It's not surprising that this year's holiday letter is somewhat belated, given the craziness of 2010. What a year it has been! First and foremost, we give thanks for the birth of our new baby girl, Wendell Jane, born on 7/7. Named after writer and agrarian philosopher Wendell Berry and my departed grandmother Jane Lynn, she is truly our little "surprise blessing!" She has rocked our world in more ways than one and we delight in her big blue eyes and toothless belly laugh and smile!
The first part of 2010 was spent adjusting to the pregnancy and working hard to get the house ready. My mom moved downstairs, the kids moved upstairs, and we added a crib to the guestroom. Once again, we experienced the generosity of so many friends, family and co-workers who chipped in to help us replace all of the baby "stuff" we'd gotten rid of some time ago! The second half of the year was spent convincing ourselves that sleep is overrated and trying to figure out where to put all of the new "stuff!"
I celebrated the big "40" this year and was delighted 1) to have had Baby Wendell when I was 39 (after all, "I'd rather be 40 than pregnant!") and 2) to have family and friends join me for a perfect wine country tour in the Texas Hill Country! The day was complete with a picnic lunch, wine tastings galore and even a grape stomp!
I continued in my second year on the tenure track as an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Texas State. I have grown to love teaching even more, especially as I begin to teach returning students in our MSW program that I taught in undergrad. I have formed really meaningful relationships with my students and feel such a sense of satisfaction in playing a role in their personal and professional development. I also edited and co-wrote a book called "Innovative Interventions in Child and Adolescent Mental Health" (available on Amazon--hint, hint) and was awarded the Dean's Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities. This was a huge honor and enabled me to "suspend the tenure clock" for the 2010-11 school year due to the new baby.
Work opportunities have opened other doors as well, and I have been able to write, travel and present at numerous conferences in LaJolla, Memphis, Portland (OR), Las Vegas and Houston. I also got to travel back to Northern Minnesota to do some consulting for Outward Bound's youth-at-risk programs. As always, my travels offered exciting adventures in amazing places, networking opportunities and a chance to recharge my batteries and reconnect with old friends. Baby Wendell was my traveling partner this fall and has so far visited 8 states in her first six months! Here I am pregnant with Wendell on the beach in LaJolla...
And another favorite of me and Wendell hiking at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge...
And finally, one of my and Billy from Hoover Dam outside of Vegas...
Speaking of Billy, his year has been very full as well (work, 'new' dad, sleep deprivation, and all that!). He continues to teach sophomore English at Hays High School, as well as a Teen Leadership class where he has mastered the art of community building via experiential education and group work! His students are transformed by the relationships he builds with them and inspired by the combination of his critical thinking and playfulness...whether challenging them in the classroom or on the ultimate field, Billy continues to empower his students to fully engage in LIFE! One week he was playing ultimate ("for educational purposes," he claims) and was playing while carrying a cup of coffee. A student threw a leading pass and instinctively, Billy tossed his coffee to the ground and laid out for the disc. One of his students took the time to capture this moment on his ipad. To me, it speaks volumes to Billy's influence as an amazing teacher!
Along with teaching, Billy has also been active in curriculum planning and professional development. He has facilitated some teacher trainings and also participated in the Central Texas Writer's Project at Texas State. During the entire month of June, Billy was a student again, sharing his writing, critiquing others writing and reflecting on the role of writing in his classroom. Billy then presented on using writing as an experiential activity in his classroom at the Association for Experiential Education's International Conference in Las Vegas this year (the reason we BOTH got to travel there!). Billy has also been working with some faculty at Texas State on multicultural education initiatives in the Texas public school system, something that is desperately needed (some of you may have followed the 'textbook wars' that took place here this year!). Currently, Billy is training for the Austin marathon in 2012 and ran 17 miles in Central Park when we were back in NY for Christmas! Running, birding and being a dad are Billy's true loves...
Mahalia is now 8 years old and in 3rd grade (going on 25!). She loves school, especially science, math and art, and has also become quite the reader with the Lemony Snicket and Narnia books being some of her favorites. Mahalia is a really active kid-- she gave basketball a shot this year, but seems to have found more of a niche playing soccer. She was invited to play on an academy team this year, and after her first practice, sweaty and tired she proclaimed, "I want to do that because it is SO hard!" She practices twice a week with games on the weekends, which makes Billy and I (gulp) soccer parents. While we do scream and yell from the sidelines, we try not to do so aka Bobby Knight (sorry, don't know any soccer references!). Here's a picture of Mahalia and her Granddad enjoying a well-deserved cupcake post tournament!
Mahalia is in her second year of Brownies and enjoys camp the most (yeah!)--so much so that for her 8th birthday party, she asked for a backyard camp-out! We had 7 girls spend the night in our giant Costco tent in the yard and had s'mores in lieu of a cake! Mahalia also exercised her creative side this year, attending several theater camps, taking violin lessons and singing and dancing in several school performances. The sound of her squeaking violin combined with the screaming baby are driving me to drink but I'm proud of her for trying new things and I love helping her channel her flair for the dramatic into positive outlets! :)
Our little Will is growing up too! He is six and started Kindergarten this year. He and Mahalia are best friends and still share bunk beds, but their relationship definitely has its love/hate moments! (Something this only child is not always used to!) Will loves reading and writing, and loves art and science like his sister. He is very athletic and enjoyed playing basketball, soccer and t-ball this year.
Much like the rest of the family, Will loves being outdoors. He spends most of his time outside and loves riding his bike, scooter and skateboard around the neighborhood. He has a curious spirit and loves the world. He has a great sense of humor, and is able to invoke sarcasm and perfect inflection when we least expect it! It's amazing to watch him grow up, go to school and make friends. We got so used to him being the 'baby' and now he is the big brother! He loves this role most of all and helps take good care of Baby Wendell.
We have great kids, and we thank God everyday that all three of our kids are healthy (everytime I see that St. Jude's commercial at the movie theater, I just start crying!). Still, raising kids in such a complex, scary world is tough at times. While we don't want to overwhelm them, we want our kids to know about the pain in the world, empathize and ACT. In many ways, they do this on their own quite naturally, as evidenced by their lemonade stand response to the Gulf oil spill to save the sea turtles. So inspiring!
Much of who our children are is directly related to living intergenerationally. My mom, Pat (aka Gadie) continues to live with us, helping provide child care and moral support. She is an integral part of our lives and teaches our children many important life lessons. She works part-time as a kitchen designer for Home Depot and enjoys reading, cooking and riding horses when she's not busy watching our kiddos! :) No doubt our kids inherited much of their love of adventure from Gadie who went zip-lining for her 63rd birthday!
As a family, we've enjoyed some wonderful trips this year! We love traveling as a family and sharing outdoor adventures together. We went skiing in Colorado for spring break, kayaked at Amistad National Reservoir on the Texas/Mexico border, enjoyed the beach at Port Aransas on the Gulf Coast, and camped at Inks Lake State Park (Wendell's first camping trip!).
Along with our family adventures, 2010 brought wonderful visits with family and friends, including a visit from my 93 year old grandfather, as well as a trip to DC and NYC for Christmas! This year we also celebrated the birth of our nephew Alex, along with the births (and impending births) of friends' and family members' beautiful babies! We celebrate all of this new life as much as we mourn for those who we lost this year, and we try to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who weep."
As we look back on this year, we realize that we were busy (and blessed)! This chaos, however, is mostly happy chaos and while we remind ourselves to enjoy the busy times, we also try and find time for quiet. Our time in church and in nature helps us to find the "peace that passeth understanding." I've always wondered what that really means until I found this beautiful quote: "Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart." With life as hectic as it is, this does not always come easily; however, this is the peace that passeth all understanding--God's peace.
We send holiday JOY your way and we know that so much of our joy comes from having loving family and friends like YOU--so from all of the Texas Nortons (and Pat!), we send our love, gratitude and prayers for a very happy and healthy 2011! May God's peace be with you this year and always...
