As I recap our year I am reminded of how blessed we are.
The year has been full of many adventures, we’ve traveled from Florida to Washington state several times to spend time with our children and grandchildren, we took a road trip from Washington through Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon and back to Washington. We cruised from Florida to St, Thomas, Antigua,Saint Maarten, St. Lucia, San Juan and Peurto Plata. We enjoyed visits from Genes sister and brother in law, also from friends from Idaho, we had friends from Washington come visit and four grandchildren came to stay for a few weeks as well as one daughter who came for a week. We attended several functions within our community and survived our first of two hurricanes that hit our area.
Our first trip started in Washington visiting friends along the way in Lake Chelan, then onto Lewiston Idaho to visit more friends, down through Boise to visit Genes sister, then to Shoshone falls, we then headed to Utah to Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Dead Horse State Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and also Zion National Park. We also visited Flagstaff Arizona, Sedona, visited several friends in Phoenix, spent the night in Las Vegas, hiked in Yosemite National Park and stayed at the beautiful Tenaya Lodge, then onto The Redwoods and drove up the California coast, through Oregon and then back to Washington. We took almost four weeks to complete this trip. Along the way I got bit by a brown recluse spider in Utah and couldn’t find medical care for several days until we reached Sedona, the bite was looking pretty bad so after getting it checked, I got some antibiotics going and we kept trucking. I was not going to let that ruin any part of our trip. I have to say, we enjoyed every minute of this road trip and are planning another this June. Not as long but should be great fun.
We also took our first Caribbean cruise in November. We left the day the hurricane was coming in, I have to say that first twenty four hours was rough. The waves had the ship a rocking and the captain had the pedal to the metal as they say, that ship was hauling fast to get out of the rough waters of the hurricane. We did not get to make our first stop at Stirrup Cay but that was fine by me, I was glad to finally on day two to start getting smoother water. It was a ten day cruise and nine of those days were pretty glorious. We snorkeled, hiked to see the great Pitons, visited both the Denmark and French side of Saint Maarten, we took a photography class tour that was remarkable, we did a harbor cruise and toured San Juan Peurto Rico by taxi. We enjoyed dinner with our friends every evening and Gene gifted me with some bling in Saint Thomas. It was absolutely fabulous. We will definitely be booking another Caribbean cruise, maybe western side next time.
As I know I’ve said in previous blogs our goal was to travel and spend time with family and friends and to start giving back. The Lord has blessed us with so much and we want to give back in new ways.
This year Gene signed up at our church to help flood victims from the hurricanes. Hard work but I think very rewarding for him. We also signed up to do our first mission trip which won’t come until November 2023, we have to fundraise by working at the church or in other ways to raise money and if successful we will be going to Egypt.
We also joined a Bible study group and are really enjoying that. Our group sponsors a battered women’s shelter so we hope to get involved in that.
Gene is still playing golf every Friday with the same group of guys our friend introduced him to, I just signed up for a women’s Bible study group every Thursday, I also signed up for women’s Bunco/Bingo in our community two nights per month, and we try to attend as many community get togethers as we can. And there are several events within our community that are fun and social but that are also charitable events as well. We look forward to getting more involved.
We’ve made new friends, attended a few fun parties, spent time with our lifelong friends and made time for some beach days near our home.
On the flip side we have also had a few rough times as well. I got Achilles tendinitis and was in a boot off and on for four months, We got COVID in June, Genes was mild but mine hit me hard, I was down for three weeks, missed the birth of our granddaughter, first baby we weren’t there when she was born, and missed Genes sisters wedding which both were heartbreaking.
We lost our niece in July to a short illness of liver failure, and we lost my brother in law mid December to cancer. Both were from my oldest sister. I know what it is to lose a child, but to lose a child and husband within five months of each other, I cannot imagine how heartbroken my sister must be. So very sad.
But in spite of these sadnesses and other things that were not happy moments, we do feel extremely grateful for all the good we have been given and will continue on our journey of enjoying life, trying to always be kind, finding ways to give and praising the Lord for it all.
So we will start the new year with a new map and see where it takes us.
Happy Trails……
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