Happy New Year from Rodney and Roshelle...

With 2013 just a memory now, this is what our family has to look back on…

Places we went: 

We spent some of spring break in Colorado skiing Wolf Creek.  We took our friend Galen Yoder with us and ran into the Todd and Dana Smith on the slopes also.  The weather and snow were perfect—great skiing, as always.  Wolf Creek has yet to disappoint us.

Skiing Wolf Creek-- good times!

Rayne at the lake over the
4th of July with the Gouchers

Over the 4^th of July, we went to Steve and Lisa’s place in Texas  and spent a couple days on the lake, which were our only lake days for the year.  I hope the drought is over and we can get enough moisture soon to fill our lakes again.

Steer wrestling was
our favorite event

Just before school started, we spent a week in Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas.  We set out for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and saw 3 rodeos, the parade, and a Luke Bryan concert (in the rain).  The girls loved every minute of it and want to go back for the whole week this year.  We met one of my oldest friends, Nancy, for lunch in Denver both coming and going (once at Casa Bonita) and went out to Evergreen to spend an afternoon with Rodney’s cousin John and his wife Dawn.  On the way home, we stayed a couple nights in Kansas with Lee, our harvester for so many years.  He’s like family to us and since we sold the farm and changed our lives, we have missed out on our harvest time with him and his crew.  Every time I think about this I just want to boohoo, so moving on…  While there, the girls played music with Lee and his neighbor, they learned to ride dirt bikes, they swam in a pond with a huge slide built on one side of the shore, and of course, they shot things.  Big thanks for Kristi (Rodney’s sister in Dodge City) for giving us a bed on the way; it’s nice to wake up with 4-5 hours behind you already when traveling.

Kate, (Lee's daughter) Rosalind and Regan coming down the slide at the pond

All three girls learned to ride dirt bikes this summer.  Rayne even had one on her Christmas list.

What’s new with….

Rodney—He spent more time riding motorcycles with my dad and my brother this year.  He’s riding a Harley now- a black 2012 street glider.  And quite simply, he’s loving it.  I’m glad, too.  Those guys work hard and need some time to get away and do what they like to do.  Granted, riding isn’t my favorite thing; I can do it for a few hours at a time when it’s warm… really warm, but he doesn’t need me to have a good time.  Rodney still enjoys his work in the oilfield and doesn’t miss the farming. 

Wayne, Dad and Rodney getting ready for a long weekend ride

Rosalind—She now has braces like Regan.  Just yesterday the dentist removed her palate expanders (upper and lower) and she can talk again.  Actually, it must not have been too terrible as she made Western Oklahoma honor choir when the tryouts were just 3 days after getting her braces and expanders.  Her musical talent is starting to shine.  She’s still in piano lessons and is a little songbird.  For Christmas, Rodney and I bought the girls a keyboard workstation, an amplifier, microphones, and an interface (piece of hardware that mixes and records).  The possibilities are endless with this equipment… definitely something they will use a lot and won’t ever outgrow.  Rosalind just turned 14 this week and is an 8^th grader.  She’s playing basketball and earned a starting position on the junior high team.  We’re very proud of this girl.

Regan and Rosalind

Regan—Bless her heart, she turned 16 this summer and loves driving her blue pickup-truck everywhere and anywhere.  Like all teenagers, she’s growing and maturing and learning life lessons—some are easy where others have been quite life-altering experiences.  Going into the 11^th grade, she set her mind to giving her best effort to her school work and to making the most of her two years left in high school.  She took the ACT for the first time and scored well.  Her musical ability is truly a gift from God, and at this point she’s thinking of pursuing some form of music after graduation.  When she’s singing and playing her guitar, I am so humbled; it makes my heart happy.  She is so much like me that it is scary.  Actually, she’s a much better version of my young-self.  Still, I wish I could protect her from herself until she gets her feet under her and the world by the tail.

Rayne Elise 

Rayne—Her biggest change this year is being at school with the rest of us.  She is 12 years old and in the 7^th grade; and she is loving it at CBA.  Rayne’s playing a little basketball, taking piano lessons, and making friends with everyone at school… 11^th graders, 12^th graders… pretty much everyone.  She picked the flute this year for band and loves it.  She whistles all the time… to the point of being annoying with it sometimes.  She likes to sing, to laugh, to be involved with what’s going on.  She has a fashion sense that is very different from most.  She has a lot of confidence and pretty much doesn’t have a bad day.  She smiles all the time; she is the bright spot in my day, and I don’t think I’m the only one who feels like this.  She is definitely one of a kind.

Backsplash this fall brings
our remodel full circle

Roshelle—Me?  I’m into my second year teaching high school English at CBA, and just as I predicted, it is much easier.  I’m still tweaking and re-evaluating my plans and procedures and policies, but really, do we ever stop doing that?  I hope not, for when I do get to that point, I know I’ll be done.    But really what’s new with me?  I do the same routine every day, except most Saturdays…  I get in the car and drive to Corn.  I have three daughters, so I say the same things day after day… Do you have homework? Who needs a shower? Whose stuff is in the washer? Get everything out of the back seat (of the car).... etc.  So, after racking my brain to find something new, I came up with—backsplash.  I know, right?  But, you see, this IS a BIG DEAL because it means that my house has come full circle.  The day after we took possession of our house in October of 2005, I tore the canary yellow formica off the backsplash in the kitchen, and it has been ugly, unfinished sheetrock, dating back to the early days of sheetrock (just after plaster and lathe) with big tears in the paper and splotchy, hard glue residue, and holes the size my fist would fit through.  Yes, in other words, it’s been lovely to look at for 8 long years.  But this fall, beautiful glass subway tile in the color rust with hand chipped edges was laid, and I couldn’t be happier. 

Where do we go from here? 

Forward.  Not much will change this year, but next year (2015) will be a completely different story.  I like my family how it is right now… intact.  Under my roof where I (actually, we) call the shots.  I’m not looking forward to having a college student in ‘15.  I think I’ll just bask in the moment and savor each day I have left.  God has been so faithful and I have no fear.