Not what we expected…

Hello everyone!  It’s been a while since I’ve written!

Wow – what an ending to 2025..not an ending we could have ever guessed. We had made our plans for celebrating Christmas with family.  It gets complicated since everyone lives in different places!  And our son is currently deployed and wasn’t able to be with his family.  SO….

Calendars got filled in and we had a plan!  The weekend before Christmas found us driving to Alexandria, Indiana to have a couple days celebrating with Emily and Kramer.  We had a great time exchanging gifts and just being together – we don’t see them enough!  After our time in Indiana, we hopped in the car once again and started our trip to Virginia Beach to spend Christmas with our daughter in law and grandsons!

On our way, we got a call from Leonard’s dad, letting us know that his mom was having trouble breathing and she needed to go to the hospital.  They are in Florida and we were so far away.  After spending Christmas in Virginia Beach, we started our drive to Florida – stopping in Atlanta for the night to stay with friends.  The next morning we all hopped in the car for the 7-hour drive to Florida – our friends Ken and Laura came with us to spend a few days with us and celebrate the New Year!

Arriving in Florida was a relief because Leonard’s mom was still in the hospital.  We found out that she was really struggling with several things going on, but the main issue was her breathing – she was on oxygen and just couldn’t get her breath under control.  LONG story short – things took a turn for the worse and she passed away on January 2^nd.  We were SO shocked and sad, and glad that we were able to be there to say good-bye and then take care of and love on his dad.

SO many things God did for us during this whole time – from having our best friends with us during this difficult time, to all of our family getting to talk to her and say good-bye (literally from all different parts of the world), to a close friend from PITTSBURGH surprising us and showing up at the funeral in FLORIDA, to sweet time with extended family, and Leonard being retired so we could stay the whole month of January….He was in every detail and we are thankful!

The days and weeks after her passing were a whirlwind – Leonard is an only child and there are so many logistical things that need to be done.  And at the same time, we were grieving our loss and also helping his dad, now that he was alone.

His parents were married SEVENTY years on Christmas Day – they had been able to spend part of the day together while she was in the hospital.    What a testimony their marriage is to love, commitment, sacrifice, and trust in God!  I’m so thankful they were able to be together on that special day.

Before any of this every happened, Leonard and I had a camping trip planned for the end of January – we were going with friends to a campground near Orlando – for a rally sponsored by a couple we follow on YouTube.  Not sure whether we would go after what happened, Leonard’s dad encouraged us to go and have some fun and a time of relaxation and reflection on the weeks we had just gone through…  What a sweet thing for him to do – while he was grieving the loss of his wife, and not knowing how to navigate his new “normal”, he was selflessly thinking of us, knowing that, not only had he lost his wife, but Leonard had lost his mom.

We decided to go on the camping trip – our first of the year and definitely NOT what we thought it would be like – and we headed off for the LONG 1 ½ hour trip to the campground! Haha

.  .

The campground was Camp Margaritaville and it was a GREAT campground!  So many things to do and beautiful campsites for our trailer!  Some of the campsites had tiki huts with a bar and tv in them!  One of the couples in our group had this, so we hung out several times at their site – relaxing and soaking up the sun! It was actually almost TOO warm for January – 85 degrees one day!  (And in Pittsburgh they were bracing for 14 inches of snow!)

We hung out at the tiki bar, grabbed lunch and listened to live music while we enjoyed the warm weather!

IMG_4667

The couple we follow are Phil and Stacy and their YouTube channel is called TODAY IS SOMEDAY – they are both retired Navy and are so down to earth and fun!  This was their first summit/rally and we were excited to see what it would be like!  What a great time we had!  There were about 200 people attending – many new to the group like we were!

.

There were games, get-togethers, coffee and breakfast, RV Olympics, group bike ride,  Casino night, and two catered dinners!

 

One of the things we like the most about them is that they are committed to raising money for HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS – and because of their hard work and commitment to this organization, the amount raised at this rally was $17, 759!!!  This amount pushed their total fundraising amount to over $250,000 to date!  AND...there was a deal that, if $15,000 or more was raised, Phil and Stacy would get a pie in the face!  With  $17,759 being the total, well…..

.

It was a great four days – meeting new people, enjoying the trailer, enjoying the warm weather (well, for the most part – I love snow and winter, so there was part of me that wished I was here in Pittsburgh seeing the 14 inches of snow!)

The nicest part for me was being away with Leonard, spending some time remembering his mom and talking about her and the funeral, and all the people we saw who came to honor her, and especially all of the things God did for us during that time.

Even though this was NOT what we planned at all, it was nice to have our first trip of the year with our Airstream – we sure do love camping in it!

And we were “welcomed” home with the beautiful snow!  We even had two friends surprise us and shovel our driveway and sidewalk – you know who you are – THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!

To any and all of you who reached out with a card, a text, a phone call, a visit, or just words of love, THANK YOU so very much! It means the world!

UNTIL NEXT TIME..