December is for Decision Making

We started December thinking that we would be staying in Bend for the foreseeable future.  We closed out December planning the first leg of our 2019 travels.  What about the in-between?  

The truth is that several things happened that made us shift gears. Being able to alter our plans and chart a new course is one of my favorite things about this lifestyle. It feels like we are always standing at attention, ready to respond as soon as we need to. Without a lot of the common entanglements, we are able to go where we feel led to pretty quickly and easily. 

But anyway, here are some photos of our December in Bend, when we were figuring out our next move.

Before I forget, Meg got her driver's permit!  Hooray!

We drove out to the fish hatchery along the Metolius River, for a walk.  It had been eight and a half years since our last visit, but we found the place much the same as our last visit.  It was summer then, so this winter visit provided a much cooler walk!

For me, the fun part of this trip was that I could make the kids pose for pictures that were similar to the photos I snapped the last time.  Jeff shook his head and said I was super weird, and I laughed and told him that I knew that.  Then I took more pictures.  Ha!  Here are a few pictures of our trip to the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery, circa 2010 and 2018.

(It's okay if you shake your heads and think that I'm super weird.)

The last time we visited, we were in the middle of a Flat Stanley swap with the Prater family, who were then full-time travelers.  It's funny that on our second visit, WE were full-time travelers.  I never would have believed it if you had told me that back in 2010.

I forgot that there are food dispensers all over, where you insert a quarter and get a handful of fish food.  Thankfully, I had enough quarters handy to let the kids do this again.  They may be teenagers now, but they still loved watching the fish jump out of the water to get to the food.

Jordan, fourteen.

Jordan, newly six.

I remember she jumped up on that stump and called out, "Mommy, look!  I'm a tree!"  Awe, that memory makes me weepy with how sweet she was and how long ago that was!  How can we be so far down the road now?  Why didn't anybody tell me that it was going to blink by so quickly?

Oh, wait.  I guess you did tell me.  Quite a lot of you, probably, over the years.

Still, it can cause my breath to catch in my throat when I see pictures of my little pita pocket and realize that season of life is over.  (I'm fine.  Really, I'm fine!  Just nostalgic today.  It's okay if you shake your head and think that I'm super weird again.  But chances are, you've been where I am or else you'll be there soon.)

Four year-old Jackson

Twelve year-old Jackson.

I laughed so hard when I saw this photo.  He's such a sweet, obedient son, to acquiesce to my request for this photo recreation.  I just wanted to see if his profile is still the same.  And it is!

When I asked, he smiled and looked at me like, "Poor Mom.  Trying so hard to hold on to your little kids, but fighting a losing battle."  Lol.  Maybe that's not what he meant, but that's how I took it.

And, I mean, that's not entirely untrue.  I think it's moments like these that help me let go a little.  I laugh at myself, realize that things are bound to get really weird if I can't let them become adults, and stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.  Which in this case means, stop trying to make my adult-sized children behave like their pint-sized counterparts.

Jeff was standing over here, laughing at me, probably.  😂

Anyway, we fed the fish, walked the trail, and had a picnic lunch.  It was a great day.

 

Cato kids in 2010, and...

in 2018.

December also brought a few snow days!

This was very well received.  The kids have been asking us for snow since early last year.  We hadn't played in it since our trip to the Grand Canyon, in November 2016, and they missed it.

I hope they got enough fun to hold them over, because Jeff doesn't want to visit the snow again any time soon.  He says it's too cold!

Our 2017 - 2018 travel map

I think that's all I've got for December.  2018 was a big year for us.  We started the year in Florida and finished it in Oregon.  We made so many memories in places that I never dreamed I'd have the opportunity to visit.  We pet wild manatees, for crying out loud!!!  We also visited many of our friends and family, made new friends, and discovered a short list of places that we may like to settle down in.  

It was for sure one of my hardest years, personally.  But hard is good.  It's refining, if you don't fight it.  Or rather, if you fight for the right things through it.  

I looked back over my year, in my journals and blog posts.  And in hindsight, I think it was a pretty monumental year, where a lot of things were tested and proved.  In 2018, I fought to have a forgiving heart, and to remain peaceful in hardship.  I fought to trust God in the face of total uncertainty.  I fought to be content while in pain, and to train myself to look to Him to be my strength, more than I ever have.  Maybe my biggest fight was in learning to allow myself to be sad or disappointed, but to not allow that to seguay into anxiety, worry, or fear.  

I didn't do 2018 perfectly.  But I left it better than I found it, and I've gotta' think that counts for something.

And now I am so excited about the new year!  Lord willing, it's the year where Jeff and I will become the parents of ALL TEENAGERS!!!  And it's our last year before Meg becomes an adult!!!  It might be the year we settle in a new community!!!  And BEST of all, it's the year in which Jeff and I will celebrate 20 years together!!!  I'm so pumped about all of those things.  So let's see what 2019 brings!

We love you all, family and friends!  💜