Never To Old for Adventure

The Moody's have begun a new chapter in life!  Does that sound like a mantra you have heard before??
 In nearly 51 years of marriage there have been very few moments when 'boring' would have described my life. I walked down the isle to a begin a new life filled with more adventures and challenges than I could have ever imagined, and blessings beyond measure.
Life as a new wife began on the budget of a college student. Thankful for a Mom who taught me to cook, bake and share the bounty, creative casseroles and 'wonders' found their way to the table as new friends pulled up a chair. Living away from home with no telephone to call home, gave us a great opportunity to begin to build a foundation of strength, important to all marriages.
After a couple years, our first 'bundle of joy' entered the world and has lived up to that description for 49 years! The old adage of a baby slowing life down? We didn't get the memo!! A logging camp in Alaska, the addition of our first daughter (joy #2), living on an island, learning to order and receive food by mail, no radio or TV, leaning on one another for support, left us with another brick.

"And now there are 30"

 The  Oregon coast was home for a short time where twin boys (joys 3 & 4) brought a whole new level of life and fun into our family.
Then to a farm in the Willamette Valley and on to southern Oregon to a little bigger ranch and the welcoming of our youngest daughter (Joy #5). God only, could have planned the love, and Joy that  we have felt as each of these gifts were sent to us and the blessing of FAMILY they have made real. Amazing is the reality of variety in personalities and that special place in the heart that they each individually fill.
Montana was our next move, far away from friends and family and all things familiar. New opportunities and challenges for the entire crew became reality.  Each of us discovered that with all the moves and changes we had experienced in life the gift of flexibility had taken root. In the years following that move it has been amazing to see that gift at work in our lives and lives of each of children.

Welcome to AZ

Jim retired 5 years ago and we sold our home, bought a motor home and  have traveled the states, acquiring new friends and chiseling down that 'bucket list."
Following Thanksgiving this year we packed the car with feelings of anticipation of a new chapter in our lives. Nearly 2000 miles later, visits and hugs with family along the way, we arrived in Mesa, AZ.
The past couple weeks we have spent making a little house into HOME! Our first Christmas in many years without family hugs.  UPS, FED EX and USPS have done their best to deliver the love of our children in packages to be unwrapped.
As we again, open our door to new found friends and old cherished friends and family. As we make a place in our hearts for what God has in store for us in AZ. , we rejoice in this NEWEST opportunity for adventure!!

ANTICIPATION!!

Anticiapation....That word can conjure up a multitude of feelings, fear, nervousness, dread or shear joy. In my life right now I have several upcoming events that my are filling my life with JOYFUL anticipation.

I have found that in my varied roles of Wife, Mom, and Grandma, I can experience several forms of anticipation  simutaneously. But at this particular moment shear joy, would decribe it best.
In 3 days we will join our youngest daughter and husband in a judges chambers as they and their children take an oath to love ,cherish and care for their new baby son and brother. The only word to decribe the anticipation of that day would be JOY.

In five days our oldest daughter and family will have traveled across the country, our youngest daughter and family will have traveled for several hours and our 3 boys will join us from in-state. We will be surrounded by ALL of our children and grandchildren for the first time in 5 years. The sounds of choas and laughter will fill the house and my anticipation can only be described as SHEAR JOY!

In 6 days my oldest Grandson will marry a sweet young lady and begin a new life filled with adventures and challenges. Their anticipation of  the love, adventures and challenges of their life together shines on their faces. While I'm sure their anticipation would be a mixture of nervousness and wonder of all the things that lie ahead Joy would overshadow all the others, and would be shared by all of those who love them.