Another year is almost over. I have been experiencing life to the fullest this year. I have had so many highs and lows throughout the year that it’s hard to explain it without writing a novel. I want to summarize the year into the following categories: Adventures, Work, and Home.
Adventures
The first adventure of the year brought us to the Big Island of Hawaii. We flew first class and stayed for a week in a resort. The environments of the island varied so greatly that we initially thought the island we went to was an apocalyptic wasteland. The island was alive with an active volcano! It was not erupting when we there, but as of the time of writing, lava is currently flowing there. Val and I had so much fun on our first vacation without Alan.
Our next adventure brought us to Thompsonville, Michigan yet again for the traditional Memorial Day fishing extravaganza. We flew the Tri-Pacer up early in the morning and it was smooth as could be. We caught a LOT of blue gills and ate well. Alan enjoyed catching fish as well with grandpa U. The flight back was the real treat. We went IFR to Grand Haven (instead of Jackson), then IFR back to KOSU. The controllers routed us around precipitation cells and we flew right over Lake James on our way back home. It was stunningly beautiful. It felt so satisfying being able to understand weather, plan safely, and fly safely to get back home.
North Mrytle Beach came a few weeks later; we took a Spirit airlines flight down there, which is perfectly fine with a 2-year-old. An hour flight sure beats a 7-8 hour drive. We all enjoyed the beach together with our friends.
Another trip took me to Aurora, Colorado where I got to learn all about class Piper aircraft restoration. It was a great opportunity to learn from Clyde Smith, the “Cub Doctor” about how to keep these wonderful aircraft flying.
We took several trips out to the Shack this year as well. The family floated in the pond in the summer, and I went back in November to hunt. The Lord provided for me, and my arrow flew true-enough to take down my first-ever buck. It was an exhilarating experience. Our family will be eating well for the next year or so.
The final adventure bled over with work, so let’s move on.
Work
I had the privilege of getting to go to DEF CON 32 in Las Vegas this year and work with the AI Cyber Challenge project. A ton of work went into pulling this off, and our team worked and worked up to the last possible moment to pull it off. They built a “city” to show off the challenge. It was so crazy cool to see a real-life visualization reflecting the work we did. Here’s hoping we can pull it off again next year without the overtime. It will be fun to see.
Home
Alan is now 3 years old. It has been so fun watching him grow up and learn and be a fun-loving kid. We love going to City Egg every Saturday on a daddy date. We started reading the Jesus Storybook Bible this year, and I’m hopeful we’ll get to finish it next year, and that he’ll start to understand it more and more. He did say that “Jesus died so that I can go to heaven” and that’s really sweet. My prayer for him is that he’ll really understand this more and more clearly. Something I really love about Alan right now is that he says “Thank you” a lot. I hope this continues! Val is continuing on her art journey. She’s an amazingly gifted artist, and I can’t wait to see what this upcoming year brings for her.
A lot of things didn’t go the way we wanted them to this year on a personal level, but we did stay close together and fought through challenging circumstances as a team. I am so thankful for a partner to share life with, and for that to be the example that Alan sees of a loving marriage. Thank the Lord.