Ladybug and Brother: Merry Christmas 2013

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore."

So, when you think of us does that old school song: "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" run through your head. I know! I know! We are hard to keep track of!

This past year we have been a little bit of everywhere. We moved from Tucson to Colorado Springs, CO in mid June. We also spent 10 weeks in Montgomery, Alabama from March-May. In between these locations we visited: Sea World in San Antonio, The Grand Canyon, Panama City Beach, Estes Park, and a host of other stops in between our travels. I have never, ever been a very good car traveler (ask Andy and my mother) but, I am thankful for 2 kiddos that love to travel by any mode of transportation. Highlight of all of the travel was about a month after we were settled in our house in CO we were traveling home from a weekend at Estes Park and Ian asked, "What does the new house look like?" Andy and I were a little confused and after a little investigative questioning we figured out that Ian thought that since we had spent a few nights away from home that it must mean we were going someplace new to live. Crazy kid. Although, for me, it does, at times, seem like the turn around is that quick.

Addison will turn 6 on the 28th of this month. I can't believe how quickly the time flies by! She started Kindergarten this fall and she loves school. We are really blessed with a fantastic teacher again this year! Addi is a social butterfly and always wanting to do something nice for her classmates. We are learning to read and boy, at times, this can really try my patience and her endurance...so, if you think about it, you can say a little prayer for us! :) Addison also played soccer for the first time this fall. She did great and loved it! Andy and I were very surprised at how well the kids actually did. She scored 2 goals. One was for the other team, but hey, it was a goal-so we celebrated!

Ian turned 3 on November 5. He is getting to be such a big boy! We celebrated with friends at Focus on the Family and had a fireman birthday party. He loved it, this was the first year that he realized the birthday is all about him! He loves playing outside, moving rocks in his dump truck, and riding his bike or his new scooter. He is our outdoorsman. Right up the street we have a farm supply store that he loves to go to and just check out all of the fun stuff. He is my little buddy when Addison is in school and I really enjoy our one on one time. We head to the cardiologist here in Denver on Monday the 16th. He will have his 6 month check up and echocardiogram. I am expecting that the doctors will want to take him off of his blood pressure medication. This is exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time. All in all, he is doing very well. The 13th will mark 2 years since his surgery. We still LOVE our surgeon and the secretary. She and I keep in touch every now and then. What a blessing it is to live in a country with modern medicine and truly caring people.

I love Colorado. We have fallen into a nice routine and it certainly doesn't hurt to have one of your bestest friends right down the street. It is so nice to be able to hang out with the Dan and Derika and do life together. My dear friend from High School lives about 2 hours north and we've been able to see each other a few times as well. We are excited that more good friends that we met in Alabama are building a house near us too! I'm continuing to grow my Thirty-One business here in Colorado. I was blessed to travel to Atlanta with Derika this summer for the national conference, it was so much fun and inspirational to see so many women thriving in a career they love all while being mommies and wives. I am the room mom for Addison's kindergarten class. Surprised? I know! I do love going back into the classroom and helping out the teachers, but I have to admit I do like being on this side of the classroom much more! Although I do worry about her performance and sitting down on the other side of the conference table is ulcer inducing.

Andy is doing well in his new position as ADC (Area Defense Council) at the Air Force Academy. What's even better is that we live about 10 minutes from his office. It sure beats the 45 minute commute he had in Tucson. It has been quite a roll reversal for him though. As you know, he is a prosecutor at heart, but he is finding his stride and becoming quite a good defense council as well! He has been traveling more with his job. As always, it's an adventure!

We did loose our beloved Chip in April. The hardest part was that we weren't there to say goodbye in person, we were stuck in Alabama. It's amazing how difficult loosing a pet would be- I took it really hard. Much harder than I thought I ever would. After we moved we of course, let the kids talk us into getting another dog. We got Duncan, a black lab, this fall. He is rambunctious, mannerless, and has no respect for personal space. So, a typical lab puppy. He is always growing and may someday (here's another thing to pray about) turn into a good dog some day. Maybe.