Year in Review

“They came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world and after a while they forgot everything but the good and true things they would do someday.”

When Skip moved to West Virginia during our third month of dating, the family he was staying with gave me a card with this on the front just before I left to fly home alone.  I thought it was beautiful.  Our “someday” finally came in 2010.  Somehow I knew it would, even all those years ago in Charles Town, West Virginia.    

It all began when Skip proposed on my 28^th birthday.  (Actually, it began in December when Andrew proposed to Sarah and I was thinking Skip was NEVER going to ask!)  We began wedding planning almost immediately.  Since I am a planner, I loved every minute of the next 7 months.  I’ve said several times since that I would love to get married again- to the same person of course- because it was just SO fun!  I even took it in stride when Louanne informed Sarah and me that we had great taste in men and dresses and that we’d picked out the exact same dress to wear down the aisle. 

House hunting was just as exciting as wedding planning.  I had been stalking this adorable house for about three months before we got engaged.  I used the house credit as a bargaining tool to get Skip to talk to me about the possibility of buying a home.  I drove down the street and parked in the driveway at least a dozen times.  When we toured the inside of the house the day we got engaged, I knew I was home.  After visiting 3 other houses, Skip was convinced too.  We closed on March 12^th and Skip moved in shortly after.  We had two giant bean bags and a king size bed; that was it.  And yet, by the weekend of the wedding, we had enough furniture (thanks to my Aunt and Uncle and Nanny) to have Skip’s whole family stay at our house instead of a hotel.  When Skip came home for Thanksgiving after a month on the road, we were eating breakfast the next morning and Skip said, “I love this house.” I love it when we think alike.   

The life altering events of June 8^th have been somewhat bittersweet for our new family.  After the realization that Skip was not going to make a decent living selling insurance, he spent the better part of three months looking for a new job.  With a new mortgage and a honeymoon on the horizon, we were beyond stressed as Skip applied, interviewed, and was not chosen for even the simplest of jobs.  Then, on June 8^th, he pretty literally ran into Robby Gordon in the Concord Regional Airport.  He started working for him the next day and the rest is history.  History that included 6 weeks away from home, a 70 hour work week when he was home, and less than 10 days off in 6 months.  But even as we’ve grumbled and cried (ok, so I’m the only one that’s cried) we’ve known that this is the job that God intended for Skip at this time in our lives.  Remind me of this when race season starts again!

Financial Peace University was another life altering blessing for us this year.  Blackwelder Park did a big FPU focus during 4^th quarter growth groups.  We were encouraged to complete the course as a part of our pre-marriage counseling and ended up starting just a month after getting married.  Although I had to attend half of the sessions alone while Skip was traveling, the class has greatly impacted our marriage.  We are on target to be debt free -except our mortgage- in 2011 and have stopped using credit cards completely.  We discuss, plan, and evaluate our spending together monthly.  There’s a good chance that if you’ve spent any time with us in the past 90 days, Dave Ramsey’s name has come up!

We ended a great year by having both of our families to our home for Christmas.  Skip’s parents and Andrew, Sarah, and Ben came the weekend before Christmas for Egg Day at Mawmaw’s.  We cleaned for days before their arrival and I cooked lots of yummy things to eat and drink!  We broke in Skip’s new karaoke system until the wee hours of the morning.  My family came in on the 23^rd to celebrate Nanny’s 84^th birthday and stayed until the day after “white” Christmas.  Santa made his first appearance at 2000 Bunker Ct. to visit Hailey.  (We learned he prefers homemade cookies to the store bought we offered.)  This was the first year we’ve had a no presents rule with all extended family members.  It was a relief not to miss the gifts and to just enjoy being with the ones we love.  (Oh! And we really enjoyed spending time with our niece and nephews in Wake Forest just before Christmas!)

God’s word has promised, “to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1. Although it’s hard to believe that 2011 could come close to the excitement of 2010, I think the best is yet to come!