Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Blogger is not letting me post an abundance pictures on this post, but oh well.  Today on New Years Eve I am busy cleaning my house and preparing for our 4th annual New Years Progressive dinner with some dear friends.  This is one of our favorite family traditions and we are all excited! 

As I am cleaning and cooking I am thinking back over 2013.  Jonathan started my recount of 2013 in church on Sunday, and I have been blown away now that I am taking time to count the blessings that were bestowed on us this past year.  We continue to see God's handprints on our lives and we are eager to see what he has in store for us in 2014.

 

The highlight of our year was our Make-a-Wish trip to Disney!  That whole trip will forever be tucked in my heart.  God blessed that trip with beautiful weather, good health for us all to enjoy, and precious family memories.  Simply amazing!

 

We have also had several clean scans in 2013 which have given us relief and thanksgiving to God.  Those never get easier, but we continue to be under the best care ever at UVA!  We were also chosen in 2013 to be a Children's Miracle Network Miracle Family which has been fun and given us a way to give back.  We got to do a family interview for marketing for the hospital and we love The CMN team at UVA!

 

Our summer trip to Charleston was also a huge highlight of 2013.  The beach and area were gorgeous and the kids loved the ocean, the aquarium, sightseeing, and the Charleston Riverdogs game.  I often think about retiring there in my later years it is so pretty. 

 

The boys have gotten to see not one, but two Miami Heat games this year!  What a blessing for David and Kyle to see Lebron James in real life.  We also got to participate in Special Spectators at UVA, and then we got to host Special Spectators at Virginia Tech!  My brother and Dad went to help me host these special families at VT and it was such an awesome day.  At both special spectators events, we met some brave and awesome families. 

 

2013 brought a change of schools for both of my boys.  Kyle is now in middle school and is very happy, and David in attending the new Oak Point Elementary!  The ribbon cutting day at OPES, was very emotional for me watching Mike at the podium speaking.  He did a lot of the hard work for the project at UVA while David was in treatment.  To see that beautiful new building welcoming students after years of planning, gave me goosebumps.  I will also treasure the picture of David on the first day of school with Ms. Umbarger standing at the door with her arms wide open for him to run into. 

 

David and I had an awesome Mommy/Son date night in 2013 to see David Crowder Band.  Not only was it an awesome night of worship, but I will never forget sweet David resting his head on the stage listening to his favorite christian singer play his heart out.  We got to meet David Crowder himself after the show and it was an unforgettable night for us both.  I just learned that David Crowder is going out on tour again in 2014!!!

 

Hope has continued to thrive in 2013 coming out of her little shell more and more.  Last year at the christmas show she was a farm animal who sat on the steps and looked down and never sang.  This year she was a beautiful angel and she stood proudly on the stage at church and sang her heart out!! 

 

This past year we were blessed and got to participate in two weddings!  Nick and Mary Lee got married in August and sweet Hope made us so proud as a flower girl.  Ashley and Matt got married labor day weekend and all three of my children were in that wedding.  Weddings are such fun and we were so excited to witness these unions. 

 

We cannot wait to see what 2014 will bring!  Knowing our family it will be lots of sporting events, and a few weekend trips along the way.  We are excited to watch Kyle continue to learn the game of tennis that he has fallen in love with.  Mike's job is never easy or boring so we pray God's blessings over our school system and him. 

 

I pray this year we as a family continue to grow closer to God.  Mike always tells the kids to "do the right thing always" and my new mantra for the kids is to "represent Jesus" wherever we go.  We never know what the future holds, but we know that God will always be with us.  Happy 2014 to you!! 

A lil Getaway

The nightmare of cancer has taught us to seize every moment possible to create family memories.  This break we have tried to do that which included a little overnight getaway to Gatlinburg.  I am a little behind in blogging this break:)

These two love a good hotel room and so off we went!

Our first stop Saturday morning was the Aquarium in the Smokies in Gatlinburg.  It was awesome and the kids especially loved the shark tank!  Yikes!  Here is a big shark going overhead of David and Kyle. 

Early morning heading on I-40 the scenery was gorgeous. 

The sea turtle was my very favorite! 

These crazy boys!

Our sweet girl beside the tree at the Aquarium.  We love little road trips as a family.  They are not stressful to pack for or plan for and it was precious time away together. 

The lunch choice was probably the worst decision we could have ever made.  We ate at Dick's last resort in Gatlinburg.  I remembered eating at one of those places at Myrtle Beach years ago with the Johnson family and thinking it was SO FUNNY! I remember them putting one of those hats on my dad and Sid Johnson that said something about them being old.  I thought my kids would love it,  they could seat us immediately which was awesome since Gatlinburg was packed, our kids were starving, and they had food I could eat.  Mike was leery, but I thought  it would be great. 

Evidently a place that I remembered as funny twenty years ago has gone from being entertaining to raunchy.  I was appalled at some of the things that were written on the hats.  Kyle walked out of there and said "that was the worst place ever!"  He said the portions were small (cardinal sin in Kyle's eyes), they were rude, and they said I was old!  Ha!

Mike and I walked out of there commenting that we would never return because clearly that restaurant does NOT share our values.  Thankfully also they had sports on their TV's and my boys spent more time watching hoops than reading some of the inapproriate hats.  (For the record my hat said Ms. Trailer Park 1992)!

We also went to the Guinness World record place.  That place was cool and gave our competitive family many opportunities to compete against each other!  Here are Hope and David playing hopscotch.  Thankfully no one took pictures of me and Mike competing against each other!  Ha! 

 

Besides quality family time, the highlight of the trip for the kids was the penguin exhibit.  Since Seaworld Hope has a little penguin obsession going on and she LOVED watching the aquarium staff feed the clan of penguins.  It was precious and we had to pry them away.   The penguin that kept showing off in front of us was named Ricky which was Mike's Dad's name.  That gave us a smile. 

 

Today of course was spent at church.  Today at church we talked about all the awesome things God did in 2013 while we look ahead to what God will do in 2014.  It was an awesome message.  The service was closed with the praise band and congregation singing David Crowder's song, How He Loves.  I was so overcome in thankgiving for all the memories, fun, and happy times our family was blessed with in 2013.  We do not know what 2014 has in store for us, but I was overwhelmed in thanksgiving in the ways that God blessed our family in 2013. 

Christmas Post #1

Blogger is being fussy on this Christmas Day and is limiting the number of pictures I can put on one post??!  Interesting.... Oh well!!

Yesterday we started the festivities at GG and Pop's house in Radford.  My brother and his family (minus Hunter) were there as well as my Aunt Charlotte, her husband Ron, and my Memaw!!  She was hospitalized a month ago and has been in a rehab facility since.  It was such a treat that she felt well enough to come celebrate with us. Here is GG playing the piano for Clayton and David to sing:)

The kid table!!  We really missed Hunter:(

I did manage to wrangle the kids under the tree for a picture.  Maybe I can photoshop Hunter in?! 

They may look all sweet, but here the true personalities shine!!!  I need to frame this one for GG:)

Memaw with the boys!  A month ago I took a day off to go see her in the hospital-we were worried she would not make it to Christmas since she opted not to put the defibulator in, but amazingly one month later we broke her out of rehab at the nursing home to party with her. 

It is hard, hard work to celebrate the birth of Jesus:)  Between my parents house and church Princess Hope took a power nap to get through church.  I don't have pictures from church, but it was beautiful and touched my heart.  After communion we went to the altar to pray, and I just poured out my thanksgiving to God that David is with us, he is healthy and he does not have ear tubes in.  My heart was so full last night at church. 

 

This morning, three excited kiddos heading into the living room to see their loot!  It was really a wonderful two days full of church, family, laughter, and fun.  It has been one of the least stressful and most fulfilling Christmas' we have had in a long time.  We feel so blessed.