2024 Christmas/New Year’s Letter – Blog Post Style

I came here to write my belated Christmas letter and was shocked to see I didn’t write one in 2023! I’m not going to lie. The incident in October of ‘23 made me go off kilter in many ways for much longer than I’d like to admit. But my mental and physical is ready to bring on 2025! Not sure about my emotional, though. I’m learning after *gasp* almost 44 years, that’s just a part of me and who I am and no matter how much I give myself pep talks that I can’t let myself cry, the more the tears come 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️ So here I am, in all my hot mess, emotional glory! 2025, I’m READY!

I’ll start with the main guy behind the scenes who gets the least amount of credit or shout outs 😆

Travis ~ Started a new job at DB Schenker back in May of 2023, but I still don’t know what he does 🤣 He tells me his job title is Implementation Manager – ISC Americas. So now we’re all confused together with what he does. He keeps the family in line and on task. We can have a lot of squirrels going on over here but with Dad, we can also operate like a well oiled machine! He can be found at every soccer and basketball game and has found his new love to be attending Gymnastics meets and said they are way more fun than he anticipated. Ha! (He teared up when Isla got 1st place all around at her very first meet 🥹).

Mandy ~ I continue to work at Immanuel 3 days a week, have continued to grow my clientele in the salon, which has been amazing, and work for Advantage Solutions as a Talent Operations Coordinator. The kids also continue to not be fed some days. My word for 2025 is going to be Balance 😉 We’ll see how THAT goes!

Talan ~ (Sophomore; 15 years old) Continues playing soccer and is loving High School! He also got his permit in June. He’s not all that interested in driving but we need a driver so he has no choice! It’s been fun going through this HS phase. Teenage boys crack me up! He’s had fun creating a Mukbang YouTube channel with his buddy, but now says it’s too much work and he just wants to eat his food when he’s hungry and not have to rate it 🤣 But if you need a good laugh for the day, you can still go check it out Here.

Grayson ~ (7th Grade; 13 years old) Has joined a Club Soccer team this year and has enjoyed growing as a soccer player! He’s still our LEGO guy and is Dad’s side kick when it comes to all things sports and stats. He took his 6th grade year off, but joined the Cross Country team again this past Fall with school. It’s a love hate relationship for sure! But he sure doesn’t get his speed from his Mama!

Kylan ~ (4th Grade; 11 years old) Also joined a Club Soccer team this year and is playing basketball. Travis is excited we have at least 1 basketball player still holding strong! He continues to bring comic relief to our family on the daily. He absolutely loves his teacher and his resource teacher this year! He seems to form a special bond with every teacher he crosses paths with. He got a GoPro for Christmas this year because he loves making videos and taking pictures, and he’s currently begging me for a YouTube channel. We’ll see how that plays out.

Isla ~ (2nd Grade; 8 years old) Made the Gymnastics Team this year and went from 6 hours of practice a week last year, to 12 hours a week this year! She’s absolutely loving Meet Season and loves ‘performing’ in front of people. Again, not my child. Haha! She’s rocked her first 2 meets, medaling in every event and earning 1st Place All Around in her first meet and 2nd Place AA in her second meet! We are so proud of her! We make sure to tell her she’ll most likely have some ‘bad’ meets and ‘okay’ meets, but we’ll still be proud of her no matter what 😉 She is also taking 5 dance classes this year. She is our busy bee for sure!

Oakley (4 years old) ~ Gave us quite the scare the day before the first day of school. What I thought would be a vet visit to get his eye looked at and maybe some drops, (his eye was pooled with blood) turned into a hospital/ICU visit. Thank goodness for pet insurance or that isn’t the path we would’ve been able to take. I never would have guessed we would visit a dog in a hospital, yet here we were. After 3 days, we needed him to know we were still here! His platelet count got down to 0 and he needed a chemo therapy treatment. The cause for his condition (ITP) was unknown after many tests, so they consider it to be auto immune. (Like everything else they don’t have answers for) He was on meds that made him seem like a senior dog. He had leg weakness and wouldn’t go up the stairs. He’d just lay around and was hungry and thirsty all the time. He’s now weaned off of those meds and has been back to his old self for a good 2 months now! Yay!

As we close out 2024, we wish that nothing but love surrounds you, there’s peace in your hearts and so much J•O•Y that fills your homes. And not only on your worst days, but also your best days, may you feel love of Jesus wrapped around you.

Blessing to you all in 2025!

~XOXO