Wow…it’s December already! I love a day like today—cool, rainy, a cup of coffee, and a little writing assignment. I missed my calling as a professional student, I think. So until I get back to that, let me update you with our family’s happenings.
Last September (‘08), we packed up and left the Washington, D.C. area after three wonderful years there. Kaitlin and I headed to Houston to spend the fall with my parents (read: elated grandparents who usually have no nearby grandkids) while Jesse headed to Altus, Oklahoma to retrain in the C-17 so he could be a functional pilot again after a couple of years doing Pentagon staff work. Jesse came down to Houston lots of weekends and then after spending Christmas in Texas, we moved to our new duty station in Charleston, South Carolina. We bought a house and have thoroughly enjoyed the creature comforts of our own home again—things like a garage, main floor laundry room, plenty of space, and a good-sized backyard are among what we missed most during our D.C. years.
In April we took our first family trip to Disney World and it was, well, magical. Our first morning there, we had breakfast with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Daisy Duck at the Animal Kingdom. We arrived right as the park opened, when all the characters are out to count down to the big opening and usher in all the excited park goers. I cried. Getting to Disney World brought out my inner SuperMom. There is nothing in the world like seeing your kid so happy.
The other highlight of the year, of course, was August 5th—Carson Matthew’s birthday! We thoroughly enjoy our new status as a family of four, and Jesse’s side of the family is still in shock over seeing another baby boy (he’s got four younger sisters). Unfortunately, our family time has been a bit interrupted by the Air Force, as Jesse deployed to Qatar on August 29th and is due back in early January. It’s been a challenging few months with a newborn and a preschooler, and I’ve come to realize how true it is that it’s not just the military member who serves their country. It’s their families, too. But even more, it’s the host of people—and we are beyond blessed, there have been plenty of them—who serve their nation by taking care of the families left behind. I cannot thank you all enough for the encouragement, meals, lawn care, child care, listening ears, tear-stained shoulders, and prayers!
As for Kaitlin, she has weathered all of these changes beautifully. Being a big sister suits her perfectly. She started preschool in September and loves “meeting” a new letter each week, show-and-tell, and all of her friends. She is very detail-oriented and organized—every pair of her shoes has an assigned stair in our house where they reside and are rarely out of place. She loves to scramble eggs in the mornings, sing herself to sleep, and count to 100 on walks. At long last she has overcome her fear of slides and is finally keeping up with the two-year-olds on the playground. She just turned four. But she can do 75-piece puzzles with ease, write her name legibly and say the word supercalifragilisticexpalidocious so while I may not have a world class circus tightrope walker on my hands, I have a sweet, caring, adorable, highly-intelligent baby girl who is the apple of her mommy and daddy’s eyes. Carson busies himself by keeping a watchful eye on her and taking notes, and he is no doubt beginning to think of ways to keep up with her. He’s a sweet-spirited little guy who smiles all the time, laughs easily, and sleeps some.
That’s our year (plus a little, since I didn’t write a letter last Christmas) in big nutshell. We love hearing from everybody at Christmastime, and pray you all have a warm and wonderful Christmas and a blessed beginning to 2010!
