry there are so many of us to read about!  Tim and I work hard to keep up with all the chaos but it keeps us from feeling too middle aged yet.  Finding time for each other and being on the same page is the biggest challenge - especially now with all these late night, hormonal teenagers that choose 10pm to talk!  Our home has become a bit of a hub for some of their friends and not a

week goes by that I don’t have a hulking teenager or two over for dinner or sleeping on the living room couch.  But we try to enjoy this season as we know it will pass as quickly as the rest of the them.

This child-becoming-adult-but-not-quite stage is more challenging than I ever imagined.

The biggest adjustment has been learning how to lose control bit by bit.  It’s a bit wonderful at times and yet also terrifying.  We don’t always know where they are, who they are with, what they are doing and sometimes they get to make their own decisions and it can be SO HARD TO WATCH.  I have been learning a lot about relinquishing that control and trying to realize that I never really had it to begin with.  I am grateful for a sovereign God who is truly the One in control of all the details and it is reminding myself of this truth that keeps me from losing my mind with anxiety over the idiotic things half-adults do.  And the Christmas season is such a good reminder of His sovereignty and that He has a plan.  Just like He had a plan that brought us the Savior of the world in the form of an infant in a humble stable, He has a plan for all of the moments.  And just like it didn’t make sense back in those days in Bethlehem, and probably isn’t the way we would have done it, His plan often doesn’t look so perfect to us in this life either.  Sometimes we have to wait longer than we wanted to, or it looks messier than we thought it should, or way stinking harder than we would have allowed. And He never tells us the future dag gum it. But looking back, sometimes it’s possible to see how it all fits together like a beautiful puzzle.  Kind of like our wonderful yet sort of hard and terrible trip across the country with 7 kids.  

Although, sometimes we can’t always look back and see a reason or a result of pain or struggle.  And I pray for those of us who can’t always find the reason in the difficult times; that we could trust in a Lord who loves us and really does know what He’s doing even when it doesn’t look like it at times.  Know that He is in control, that His plan will come together in the end and one day “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11).  Just like those shepherds, angels, and wise men did thousands of years ago in a little nowhere place for an infant King that appeared nothing like we would expect.  This season I hope you all know that He is good, He is love, and He holds you in His hand.

         Peace be with you this Christmas!