Happy New Year, Make It The Best Year Ever!

We come to the close of another year that seems to have flown by but yet still full of blessings. 2010 was exciting as well as challenging at times. When things are “normal” or what passes off as normal around our home, I usually write a Christmas letter and fill out over 150 cards for the holiday. That didn’t happen this year so I thought this would be a great place to do our “recap of the year gone by”. We had our share of “mountain top experiences” as well as some times “down in the valley”. Below you will read some of the events of our year with a few captions as well. We always try to make the most out of the time we get to spend with family and friends and our yearly calendar reflects this.
~ After bringing in the New Year with our good friends Brad and Julie Chutes, the first couple of months were spent getting caught up after the holidays. We also enjoyed celebrating a couple of birthdays, Abby {Jan.25th} and Mariah’s {Feb. 22nd}
~ We celebrated Barb’s birthday {March 2nd} with a trip to Illinois to see family. Chad & Angie were visiting from Texas with the newest member of their family, Olivia {“O-Dog”}. What a precious baby she is!
~ In April we celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. I took a much needed early season “golf getaway” to North Myrtle Beach with some great friends. {GB, King, Donny, and the Senator} I also started working with a local organization called The Alpha Group. They are a non-profit agency that provides employment for adults with disabilities. I get to supervise a work crew of 3-5 guys as they do lawn care and landscaping in the summer and snow removal in the winter. It’s a challenging position but it’s very much like working around the guys at the cigar shop.
~ In June we followed through with one of our wishes. We’ve always wanted to get a huge cabin in the Smokies and vacation with family members, so right after school was out that’s exactly what we did. We’ve been to the Smokies several times but this was the most fun. {Except for when Barb jacked up her knee and we had to go to the ER}
~ July brought about our annual trip to Canada for some incredible walleye, northern pike and smallmouth bass fishing. This year I went with my friends Ed, Trooper Bobby, the good Senator from Arkansas, and Black Superman and his mother. Man, was I relieved when we got held up at the border that Troops Ohio State Highway Patrol bag sat on top of all the other bags. We were extended some “professional courtesy” just when we really needed it. This trip is always the pinnacle of my summers and I look forward to it like nothing else. You wouldn’t understand if you’ve never been. Also in July, with the help of Facebook, I was able to reconnect with an old friend, Brad Noe and his family.
~ August ushered in another school year and began the process of college applications for Abby. She had her choices narrowed down to 3 colleges. After researching the three and filling out the apps, the waiting game was on. She was very excited about getting the letter of acceptance to Bowling Green State University. Abby is going to be a “Falcon”. A few weeks after she found out she was accepted she received another letter from their business school accepting her into that program. We can hardly believe our baby is graduating and heading to college soon.
~ September ushered in the early deer season and dove season in Kentucky where I hunted with Brad and a few others. There’s a 450 acre farm south of Louisville that we are leasing for hunting rights and it’s a great place to get away. We took our first deer of the year that weekend. DJ finished up another season of soccer and practiced shooting his gun in eager preparation for his first hunt this year. We had unseasonably HOT weather for Sept. and on Little Brown Jug Day {Sept. 23rd} it was 95 degrees. We did our best to stay hydrated. We also had our annual golf outing in support of the Mike Dodge Memorial Fund. We were able to take a couple of great friends from Ohio to Illinois, too play golf and meet some of our family. I’m hoping we still stay friends!
~ October brought with it the beginning of filling out all the paperwork and getting deposits in at BGSU for Abby. She’s excited about her freshman class getting to live in brand new dorms with “private bathrooms”. I’m excited because BG is only about 50 minutes from Cabelas in Dundee, Michigan. Actually, we are very excited for her to get started in a new stage in her journey. I hope we’ve done enough preparing her for it.
~ November couldn’t get here soon enough for Barb. She had been having some problems with her right knee and the injury she received while vacationing in the Smokies was the icing on the cake. She needed to have knee replacement surgery and it happened on November 8th. She wasn’t sure she made the right decision until just about a week before Christmas. She’s been doing well with the physical therapy. She will be getting back in the swing of things and driving herself to work starting the New Year. We are glad to have her back on the road to recovery and she’s the happiest about it.
I also went down to The Camp and was able to take 2 deer for the Ky. rifle season. Barb wasn’t ready to travel yet, so we stayed home and had an intimate Thanksgiving with just our kids and some board games.
~ As we came into December things were going pretty well with Barb’s recovery. I was able to take DJ down to “The Camp” for a weekend for his very first deer hunt. You can read more about it and other stories in my blog at www.aviewfrommystand.blogspot.com Feel free to read and enjoy all the posts that I have shared. Mariah is very excited because she landed a part in the middle school production of “Alice In Wonderland”. As soon as school starts back she will have 20 practices each month in Jan. & Feb. Barb still wasn’t quite ready to travel so we missed the Dodge Family Christmas in Illinois for only the 3rd time in our 26 years. She did feel good enough to make potato soup, chicken tortilla soup and beer bread. So after we opened all our Christmas gifts at the butt crack of dawn, we had a nice breakfast. Our good friends Brad and Julie Chutes came down in the afternoon and shared soup and bread with us. It was a very nice Christmas.
Looking into the New Year, we know that there are going to be some family dynamic changes with Abby headed off to college. We are very hopeful that we will handle the things that come our way with the very same strength, determination and faith that has urged us through these first 26 years. It is our hope and prayer that 2011 brings to you all the hope, joy and peace that you need to sustain you for the challenges that come your way. We have been blessed beyond measure with loving family, awesome friends and some pretty terrific kids. We hope that you share in these same things with us in 2011.
That’s the view from my stand!