Merry Christmas!

Dear Family & Friends-

We are happy to send this year’s Christmas card from the beautiful sunshine state of Florida.  I know it’s a toss-up as to where we’ll be living from one Christmas to the next, so let me fill you in on our whereabouts and our happenings for 2012 to give you a little more insight.  Kyle was in his 3^rd quarter of Nurse Anesthesia School at Midwestern University in the beginning of the year and Glendale, Arizona seemed to fit our family well.  In Kyle’s program, the first year is didactic and the second year is clinical rotations all over the country, so although we loved AZ, in May he finished year 1 and we were off to new adventures.  We packed up our car and headed for McAllen, TX for the summer.  McAllen is 10 miles north of the Mexican border, so needless to say it was a hot summer.  Then, just 3 months after setting up in McAllen, our rotation was up and we headed north for Lubbock, TX.  Brighton started 1^st grade there, Porter turned 4 there, and Graham started crawling there.  It was a nice place to live and grow but we knew after 3 months222, we were on our way to round 3 of rotations.  Our most recent move has taken us even further southeast to Florida.  Kyle just started his 3^rd rotation in Tampa and our family is loving the palm trees and sunny beaches.  Graham’s 1^st Birthday was celebrated with a fistful of sand and an ocean water-filled diaper, and he was on cloud nine.  I decided to homeschool Brighton for this rotation so we could enjoy our 3 months here to the fullest.  That means our days are filled with field trips to collect seashells and doing reports on animals we saw at Busch Gardens (Did I mention we live 20 minutes away from the amusement park? It’s amazing!).  So far we’re doing well in our new home but as we’ve found in the past year, time will go by too quickly and we’ll be moving on to our next stop in February (Which is Flagstaff, AZ.  After Flagstaff, one more rotation and then Kyle will be a graduated CRNA!  Woo hoo!).

            Although it has been fun to see all sorts of different parts of the U.S., there are aspects of this nomadic lifestyle that are very trying, especially with 3 kids in tow!  Luckily, we have been blessed with great friends along the way who have helped and supported us through this endeavor.  For that we are forever grateful. 

            We feel immensely blessed during this Christmas season for all of our family and friends across the country.  We hope that the Christmas spirit finds you happy and healthy this holiday season!  And have a fantastic 2013!

                                                Love,

                                                                                                            Danie, Kyle, Brighton, Porter, & Graham