Dear Family and Friends!
I may actually get this letter written EARLY this year. I’ll be gone over Easter which prompts me to get moving! Will see how it goes.
Are y’all feeling like it’s August already? After having one of the most lovely ABQ Autumns ever this past year, it seems we mostly skipped Winter and are maybe also skipping Spring. - Hopefully not, but the temps have been HOT. No moisture either which makes Summer look not too appealing. It’s all speculation right now, but I’m hearing about the hot and dry from so many folks. Gosh! Send the rain to dry places, LORD!
Lots of travel happened since Easter 2025 starting last June with a “sisters trip” to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I’d been there once before but in no way remembered the extravagant beauty and grandeur of the prairies, the waters, the Tetons! Jill, Jamie and I did lots of exploring, self pampering, and delicious eating. I’d go back in a minute should the opportunity arise again. (A phrase my dad and mom used to say often, “you ripped your gizz,” meaning you did something Above and Beyond, is totally applicable to Creator God where Jackson Hole is concerned. YOU ripped Your gizz, God! Bravo!)
Greg’s mom, Gloria, moved on to Heaven in July, so we were in Cartersville, GA for a few days gathering with family and celebrating her life. It was a sweet time, as so many memorials are. We always say we wish the occasion could be different, but nevertheless, being together in these tender days is significant.
September had me Tennessee bound to spend several days with Levi in Nashville. He’s lived there a couple years now and it was high-time I got to his town and did the Nash scene! (Again, another place I’d visited before but not long enough to really get the feel of the land.) - We had so much fun. Since I’ve never been one drawn to touristy places, we spent most of our days traipsing through beautiful parks and trails. LOTS of walking! Levi did treat me to some amazingly yummy meals at fav restaurants he’s discovered, and we did get to the Broadway strip one night - 1,001 girls in cowboy boots, or so Levi says! (Something like that!)
In October, Greg and I made a four day, quick trip to Breckenridge, CO to visit his very old and dear friends, Jim and Joy. The timing was perfect to catch the Aspen changing color, causing SO MUCH yellow, and orange, and red EVERYwhere you looked. Those CO Rockies are just gorgeous!
Early December we were on a reward trip to Costa Rica for a week! Greg met a quota at his job and we had a surprise get-away; I say surprise cause we had maybe a three week heads-up. If we wanted to go, say so NOW! Well, of course, we couldn’t pass up the gift. What fun this adventure was, complete with a 15 hour driving tour where we saw so much of the country’s interior. Beautiful waterfalls, lots of wildlife - YES, SLOTHS!, cacao fields, volcanoes.- We need to go back and do the coasts next time. Just couldn’t get it all in Round One.
Which brings me to Christmas (and now the reason why I’ll be gone over Easter.)
My kids: Chad, Bree, Arlo, Scout, Colt, and Bram MOVED to Tennessee. Arrrgghhh! - We had a sweet little Christmas celebration together in ABQ, and then they all left on the 26th. Greg and I drove their second vehicle out on the 27th and helped them move into their temporary house in Columbia - one hour south of Nashville. (I never in 100 years would have thought BOTH my kids would end up in TN. The thought is about as farfetched as the Macallisters landing in New Mexico back in the day. Geez!) - Chad and Bree bought a beautiful five acre piece of property on Old Zion Road and the plan is to build a home and all the country “fixins!” - A barn, a second home for Ama & Ampa! (That’s Greg and me!) Animals, gardens, etc, etc, are on the list and it’ll be a Grand Adventure, for sure!
One more recent trip to report. Greg and I just got back from a week in California: a few days in Palm Springs at my nephew’s wedding, and a few days in San Diego with Greg’s girls, their spouses, and his grandkids. It was a packed itinerary and some pretty HOT weather there too. So good to spend time with our CA family as it doesn’t happen often enough anymore.
So. Back to NOW. I’m headed to TN next week to just BE there. I’ve missed the sweet faces, voices, snuggles, and fun of being regularly with the gkids. I’ve missed the big kids, too, and we have some fun hangs on the calendar. - This trip will be too short, I can feel it already, BUT… I’m going to retire after school is out this year and I expect life will start looking very different come June 1. - No definite plans yet, but I’ll be scheming. And praying …
And now that I’ve jotted down all the happenings of this past year, I’m filled afresh with THANKFULNESS. SO grateful that I’ve experienced an abundance of opportunity, AND ability. I know I’ve been GIVEN much. - There have been challenges here and there; there always are, right? But God has been Faithful. I’ve had some health issues lacking a clear diagnosis. Thinking it’s Vagus Nerve related with vertigo, headaches, and typical symptoms of this loooong brain-to-bowels neural transmitter. Very inconsistent and often perplexing, but even so, !’m still going! Going, going, going!
I’m turning 67 next week. Mmmmm. I was reading a book the other day and 60 year olds were the story’s “elders.” OMGosh! That’s likely what we all thought at 18, and 23, and even 30, but WOW! I think I’m still young, or at least young-ish, but when your body starts giving you problems - irritating even if not fully debilitating - you start to think a little differently; do the important things; let go of stuff that doesn’t matter. Priorities and perspectives change and I believe it’s ALL good. I believe it’s the wisdom factor that forms with literally years of living, and spiritually in “the fear of the Lord.” (Proverbs 9:10) To me, the two go hand in hand producing the BEST life. Revere Him, Honor Him and His Word, Follow Him, and know Peace and Joy and Abundant Life. It’s an incredible deal! :-)
Maybe since I started early, I’m feeling like I could go on and on. HA! Bad idea. - I’ll end, instead, with this rejoicing from Psalm 65: 5-8,
By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
I know it doesn’t always FEEL like it, friends. Our lives, our families, our nation, and world can feel endlessly chaotic at times. TODAY even. Yet our Faithful Father sees all and His ways are for us - the creation He redeemed on the Cross. My prayer this Easter is that all would encounter Him. He’s not far off. He’s Immanuel yesterday, today, and forever.
Thank You for Your beautiful sacrifice, Jesus. Thank You for raising to New Life that we, too, might LIVE!
Love to All, Jody
P.S. Hooray! The temps have cooled as of today - Palm Sunday. Hosanna!