Coastal Callings

Ya'll have been asking for it, so....here it is:

2015 in a Nutshell

2015 was another year full of fun, laughs, challenges that only made us stronger, and new adventures.  It was another year covered with God’s blessings. 

We stay pretty busy with work, but as you will see, we always make time for friends and family, too. 

Jan: I kicked off another semester of teaching at HGTC.  I say it time and time again, but I never thought I would love and enjoy teaching as much as I do.  It hit me the other day that I jumped on the teaching train back in Fall of 2012…where has the time gone?  Boy have I been blessed in so many ways.  I thank God all the time for calling me back into the classroom. 

Speaking of classroom, Carter wrapped up his last residency for his doctorate in February.  It feels like yesterday that he started this amazing experience full of learning that has helped him continue to grow as a pastor, person, and counselor.

February was also a month full of weddings: Carter officiated a wedding in Virginia.  Not only did snow continue to fall, but we got to spend time with Evan and Calvin while we were there.  

And then, we had another wedding in Pawleys.

March:  Dad and Thea came to visit us in Murrells Inlet.  We always cherish family time!  

We also packed up our house to begin our new adventure in Florida.  We knew without a doubt that God was calling us to Boca.  

April:  Easter weekend was only the beginning of our Glades excitement. 

Then, Carter was installed as Glades 2^nd pastor on April 19th.  We are super blessed at the love, support, prayers, and encouragement our Glades family has surrounded and covered us with.  They know there’s life outside of the church and continue to remind us of that.  They know that our family is far away and they continue to encourage us to visit them.  They knew that Carter’s doctorate was going to take time, but they kept supporting and encouraging him through the process.  They love that we are a team in ministry.  They pray for us constantly and know that we pray for them.  They get overjoyed about us starting a family one day.  The list goes on and on…  We have been blessed that we obeyed God’s calling and that He trusted us to be a couple of His hands and feet down in Boca.

We put our SC house up for sale and I moved in with a dear friend for just over a month so the house could be shown whenever.  Carter and I were quickly reminded that long distance marriage wasn’t for us.  It was tough being apart.  He was in FL and I was still in SC.

May was a bittersweet month for me.  I missed Carter desperately but I also had such a hard time walking away from my HGTC family…people and a job that I loved.  (Thankfully, I am still working with them…now just teaching online and back as part-time.)  I have colleagues there that will always be mentors and/or friends for life!

Dad, Thea, Jenny, and Cameron came to Orlando.  We were super excited to join them at Animal Kingdom.

June:  We got to hook up with my aunts and cousins up in Cocoa Beach.  I can't say it enough...We always cherish family time!  

You have probably guessed already, but whenever we have free down time, we are normally at the beach or scuba diving!!!!

July:  I made my annual trip home for some Momma time and then returned back to FL to have a dear friend and her family close to us in Clearwater.  It is always awesome to catch up with Laura, an undergraduate college girlfriend of mine.

August:  We went to Charlotte for some time at the lake and with the Robinsons.  Duke is definitely our son…he’s part fish and loves being in the water as much as we do!  

We also took off to a Writing Conference up in Boston to help Carter with his thesis. Loved touring Boston…

We sold our SC house and bought our FL house!  Moving is always a challenging, time-consuming task, but we couldn’t wait to move out of our rental and make this house our home.  More blessings than we can count have already occurred under our roof…in this house God provided for us at His perfect timing!  (The FL market is something else…houses go on the market one day and are off the next.)

Sept:  I started volunteering as Carter’s secretary at church.  

Carter started really putting the pedal to the metal with his thesis.

Oct:  Some North Augusta buddies were at Legoland…so of course we had to go and see them.  We love the Rodgers!

I took a trip back to SC to connect with friends there.  That visit flew by super quickly.

I started teaching an online class with TESC.  It has been pretty cool to bring Veterinary Medicine back into this “Man’s Best Friend” course.

Nov:  We had an amazing first trip to Guatemala.  What a mission trip!  You will hear more about this with time through us sharing whether it be in person or off and on in our blog. 

We got back from Guatemala and Laura and her family were in Orlando so we had to go play and see them!!!

We spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte with the Robinsons and Carter’s family in NC.

Dec:  Not sure how December got here so quickly, but it was here before we knew it.  Guess what Carter mailed in on Christmas Eve?  His thesis!!!!  (He will defend his thesis Feb 2016 and graduate in May.  I am so proud of him!)  We had a fabulous first Christmas in FL with the Robinsons and then wrapped up the year in GA with my family. 

We can only begin to imagine what 2016 will hold, but we hope you enjoyed our 2015 in a nutshell (and…that’s only a snippet of our year).