Out with the old and in with the new! Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all our families and friends.  We’ve had a wonderful holiday having spent our time with Jane’s sister Cindy and our niece Whitney and family.  Watching a 9 year old open her Christmas presents is quite a feat!  Our great niece Breanna was certainly blessed as we all were.  Santa gave her a hover board and she hasn’t walked anywhere since – she hovers everywhere (at least until the battery dies after 4 hours). Evidently, another fun thing for 9 year olds is making slime. Bre has introduced us to various types of homemade slime which as far as we are concerned looks like snot!! We had a wonderful Christmas and Santa rocked this year as he gave us lots of gift cards for gas!  That fat man in the red suit really knows what we need and of course so do our families. It was nice being with family this holiday but also hard missing other family members and friends.  For the first time since leaving in July we experienced some homesickness.  This is the first Christmas in 57 years, Jane hasn’t been with her mother for Christmas.  Thank goodness for FaceTime!! 

We left Gulf Shores, AL and are currently at the Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort, Alabama which is about 10 miles from our family in Mobile.  We spent most of our time with them and not at the RV.  It’s nice to occasionally have a full size shower, kitchen, bedroom, family room, dining room, etc…. LOL!!  We had copious amounts of rain so staying at a house is much nicer then the RV during rain.  As mentioned before we do love staying in state parks and when the rain stops we took some awesome walks and enjoyed the beauty of the area.  Below are pictures from Gulf Shores and Meaher State Park. It’s wonderful being able to experience the beauty God gives us through the great outdoors. 

After three days of rain we finally took a long walk around the state park which has docks out onto the water.  During this particular walk it was foggy and we were able to get some pretty cool pictures to share.

Codey is doing so much better now that he can breath better.  We’ve taken longer walks with him and he did well and didn’t struggle to breath.  We are so happy that he is feeling better.  We had to purchase one of those dog bowls that looks like a puzzle as a way to slow down his eating.  He’s not too happy about it but manages and has no problem eating everything in the bowl, just much slower.  It’s important since his surgery that he eat slower as to not choke. We are grateful to all of you for your positive thoughts and prayers during his illness, surgery, treatment and recuperation.  

As we reflect on this past year we clearly feel blessed. So many wonderful events happened this year that have made our lives richer and fulfilling.  Jane’s retirement after 30 years with the state of Virginia; Jeanne successfully completing her 3 year term with the American Water Works Association; selling our house of 26 years; living our dream of traveling the country in an RV; Codey’s successful surgery and recovery; Jeanne’s tooth infection and successful treatment;  repairs to the RV and having the funds to pay for all of this (a true blessing); visiting with family and friends; meeting new friends; safely traveling to 17 states and over 17,000 miles on the truck; and the anticipation of heading west to other states to explore (Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona – scheduled so far through April).  We feel so blessed and grateful and thank God daily for this.  We pray you all have a blessed and prosperous 2019 and if you are in our path of travel, we hope to see you soon!