"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." -Isaiah 40:28-31
To say the least 2011 has been a very trying year for the Richey family.
We are excited to be traveling home for Christmas this year!
In January, Matt and his new wife, Kirstin came to meet Ian and have a visit. It was a lot of fun! Mom was still there from her Christmas trip so it was really good to just have everybody under one roof for a little while. The really fun part was all of Matt's girls can really gang up on him and give him a hard way to go on just about everything! :) We enjoyed cooking together-which is always fun-but sometimes three strong willed women in the kitchen, whew! The sad part is-I haven't seen them since! Matt and Kirstin moved to Maine for the summer and it seems like our time in Ohio kept missing each other. I am anxious to see them, and I can't wait to see their reaction to how big the monkeys are!
In the spring we started to prepare for our PCS (permanent change of station) to Arizona. This actually turned out to be a lot more difficult than we had imagined just 2.5 years earlier. We had really grown to love Utah, met some great life-long friends, and were feeling quite at home. Not to mention a good friend of mine from home and her husband were PCSing in, what timing! We often joke if we will feel the same about Arizona; so far, the answer to that is NO! Andy and I had originally wanted to buy a house in Arizona, we came down for a weekend and looked at too many houses and came up empty handed. We mistakenly didn't leave anytime to look at rentals so, when the kids and I were home for our annual fair trip back to Ohio Andy would have to house hunt alone and find us a place to lay our heads. He did a great job! On August 5th the kids and I met him here in Arizona after being apart for about 2.5 weeks. Our stuff was delayed getting out of storage so we camped out in the new house-Addison got a kick out of that and with all the open space Ian finally felt motivated to crawl! Our house even has a patch of grass-which is quite the feat here! The climate, culture, and landscape is so different here but we are adjusting. Slowly, but surely. I can't say a whole lot of positive things for Arizona, but I will say that it has the most gorgeous skies I have ever seen. The sunsets are truly magnificent.
Addison started preschool in September. She loves it and is such a big girl. She goes two days a week; Tuesday and Thursday. Her teacher has the patience of Job, for sure! She has made a best friend; Madison. Can't you just see it: Addison and Madison. They are a pair. Addi has gone to her house a few times for play dates and when we get back I'm sure Madison will spend her fair share of time at our house too! Addi does pretty well at school. She is definitely my strong willed child and will even tell you, "I want to do what I want to do"--we are trying to reign that in. She has had a lot of adjusting this year. She loves going to school and in the mornings she will often get up and grab some paper from the printer and sit and do her "work" for an hour or so. She loves creating, cutting, gluing, coloring. She also absolutely loves helping out in the kitchen, which I love. I always think back to working with my mom in the kitchen and I know that these are memories she will have for the rest of her life.
Ian is getting so big. He turned a year on November 5th. We had a little party for him here-he quite thoroughly enjoyed his birthday cake!He is a good boy-a bit ornery, but I'll take it. He will on occasion walk up to you and give your thigh a hug and the very moment you think "awwww," you feel this sharp little dagger in your leg. Yep, he's a biter. The moment you scream, he cracks up. Then, of course, you can't help but laugh. It really is a lost cause. I guess we'll deal with it until he gets someone else's kid. :) We've battled ear infections to no avail this year. He will be getting tubes in his ears in January-I really can't wait for this!On October 5 he had a double eardrum rupture that landed us in the hospital for bad dehydration and the ear infection. While we were there it was discovered that Ian has a coarctation of the aorta. The only reason they found it was because of his dehydration. A coarctation is the narrowing of the aorta-causing your heart to work harder. The left side of his heart is already showing signs of enlargement. We were encouraged to have surgery before Christmas. As you can imagine, we were quite shocked. We immediately began researching and found a world-renowned surgeon in Columbus. We began praying and searching for options to get us home for the surgery. The outpouring of love and support from our friends, family, and our new church here has been so encouraging. Ian's surgery is Tuesday, December 13th at 7:30 am EST, so if you read this before hand-we would really appreciate your prayers that day.
Andy has been so busy at work, which is good for his experience, but stinks for us! He has had some interesting cases. It's amazing the things people think they can get away with....and what's even more amazing is that sometimes they actually do! Andy still is enjoying being on the prosecuting side of life, but he thinks that there is a possibility of him going to the "other side" during our time here. That will be interesting. But then again, maybe the little criminals will think twice when their attorney thinks maximum jail time is appropriate!
As for me-well, I'm trying to keep this place running as smoothly as possible. I'm still trying to settle into the new house and life as we know it. With all that's been going on I feel like the majority of my time is spent behind the wheel of my car and on the phone to different doctors. I just read that verse the other day during my devotions and I think I've read it 1000 more times since. I'm waiting for my renewed strength, but I know it will come....in the meantime, I'm putting my hope in the Lord, because life is just too hairy not to!
We wish you the Merriest Christmas, and here's to a great 2012!
With Love,
Andrew, Stephanie, Addison, Ian and Chip
