Monday, April 29, 2024
A New Milestone
We've made it to a point I never imagined I would arrive at. Yesterday marked 3,115 days without our sweet William on this earth. The same number of days we were blessed to have him here. So this day, and every day from here, marks a different kind of time for me. I don't know why it hits so sharp that I've lived through the same amount of time without him that I did with him, but it does.
We could not have possibly spent this past weekend in any better way than we did...surrounded by godly people, seeking Him, seeking to grow in Him, seeking to please Him, seeking to spend our lives in devotion to Him. What a sweet and refreshing time of encouragement and fellowship! This year's Church and Family Life conference, Making Disciples - At Home, In the Church, and Around the World, was such a beautiful reminder of the duties God calls us to. It was sweet to be together, learning and growing. And remembering.
Friday, January 13, 2023
2023 New Year Letter
Happy new year, dear friends and family! It's been quite awhile since I've written a new year's letter. I feel a bit rusty, but here goes.
Is it just me, or do the years seem to get shorter each time around? 😊 This year has been a whirlwind of activity and travel...two trips to Florida and Missouri, one trip each to North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and multiple trips to Arkansas. These homebodies are ready to be home for a bit.
2022 was a year that brought so, so much joy, yet tempered with much sorrow. We reveled in the baptisms of our 5 youngest children last year. There is truly no greater joy than to see our children walking with the Lord! It was also such a joy to have so many saints from many different fellowships come together to celebrate with us!
We also grieved the difficult loss of Sherrod and Alex's daughter, Blessing, who went to rest with the Lord in June. While I am so very thankful for the many blessings and victories the Lord brings, it is through the hardships, trials, and sorrows that I most receive His grace and comfort, where His presence is most keenly felt, where I grow in my faith and walk with Him.
We saw God's hand of protection in so many ways last year, but the one that stands out to me the most was Sarah's surgery in June. We were incredibly blessed and thankful to hang out at the hospital with Katie throughout the surgery. The children came up and played as well (sadly, we are no strangers to hospitals). Not even 5 minutes after they left the parking lot, Mike and I were still at the hospital when it was put on lock down for the active shooter situation that left 4 dead. It was a strange and stressful time, for which I am ever-grateful for a husband who is a diligent and wise protector. Unfortunately, our floor staff did not know how to properly lock down and nearly caused a panic by keeping it quiet and putting our group behind a glass wall and door. My husband nonchalantly asked a nurse about another room and moved Katie and I to a safe location until we were sure to be out of danger. Sarah and Ben were in a safe location elsewhere.
One of the best things we did as a family last year was read the Bible through in chronological order. It opened the door for many questions and a greater understanding for all. We have never done this as a family but it was so thoroughly enjoyed, I'm hoping to make it an every 3 or 5 year plan.
When I asked the children what happened last year, several of them replied, "There were no weddings!" Hahaha! Two weddings the year before kept us pretty busy but oh, what we gained! 💜
Wallace, Calvin, Knox, Adelina, Titus, and Andrew are quite taken with karate. Elly took for the better part of the year but has had to let something go, so karate it was. Wallace and Calvin competed in their first tournament and it was an eye-opening experience for them. They both really enjoyed it! Knox is eagerly awaiting the time when he can compete. His sensei is very careful with them (thankfully) and wants his students to know how to defend themselves before competing. 💜 Knox is hoping to compete this year.
Bryce and Laci are enjoying his retirement from the Air Force. He is the only inspector in the state for new water plant construction and she is on the last leg of her doctorate in psychiatry. Hayden enjoys boxing and Payton loves animals. They are all glad to be back in Arkansas.
Sarah and Ben live in Tulsa. She loves staying home and caring for Katie. Katie is a little ray of sunshine and everyone absolutely adores her.
Abby took a job riding reigning horses, which she excels at. However, she has a wild hair to do something very different during this year.
Sydnee ran a successful garden last year (and all the canning) and runs the goats and chickens almost singlehandedly. She is also my right hand and invaluable in the home.
Sherrod and Alex are expecting again! What a joy! They've also broken ground on their home in Arkansas and are looking forward to being in it soon.
Elly is working in the physical therapy field and loves it! She is very rarely home between work, tech school, and college classes and when she is, she's studying.
Selah loves teaching piano and is a sports photographer for the local paper. Most of her college classes were on campus last semester but she definitely prefers online classes.
Wallace enjoys working with his hands. I describe to him what I'd like then he designs something and builds it. He's currently working on a playset. The recent project:
Calvin shot his first deer! He has the mind of an engineer and likes to know how things work. He's constantly coming up with some new mechanical something (or taking something apart).
Knox loves all things science. He's very interested in marine biology, likes to build Legos, and often has his nose in a book.
Adelina likes to paint, craft, and bake. She really enjoyed running her own booth at several markets last fall. Her baked goods were always a hit!
Titus and Andrew are two peas in a pod! They do everything together. Both boys are very happy to be good readers and be able to participate in reading their Bibles aloud during family worship. They like swimming, biking, and playing with Legos.
We took the family to Florida in December to fulfill a promise we made in 2015, after William's Make a Wish trip, to go back and swim with the dolphins when everyone was old enough. We were only missing Bryce's family (I'm pushing for a full-family gathering next year). I had grand dreams of a beautiful beach picture to send out and to hang on the mantle, but we ended up "Frozen in Florida!"
THE TRIP:
Katie got to experience her first airplane ride!
The next day we stopped at Three Sisters Springs along the way. There were several people swimming with the manatees but the water was far too cold for me to let the littles in (that, and we weren't at our house yet so wet clothes would've been a nightmare) so we settled for watching the manatees from the beach. I think we counted 7. It was still a neat experience!
We made it to the resort with a day to play before all the busy started!
DISCOVERY COVE
This was the main reason for the trip. When we went in 2015, Calvin, Knox, Adelina, and Titus were all too young to swim with the dolphins - and I was pregnant with Andrew!
The family in 2015 at Discovery Cove
Group 2 (girls) in 2022
Swimming with dolphins (left 2015, right 2022)
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| Diving down to the incredibly large ray on the bottom |
Sarah, Ben, and Katie got to visit the Zoo and the Chocolate Factory
Sydnee, Sherrod, Alex, and Adelina went to Sea World
Wallace, Calvin, Knox, and I went to Universal and Islands of Adventure
The other goal of the trip was to revisit Give Kids the World. For our last day in Orlando, we all got to go hang out at GKTW for the day and later, several of our group volunteered to finish out the day.
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This is what the wish tower looks like now. They've even had to add a whole other room for new stars!
I couldn't figure out how to post it here but if you go to my Facebook page, there's a neat video of all the stars in the castle.
This is what William's star looks like. The children are supposed to write their names on the stars before handing them over to be put up in the tower. He didn't go by "Will" but we wanted him to to as much of the writing on his own as he could, so we stuck with (mostly) straight lines. 💜
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This is a close up of his star when they put it up.
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This is where his star is at today. It is 10 stars over from the cupcake. Alex highlighted William's star so it would be easier to pick out. 💜
We had a hard time finding William's star at first but once we found it, what sweet joy it brought. He was so excited when it went up! It was incredibly bittersweet to be there. I love this photo where Alex highlighted William's star so it really stands out. Beautiful!
Most of the 2022 group in the Castle.
At the Candyland playground in 2022. I'm sure they were quite glad I didn't make them lie on the ground in the sun!
Scoops in 2015:
We had one day together at the beach. ONE. And only one, as Sarah's family flew out early the next morning and the beach was a good distance from Orlando. The plan was to have a bright, warm day filled with sunshine where we would take pristine photos that would go out on New Year's cards and a big one for the mantle, then play in the water and build sandcastles for the rest of the day while Katie experienced her first trip to the ocean. Ha! I think Florida had their coldest day in history this day. The beach was completely empty, of course, because sane people knew better than to trek out by the water in ice cold sand with the bitter wind blowing coldness from the ocean right at us that made it feel 50 times colder! Who knew Florida even had wind? I think we brought Oklahoma's wind with us! I'm sure they were glad to see us go! 😜
We hung around the house most of the day since the weather said the warmest part of the day would be around 4pm. I think we got to the beach around 4:15 and were gone by 4:30! I gave a "pep talk" in the car about being quick and of course it didn't turn out like I said. 😳 Something was said to one person, which was misinterpreted by another, which led to a 3-ring circus of confusion and a couple of children crying from being cold. But the Ocker clan isn't one to give in to hardship. 😂😂😂 We pressed on and ended up with these 2 shots. Sydnee and I do not have our hair up. The wind is blowing it straight behind us (or up...I think Alex may have fixed that for us😜).
Even though I closed the blog last year and don't really intend to continue writing, I thought it would be good to post the TON of pictures here and not inundate FB with them. Also, not all of our family is on FB so this seemed to be a better way of sharing (and maybe giving a good laugh). We had to laugh at our own circumstances. We went home from the beach to hot chocolate and blankets and games.
One day, Mike, Sydnee, and I took the only non-sick people to play at the beach. It was still pretty chilly and we mostly had the beach to ourselves but the children had fun.
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| Sydnee found a jellyfish! |
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| Sydnee also found a sea urchin! |
Finally! The next to the last day we were there, we had a warm day at the beach! (But of course, we stayed so long it turned chilly again around sunset!)
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| This shell looks like a purple butterfly. 💜 |
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| The boys 💙 |
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| The girls 💖 |
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| The littles 💜 |
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| The "children" 💜 |
We spent our last day at Legoland. This park was a first for us and it was so much fun!
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| At the entrance |
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| I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole dragon. 😜 |
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| I mean, Star Wars... 💜 |
The first two-tiered carousel I've ever seen. Of course they wanted the top!
Andrew wasn't "technically" tall enough for this ride but his hair was sticking up and touched the line. 😂 He was so glad they let him on. They all loved this ride! (It was the only ride at Legoland with a height requirement that Andrew was under.)
The pirate stunt show was fun!
Our little princess next to the Lego princess.
Kid-powered towers - they pull themselves up then let themselves drop. They raced to the top!
We met Tracy and her family at Legoland. I still can't believe we didn't think to get a picture! 😡 Ugh. And Elly and Selah were disappointed because we ALWAYS get a picture of them with Tracy. It's tradition. I'm going to blame illness brain for throwing us off. Anyway...this ride had not opened to the public yet while we were there but season pass holders could preview it. We got to join in with Tracy and her family so this is the closest I got to a picture. And the ride was relaxing and enjoyable!
At the playcenter...
In line for the Ninjago ride...
We had the most fun on the Lego: The Movie ride!
We did get the opportunity to meet up with my sister, Michelle, and her family on this trip. 💜
Because we are Ockers and crazy, we celebrated the new year on Friday night when we got home from our trip at like 9pm. But that was the only time Sarah could be with us. I need to be better about just being fine with doing things without older children but I'm not there yet. So we pushed through and everyone was dragging and it wasn't anything like our typical celebration. 😳
We all agreed that 2 weeks is definitely too long to be away from home and it should never happen again. 😂😂😂
We’re so grateful for sweet friends who took care of everything while we were gone. Our little farmette requires constant care! 😳 Add in the frozen well, busted pipe, burned out lizard light, and saving Bandit’s life…they were incredibly busy! The day after we got home, Bandit started having seizures and we ended up at the emergency vet for New Year’s Eve! 😳 He is doing well now, though. I cannot stress enough how very thankful we are for friends who both saved him and cared for him while we were gone. He tends to think he’s bigger than he is and our big dog reminded him that he’s not. 🙄
Then Selah and I turned around and jumped on a whirlwind flight to Washington to go to a friend's wedding in Idaho! 😳 Congratulations, Kenny and Abi! (Again, I can't believe I didn't think to get a picture!) But we enjoyed visiting with the Nelsons!
Now we're home and things are going to slow down, right? 😂😂😂
It is our hope and prayer that 2023 finds you closer to the Lord than ever before. May you know His steadfast love and boundless grace. And may you rest in His goodness always.
Come you weary heart now to Jesus
Come you anxious soul now and see
There is perfect love and comfort in your tears
Rest here in His wondrous peace
Oh the goodness, the goodness of Jesus
Satisfied, He is all that I need
May it be, come what may, that I rest all my days
In the goodness of Jesus.
~ from the song, The Goodness of Jesus, by CityAlight
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