Well, in December, we surpassed our previous longest residency in one place, Port Charlotte, FL, about 7.3 years. So, we are currently experiencing our EIGHTH winter in Fort Wayne! The Lord certainly has a sense of humor to place this Florida gal in arctic Indiana!
The biggest change in the past 2 years is that we added 2 new members to our family last year. This picture, interestingly, shows all of us minus the 2 new members on a special day last October!
As you can see, Becky got married in October on my birthday, my best one ever! We had prayed for many years for just the right Christian man to come into Becky's life. The previous October, we heard that she had been dating someone and I got to meet Ward Reckart Christmas 2011.
They became engaged June 2012.
The wedding was in Aiken, SC where Ward had been living. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding @ Rose Hill Estate there, despite a rainy forecast that we had seen 10 days out. Katie and Missy were their sister's matrons of honor.
Ellie, 6, and Aimee, 4, were flower girls along with Ward's niece, Samantha.
Rick did double duty, as he did with all of the girls, and performed the ceremony after walking Becky down the grassy aisle.
Ward, with Katie, sang before Becky came down the aisle.
Katie's Paul videoed.
It was a happy, family affair!
That picture DOES have our 2 new members in it, both with January birthdays! James Richard von Herrmann was born on 1/31/12 to Paul and Missy. His middle name is after my husband, dad and brother, all named Richard! Mommee' Sharyn and I were there for the big event and to help with our our now FOUR mutual grandkids.
So much time has passed, that James just turned one and I got to be there for his birthday! Missy wrote about his birthday and you can see his 1st year monthly pictures on her blog.
http://vonherrmannventures.blogspot.com
(Check out the individual tabs for each of the 4 kids under the top picture and also OLDER POSTS at the bottom of the past few posts if you'd like to do catch up on Missy's writing).
It's been wonderful having Missy's family in Lexington, KY these past nearly 2 years. It was 14 hours away when they lived in Pensacola, FL, so the 5 hour trip to KY is very doable and I go as often as I can! Several of us in the family went to see Ellie play soccer last fall.
The 3 "girls" surprised us one day late last Spring and called us individually telling us that they'd be coming to visit - all at the same time! So, around Father's Day, Missy & her kids, Ward and Becky and Katie came to visit. Rick had finished our basement the year before so we had lots of room for everyone! We had lots of fun together, fishing with Pappaw on one of the ponds near our house, feeding the swans, going to the butterfly exhibit and just being together.
A trip that I try to make every Fall is to visit Paul & Katie in October, the birthday month of the 3 of us. While I'm in Nashville, I buy my pansies for the year. Pansies are amazing because they survive our harsh winters in Ft. Wayne and then look great in the Spring & into the Summer until it gets too hot. I got used to planting them in the Fall when we lived in GA. They haven't caught onto that in IN.
When I visited this past Oct., I got to see where Keturah is going to cosmetology school. Paul, Katie & I also went to the Grand Ole Opry, something that I'd wanted to do for years.
Another event that I should mention is that I ran my 1st half marathon in September. I have run off and on for years since I married a runner. All of our girls ran in high school and Missy even ran in college (Nyack in NY) like her dad. I've run consistently the past 18 years and have run in many races, mostly 5Ks (3.1 miles). I trained gradually all last year & was able to run the 13.1 miles along with 3 of my NICU coworkers!
The last time that our family was all together was just before Christmas in Lexington @ Paul and Missy's. Such times are precious and few. I don't know when the next time will be.
I DO know that I'm going to see my mom and brother & family in the Orlando area next week and I'm excited about that. I'll try to do better at updating my blog so it won't have to be so longwinded...
