After talking through all of it with Wade and the kids, I made the prayerful decision to fly to Florida with my mom to help with my grandma's painful journey.  With underlying cardiac issues, there was initial concern that my grandma would not actually make it through the grueling recovery process. My mom needed to be with her mom and with my dad no longer here to travel with her, I felt it was best for me to step up and assist both my mom and her mom.

We flew into Tampa a week ago today. We have a hotel on the beach in Clearwater...just 10 minutes from the hospital. We wake up each morning to the splashing waves, looking out at the beautiful water in the gulf before heading into the hospital for very long days, spent encouraging my grandma. She has made huge strides in her recovery thus far and I am so proud of her courage as she pushes herself through the painful, twice-daily physical therapy. 

Here's a photo of my mom with her mom, my sweet grandma Love.

And one with me and my precious grandma, whom I love so very much...

Although I miss my family terribly, am missing Colton's 10th birthday TODAY and am missing Audra's softball team playing in CA this weekend, I know that I am right where God wants me to be. I am blessed to be here! I'm praying that my grandma continues to improve and that my final four days here will be a blessing to her.

As we get ready to ring in the New Year, we do so with hearts overflowing with gratitude. We are thankful that God wove the friendship and love of so many amazing people into our lives. Many blessings to you and yours in the coming year.  God bless!

It’s been a great year for our family and what better way to share our news than in the Christmas letter. After years of the day-to-day grind, Wade’s business finally became profitable enough that several larger companies approached us, requesting that we sell. After much consternation, we accepted an offer that would allow Wade to retire at year-end, while providing financial security for our family. He is planning to purchase a working cattle ranch in Texas in the next month or so and is excitedly looking forward to making all of his cowboy dreams come true with this early gift of retirement!

As we’ve looked into spending more time in Texas next year, I’ve decided to discontinue my high school and local club coaching commitments so that I can pursue collegiate coaching opportunities that have arisen at TCU where, following several phone interviews, they’ve requested we fly out and we are told, they are prepared to make an offer. How cool is that?

Audra, our bubbly, joyful sophomore, has a unique opportunity to continue her high school studies overseas and has been accepted as an exchange student, where she will be living off-and-on in Europe for the next two years, while studying abroad. Of course, what 15 year old girl would not be deliriously happy to shop in Paris and explore the French Riviera as part of her school work? 

Although we are not American Idol fans, we’re all very excited for next year’s competition as Sierra, after several private auditions, has been accepted as an American Idol participant and is currently working with Jordin Sparks as her private voice coach. This is truly a dream come true for our sweet, confidant Sierra and we are all extremely overjoyed for her!

It’s been a rough year for our diligent, kind-hearted and focused son, Buck, who suffered his second knee dislocation in the fall. Based on MRI’s and bone scans done during the dislocation, the doctors revealed some great news, saying that Buck’s long-term football future looks extremely bright as they project he will grow to a height of about 6’6”. It’s just not possible to verbalize how absolutely thrilled he is about this news, as he hopes to one day play in the NFL.

Colton is still our little stick of dynamite, with a fuse the length of an eyelash, shockingly intense about absolutely everything. Although Colton has always been proficient in sports and a fierce competitor, we had no idea that his true gifts were in dance. Colton joined a local youth theater company this past year where a talent agent plucked him from a small dance troup and secured a two-year contract for him as a young, up-and-coming dancer, who will be appearing in various productions in the Los Angeles and New York areas. Of course, his retired dad will be traveling with him and I’m not sure who is more excited, Colton or Wade!

I know, I know, it all sounds unreal and clearly, IT IS...Gotcha!  Wade thought it would be funny to spice it up this year and I enjoyed the rediculously fun creative writing, which spares you from another humdrum Christmas letter about the minutia of our daily lives.

The truth is, we are all well, blooming where we are planted with cups overflowing. I am perpetually left undone at the speed in which time passes and as life keeps our active family running at full speed, we remain intentional about slowing down to enjoy simple blessings, service to others and face-to-face relationships, mindful to embrace the precious moments of this fleeting life, while making memories that we’ll forever carry forward. Our journey is filled with enormous joy, endless gratitude, faith-filled hearts and small victories, but it also comes with our share of bumps, bruises, mistakes, failures and disappointment along the way. Keeping an eternal perspective, as we travel the ups and downs of life, helps us focus on what is truly significant.

Although our paths certainly don’t cross as often as we’d like, please know that we carry you along in our hearts. Thank you for being a very special part of our journey!  We hope that you celebrate, with great joy, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, in this wonderful season we call Christmas. May the hope that only He can bring, the grace He extends freely and the love He has for you, be yours now and in the coming year.  

Many blessings!  

The kids came home from church last night, singing Christmas carols and hymns, bouncing off the walls with the exuberant excitement that only Christmas Eve can bring. Colton, previously 100% sure about the validity of Santa, declared that he was "50/50" this year, which brought a small pain to my heart. Kids too soon grow up.

The morning came early. Wild footsteps, giggles and whispers filled our room as small voices declared the day...Merry Christmas! We celebrated, with great joy, the birth of our Savior after enjoying the advent season, waiting in anticipation for His big day. The weeks of shopping and wrapping were unveiled in mere moments with shreds of paper, squeals, hugs, shrieks and many more hugs. Sierra baked the traditional birthday cake as we gathered around, young and old, to sing happy birthday to our King. 

Peace abides in our hearts and our home, the peace that we find in the birth of that tiny baby who came so that we might truly live. The grace of our loving God, who extends His greatest gift that we forever carry in our hearts.

Christmas blessings and much peace, love and joy in the coming year!

The girls also chose to wear pink ribbons in recognition of a school and church friend, Katie Wagner, who at the tender age of 15, is facing her own battle with stage 4 cancer. (I can not imagine, as a parent, taking my apparently healthy child in for an abdominal issue only to learn that it's stage four bone and lung cancer.) Not only is this family facing their unbelievable battle with faith and with courage, Katie is using this situation as a missionary, bringing as many people to Christ as she can as she travels along this journey. As her mom so bravely stated in church recently, if God brings you to something, He will bring you through it.

Here are some ways you can help the Wagner family in their time of great financial burden and in their quest to fight for Katie.

Katie and her family are residents of the Anthem Community. There are several ways to support the family even if you are not able to give financially.  The following businesses have committed to give a DOLLAR for every "LIKE" on their FACEBOOK Page.  Go to their pages and just click "LIKE".

Boates Law Firm
Levinson Law Firm
Choice Medical Walk In
Pro Skill Plumbing
ImagesAZ

More and more Anthem businesses are doing this so keep checking Facebook for these opportunities. 

To keep up with Katie's progress or to send her and the family prayers and good wishes check out the following pages on FACEBOOK.

Wagner Family Support
Katie Wagner Support Stickers
Get Well Katie Wagner

Romans 8:28  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Linking hands in support of Katie during the hands-across-Anthem day when we we were playing in her honor.

The girls wearing their hair ribbons with Katie's name and the Romans 8:28 scripture verse 

An ordinary miracle from Sheila Pettit on Vimeo.

I always wonder what the people in this tiny community think when we descend into their world. Although the stillness and the quiet are some of what we love about it here, there is actually nothing quiet about our family and we are a large disturbance in this peaceful ecosystem. The youngest of our brood is constantly whistling, shouting and chanting. When he was younger, I asked the pediatrician if there could be something wrong with his hearing. His response, "His hearing is fine, he's a boy." And while Buck and Colton remain busy being boys, Sierra is constantly singing. Sometimes it's quiet, but mostly not. Audra is the exception in all of this chaos. At 15, she is at an age where she suddenly has very little to say if friends aren't present. She usually has her earphones in or her iPad on. Her younger siblings roar past and she gives an eye roll, the teenage way of saying that everyone else is so immature. We smile and nod, we were teenagers too, once.

Several days into our escape and the floor is a potpourri of books, board games and pillows, evidence of time well spent. Yesterday, early into this morning, we sat over the chess board gritting teeth and matching wits. Today's agenda: more reading, dad's cooking, hiking, fishing, air hockey challenges, movies and games of outdoor pool. Life is definitely better up here. 

I think my favorite part of our escapes to this paradise is the simple change in routine. No alarm clocks, no deadlines and no mandatory schedule. There's freedom in all of this that allows my battery to recharge, my soul to breathe deep and my pulse to slow. It's good not to rush, not to hurry, not to fly through life at top speed all the time.

Today, I'm going to fully enjoy a brisk hike with my family, a stroll through our very small town, ducking in and out of antique stores to gaze at pieces of yesterday. When we sit on dusty bottoms to fish, I will soak it all in and be grateful for this opportunity to be just a little closer to God as we enjoy His bountiful blessings of grace and peace. 

We named our stud colt, born in our back yard 4 years ago, with what we thought was a clever little twist. We wanted to give a nod to my dad, who had his metallurgical engineering PhD (but, because of his humble nature, never wore this publicly) and the Little Peppy quarter horse breeding of our newest little horse. Who doesn't love Dr. Pepper?

Here is a video of him in a local reigning competition yesterday. Reigning consists of specific patterns, spins and stops that every horse and rider must follow. The rider is not allowed to que, drive or steer the horse into the gates and instead must allow the horse to find his leads on his own. Our trainer, Jake, has been thrilled to work with this horse and we were thrilled to be able to watch him in a show. He looked fantastic and it was fun to speak with people who came over to take a closer look at our sweet boy, who just happens to be Wade's all-time favorite horse.

In the end, after 45 horses had competed, our beautiful boy ended up in the money, 4th place. Not bad for his first show! 

Pepper PhD from Sheila Pettit on Vimeo.

Everyone on our street knows that we are happy to help if they have a serpent problem at their house, which is how Audra came across this beauty. Her friend at the end of the street came running down, white-faced and ashen, to get someone to remove a snake from their front porch.  Not only did Audra single handedly assist this family with their problem, she brought her new friend home to our house.  It was late, she had him in a tank, so we said he could stay until we found the time to let him go somewhere out in the desert, away from cars and humans. May I just say that Wade thinks we're all nuts and is in no way part of the reptilian retrieval crew. 

Early the next morning, cup of coffee in hand, I walked into the laundry room to find the tank EMPTY. Hmmm, this was a problem, especially because this snake was large enough to cause me concern about the safety of our small cats and little dog.  Although we certainly didn't need a 6 am catastrophe, we dug in, moved the washer away from the wall and there he was, coiled up in a void where the washer hooks into the house. I stuck my hand in to the darkness and prayed I wouldn't grab his face. We got him out and securely back in his tank, where he still awaits a trip to the desert where Audra will have to say goodbye to her new friend.