What I Found to be Good in 2016

There has been so much talk of how horrible the year 2016 was... and you know what? It totally was awful. I'm sure there are many people who think 2016 was their best year ever. Well, congratulations! I'm happy for you. 2016 needs to be great for someone.

Although 2016, was the pits for me personally, I wanted to at least look back and find the good in an otherwise bad year. Here are my top ten 2016 "good feels":

10. Finally applied and got my conceal carry permit. Now I just need to purchase a firearm.

This is what I qualified with... a Browning 22 automatic pistol. It was awesome! I scored 100% btw.

9. I made the decision to teach First grade instead of Kindergarten. I am liking it way better--at least so far. #iteachfirst

 

8. Concerts: Ok, here we hit the jackpot in 2016... started with Garth in March, Jimmy Buffett in April, Pentatonix in May (they are awesome by the way), Rascal Flatts in May, Keith Urban, Brett Eldredge, Maren Morris in June. And you know how I am a Dancing with the Stars Fan-Girl, right? Well, we got to see Maks and Val do their thing in their "Our Way Tour." It was fantastic.



7. I did some training in August of 2015 to be a volunteer in the NICU at one of our local hospitals. You have to go through practically Federal screening in order to be a volunteer! It took over a year, but the hospital finally offered the last class I needed and now I am an official NICU volunteer. Right now, I do only one shift per week. I love it. I just wish I could hold the babies more. :) I've never seen such teeny tiny babies. They are all such miracles.

6. My brother, Ray, got married. I flew to Chicago in June and we had a wonderful time celebrating Ray and Laura's wedding. I got to meet some incredible friends of Laura's from Finland. I also got to meet her parents. All of them are such lovely people.

5. I was privileged to have two awesome beach weeks this summer, both in July. I spent a week with Brown and her family over the 4th of July at Cherry Grove. We watched the fireworks display while sitting on the beach. It was great fun. The last week in July, I rented a Garden Home for the kids and me to have our first family vacation together. We stayed in North Myrtle Beach. We had a GREAT time. We were there from Sunday to Sunday, but at different times. Thankfully, all 4 of my kids, plus my new daughter-in-law, were able to be there for 3 out of the 7 nights together. I will take what I can get when it comes to family time. I hope to make this an annual thing for all of us.

Cherry Grove Pier

yes, it was THIS hot!!! 

We walked to The Mailbox-finally.

 4. Jared and Marenda's Wedding in WV... May 22, 2016. Stonewall Resort.

3. Jared and Marenda graduated from Concord University on December 10, 2016, in Athens, WV.

They had J and M stand up as a "cool story to tell".... met and married while at Concord.

2. Doing some Christmas things: I went to a play called "A Beautiful Star." It was fun to get out and do something for a change. Sis and I went on an adventure to Pilot Mountain to see this huge Christmas lights display that this couple has put on for the last 50 years. This was the last year for it. Afterward, we ate a late dinner at the Waffle House in King, NC! Woop! Jacob, Katelyn, and I attended the Love Feast on Christmas Eve. We do it every year. We go to Clemmons Moravian and we sit with the LeComptes, who always save us seats because we are always late getting there. It is one of the highlights of our Christmas season. 

Love Feast

Pilot Mountain Fun

1. Having all the kids home for my birthday/Thanksgiving. On my actual birthday, all of us went over to our old house (Bridgewood Rd.) and we celebrated my birthday and Jared's birthday(he wasn't going to be home for his b'day on 12/8) with a cookie cake and a Champagne toast and presents. I stopped and got helium balloons for all of us. We each wrote a wish on a piece of paper, attached it to our balloon, went outside on the back deck, and on the count of 3 we all said "Happy Birthday" and we let the balloons go and watched them until we couldn't see them anymore. We took a lot of pictures and talked about a lot of memories. It was a very special way to say "goodbye" to the house that built us. I will always treasure this memory.

These 4 are the joys of my life.

There go our secret wishes.

John Robert, Katelyn, Jared, and Jacob

CHEERS!

So long, Bridgewood. May the next family love you just as much as we did! 

Honorable Mention Moment:  My son, Jared, finally got a puppy!!! He has wanted a Husky puppy for soooo long. Thanks to his lovely bride, he got one for Christmas. Seeing his happy face, makes me so very happy. Her name is Nala. 

So there ya have it. My top moments of 2016. I love going back to find the GOOD, and yes, there was a lot of good even in the midst of the horrible. Going back over the year helped me to appreciate the good times even more, because honestly, I had forgotten a lot of things. I found way more than 10 good things too.  So... Happy New Year to All!! May you be blessed in this new year and may you have many memorable moments in 2017!!     Keep the faith!!                                                                                                                                                                       Love,

D~