A New Year

A little look back and a lot to look foward to -

Lucy Pearl and I volunteered to work Christmas day so we decided to celebrate on Christmas Eve. We all slept in and then made a huge breakfast. I made everyone wait until we were eating to start opening presents. Our kids have never been the type to wake us up super early on Christmas, even when they were little, but since they became teenagers we have to make them get up. However, this year they were really excited because it is the first time that they have both had the means to buy presents for us and each other. It was so sweet to watch them both enjoy giving gifts as much as they enjoyed receiving them.

With barely 400 square feet of living space we had to get very creative with our Christmas decorations. Our Christmas tree was outside but we have a Charlie Brown tree that sat on the kitchen island and our stockings hung from the cabinet pulls. We designated one end of our couch as the gift area and we all took turns wrapping presents while the others were out or hid in their room. "Don't you dare peek!" was yelled several times by each of us.

Lucy Pearl and Ivy got really creative with their present wrapping - LP wrapped a gift for Ivy that looked like a sword and Ivy created a chair and a high-heeled shoe. It was a rainy miserable day outside but we were warm and cozy in our Christmas jammies and had a great day. After breakfast and presents we watched movies, played games and ate candy like we were getting paid. It was awesome! And Christmas morning we woke up to this........

A White Christmas! As Floridians, this is not something that we experience very often. In fact, I can only remember one time in my life that I saw snow on Christmas and it was just a few miles from here at Vogel State Park where my parents had rented a cabin for the holidays. I was about five or six and it has stood out as one of my fondest childhood memories. I did not realize that snow was in the forecast when we went to bed on Christmas Eve so it was a complete surprise to wake up, look out the window and discover a winter wonderland. I squealed like a little kid and could not get dressed fast enough. Zeke was also very excited and joined me for a romp in the snow. He chased snowballs, caught snowballs in his mouth and ran around like a crazy dog. Thank God for Zeke and his excitement because my kids could not be coaxed out of the camper for anything. They had never had a white Christmas but apparently were not that impressed. That's okay, I enjoyed it enough for all of us!

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Lucy Pearl and I had a good day working the Christmas buffet at the lodge and enjoyed the rest of the weekend but the next week is a blur. I came down with a sinus cold and alternated days working with days in my jammies. New Year's Eve came and went with very little excitement due to my cold but I had a lot of time to reflect on 2020 and our upcoming plans for 2021.

One year ago I began the year with an overwhelming desire to clean out and begin the process of downsizing our posessions. I thought at the time that I was preparing for an eventual move to a smaller house (ha!). I was beginning to picture a time when Jeff and I would be alone and I did not want to end up with a huge house full of stuff. I started with my clothes and books and then the girls' clothes. Next I cleaned out the spare bedroom and got rid of most of the children's books and homeschool curriculum that we no longer needed. Little did I know then that this was just the beginning. Three short months later Jeff lost his job and the country started to shut down.

I realize in a whole new way how thankful I am that I cannot see the future. Had I known what was coming I'm not sure what I would have done. Even as it was happening, the reality of where we would end up was revealed very slowly and we had time to process and digest a little bit at a time - Grace. As it became clear that COVID was not going away as quickly as we all hoped, Jeff and I began to wade through our options. These are just a few reflections from my foggy New Year. It would be easy, oh so easy, for me to say that God has a sense of humor and laugh sardonically at my clueless-ness of a year ago. However, as I reflected, I could also see His very obvious hand in everything that our family experienced in 2020. For every negative I can find many positives. For every thing we 'lost' or gave up, we gained back in time, experience, relationship and a new sense of possibility for our future. Our loss of traditional, American stability has created a new freedom and we are just beginning.

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

Psalm 37:4-5

I have always believed that this verse means that the LORD will put specific desires in my heart that align with His purposes. Not to say that I don't have selfish desires of my own or things that I want that are just for my own selfish pleasure, but rather that when I am delighting in Him, my desire will be for things that are for my good and for His glory. I might have gotten this from a book or a sermon or from my mom or I might have just made it up, but I can look back at my desire to downsize last January and see how God was getting me ready for what was just around the corner.

I have no idea what our future holds or even where our camper will be parked after July, but I find myself less and less worried about the future and more inclinded to enjoy the now. I hope and pray that the rest of my family feels the same way but since this is my blog, they get to come along on my ride.

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For the past fifteen years our Holidays have been extended into January thanks to our sweet Ivy Grace. We welcomed Ivy into the world on the 6th of January, which also happens to be my mom's birthday. Oma and Opa (as they are lovingly called by everyone) brought their new camper up to Helen to spend a few days with us and celebrate Ivy's and Oma's birthday. They had the camp host site right next to us and I decorated the sign for the occasion.

After we enjoyed the pancake bar that Ivy ordered for her birthday, we spent the cold day around a campfire. Oma made bratwurst, pork loin and saur kraut and together we made kartoffelpuffers (German potato pancakes.) We enjoyed dinner around the campfire as well as cake and ice cream. Our dinner was so good that I completely forgot to get pictures! Happy Birthday Oma and Ivy!

As much as we have all enjoyed being here at #Unicoistatepark in #helenga, we are starting to look forward to our next move. Jeff and I sat down together about a month ago and made a plan and some reservations that will take us from here to our next #camphost position on April 1st. We are going to head south for some warm weather, dentist/doctor appointments and tennis tournaments and then travel north to visit some friends, family and enjoy our mobility. These past few months have been exciting and overwhelming, in equal measure, but it was nice to be in a place that we already loved as we settled into our new lifestyle. It was not always easy but having friends and family visit made it a lot easier. We have also enjoyed meeting many new friends and sharing our story with so many people, many of whom are now on the other side of this blog. A huge thanks to all of you who have shown interest in our experiences and subscribed to our #dowdsizing story.