When I wrote last year’s Christmas/New Year letter, I was snug in my almost finished newly remodeled home in Longview and teaching that wonderful bunch of kids at New Life. Eric was planning a trip across the country, Joy Anna was in Europe with Dean’s mom, and Dean was content in his nice job. This year is a totally different story.
January and February of 2008 saw us finishing up the remodel and adopting two adorable puppies we named Razzle and Dazzle. March is when things started to change. Dean and I came to El Paso for a meeting/retreat for a committee he was on. At that time we were offered a partnership in a company here. After much prayer and thought, we took the job. Dean had to be here May 1 to start a project. Joy Anna and I would stay in Longview to sell the house, pack up, and photograph a couple of weddings.
Dean left the last week of April to move here. He stayed with his aunt and uncle. Eric came out the end of May before he left for his trip. Joy Anna and I flew out in June to find a house to rent. We made the big move on June 22. We arrived to a wind/dust storm so strong we virtually crawled into town. The next day when we unpacked the wind had died down only to be replaced with an unbearable heat. The remainder of June and July saw us settling in to the rental. The beginning of August, we were really struggling. Dean’s partnership had turned into a job and the pay had not been as promised. We had to rent the house in Longview and hoped for a turnaround at the job.
During this time, Eric had been making his way across the USA. He was due to arrive in Seattle on Aug. 11. Dean and I had planned to go, but the move had really hurt us financially. Finally, a couple of weeks before his arrival, we decided we would do it anyway. We got the cheapest flights and a really cheap hotel near the beach where they would arrive and the church where they would stay. We were on a shoestring budget, but it was worth it to get to see him. We surprised him, and he was so excited. He stayed in Seattle a couple of extra days with Dustin, his roommate from Tech, and a friend from the trip. I was really glad when he made it to El Paso to visit a few days.
While we were in Seattle, Joy Anna had gone to Charlotte to visit my dad. When Eric and Dustin drove back to Tech, Joy Anna went with them. She visited Dean’s mom and my mom before flying back to El Paso. While she was gone, we had an exchange student from Thailand move in with us. It was supposed to be temporary- probably a month- it turned into more than two months. It was quite an experience. He was a nice young man, but we were just not set up for another person who was not really related. Plus, we were hoping Eric would move back in March. During the time he was here, Dean’s mom came and stayed three weeks.
Joy Anna is homeschooling. We enjoy being together, and she likes looking at the mountain while she does her school work. We have met some other homeschoolers and she has made some great new friends. I am the yearbook sponsor and she is on the yearbook staff. We are really having fun with that.
In November, Dean decided to go to my mom’s with us. I wanted to go spend some time with my family and visit some friends in Longview, too. We ended up spending most of the time with my mom in Lufkin. My grandmother was living with her. She had become completely bedfast. I was able to spend a lot of time with her. We had so much fun talking and singing. I fed her lots of her meals. She could do it, she just liked the company. I was so thankful for that time, because she passed away a week before Christmas. I didn’t go home for the funeral. I had said my goodbyes. When they had the funeral, I went to the mountains here and had my own memorial service. She loved the mountains. I think she would have liked to have known I did that.
In November, I started writing again. I participated in National Novel Writing Month. I wrote 57,000 words of a novel. Joy Anna and Alycia keep asking me finish it, so I plan to do that soon.
I won’t go into details, but Dean’s job didn’t get better. It deteriorated rapidly from mid-September on. He started job hunting. He gave his notice in December without knowing what he was going to do next. The job was supposed to end on December 31, but ended on the 15th instead. He currently has a temporary job through the end of February. This is very difficult not knowing what we will be doing. We will have to move to Corpus if he stays with this job. He has applied for so many others, but in this economy so many people are applying. We are in limbo.
Because we don’t know what we are doing, Eric is not moving back in March. He will graduate from Tech on March 7. He will begin his Master’s program there. After he graduates from his Master’s, he’ll begin a Physical Therapy Doctorate program. If we are still here, maybe he can come to EP. It would be great to have him closer to us.
I had planned to really start a photography business here. Not just word of mouth, but some inexpensive changes like a new website, new business cards, etc. I had made enough money from some graphic design work to be able to do that, but because of Dean’s job not paying, that money had to go into the household fund for regular stuff. Because we don’t know where we are going, we are sort of in a holding pattern. I don’t want to spend money on drumming up business here if we leave.
Living in limbo is not easy. We are not sure why we came to El Paso at all. We know God moved us out of our comfort zone for some reason. We are trying to be positive about the situation. Maybe God used this job as a stepping stone to something better – we are waiting to see what that is going to be. We know had we not come here, there are so many people who would not have touched our lives. We have made some good friends. We have grown close to relatives we only barely knew. We know that there is a reason for it.
It will be interesting to see what 2009 brings. Hopefully a new job for Dean, photo business for me, maybe a new house if our old one sells, new friends and new opportunities. Whatever it is, we’re going to be okay. We are certainly learning to trust God in a whole new way.
We hope you are all blessed, and that you, too, are trusting God for your 2009.
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