Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 (or thereabouts)
Dear Friends and Family,
For the record, I’m started this letter on Christmas Eve morning so technically I’m not actually late. However, somehow completion was delayed and, well, welcome to February. Regardless, I’d like you to please acknowledge that I DID in fact initiate this document prior to the seasonal cutoff.
2010 was a wild and wacky year. I’ll thumb through our calendars and Facebook posts to see if I can recall most of the important things. Somehow I’ll probably manage to stretch out about two or three paragraphs of “interesting” family events into multiple pages of ink and toner waste. That’s just how I roll.
Ruby turned 4 in October and continues to attend The Creative School for pre-K. She seems to be quite popular among her classmates, which I hope reflects attributes that her parents would consider positive. One must always question the judgment of 4 year olds. Three days a week her class is entirely girls and the other two days they let some boys come in for education, too. She loves her school, her teachers, and her classmates although she does refer to a few of the boys as “Bad Guys” from time to time. The best news of the year is that she’s finally wearing “big girl panties” so we’ve eliminated diapers from our budget. In the past she was just way too busy to worry about learning to use the potty on a regular basis. Ruby’s been a good sport in following Lawson’s and Georgia’s sporting travels around the area (see below) and has become a crowd favorite among our teams’ players’ parents and siblings. [Wow, that may have been an excessive use of plurals and possessives.]
Ruby’s vocabulary is expanding everyday including using words out of context or with slightly off-base pronunciation. Most recently she was “reading” the Christmas story to me from the bible and referenced the central figure Santa Claus and “Hammeltizer” several times in her presentation. We’ve yet to determine which of the three wise men Hammeltizer was, but we’re certain that she’s merely providing us the Hebrew translation of his name.
She likes to wear girly clothes and bows in her hair, which is quite pleasing to her mother. She also gives us gems of wisdom from time to time: “That’s not a Jaguar, that’s a red car!” Unprompted: “I didn’t eat ten pieces of candy.” In the car on the way to church: “What kind of car does Jesus drive?” Man, I just love this girl.
Georgia turned 9 in July and is well on her way to becoming a teenager. Yikes. She remains complicated but some things are consistent: she likes soccer and bothering her brother. Georgia continues to play on the Comets soccer team and continues to develop…and have lots of fun. Her left leg and foot continue to impress and surprise the opposing team, but we still need to work on some ball handling skills. It’s a really treat to watch her play and develop fun friendships with her teammates.
Georgia is also playing some softball and expanded her interest in basketball this year. She’s a real sports nut. She’ll watch about any football game on TV which is really good for me when the Hogs are on. She’s full of questions as she continues to learn the additional rules of the game. At school, she’s often one of the few girls or the only girl playing the 3rd Grade version of the latest sports game, which appears to be a blend of soccer/rugby/football. Georgia can usually hold her own. Wow, I just love this girl.
Lawson turned 11 in October and is clearly getting to be an adult…just ask him. He is also playing soccer with the Comets club and has travelled to a few overnight tournaments. We like the Little Rock tournaments due to the great venue at Burns Park, the great lodging available at our friends’ home, and the chance to reconnect with friends in our former city. He’s surfaced as a team leader on his soccer squad. Lawson had several game-winning goals this year including at least two in the final minutes of the games. While on the field he tries to act like it’s no big deal but once the game is wrapped up and post-game intra-family high-fives are being exchanged you can see the thrill in his eyes and a smile creep onto his face. Conversely, when his team loses, well…let’s just say his response is somewhat opposite, predictable and largely genetic (on his dad’s side of the family).
Lawson has retired from Scouts but is playing basketball again this year. Their basketball team had a slow start but finished really strong for the season, eventually losing by one point in the semifinals in the end of season tournament. He ends up being a leader on this team, too. I’m not sure if there’s a career for him in basketball though. Again, it’s largely genetics.
Lawson is definitely growing up. [OK, this was funny. I was trying to type “definitely” just then and misspelled the word so badly that the spell checker initially auto-corrected it to be “defiantly”, which could also be used in the preceding sentence.] He’s getting funnier every day and continues to use pretty good judgment on when to be funny and when to not try. If he can use his powers for good instead of evil, he’ll certainly have a greater impact on his surroundings. Yes, I really love this boy.
Lawson took a trip to Washington DC with Grandmom this year. After about 48 hours of homesick, he was fully engaged for the remainder of the week. He had a new digital camera to take on the trip to record the adventures and he did not disappoint. Tourist: yes. Photographer: maybe.
The family had some great short trips this year including three trips to the Buffalo River in north central Arkansas: America’s first National River. We had one overnight camping trip leading into a great family canoe trip with our church group: great weather, great water, great fun. We created a few more memories with two separate low-budget day trips to a barely-off-the-beaten-path swimming hole on the Buffalo that cumulatively included kid representatives from 7 different families, about 6 lawn chairs, somewhere around 12 hours of water time, about 9 tubes of sunscreen, countless sandwiches and snacks consumed, 1 watermelon, approximately 101 crawdads captured (and released) countless jumps off the truck-sized rock, 12 minutes of video evidence, one folding table, and one canoe to function as a barge to shuttle all of the accessories on the second trip. Quite an adventure…each time. We had so much fun and enjoyed introducing some new families to some simple pleasures and hidden gems on the Buffalo River. It truly could not have been any better on those two trips. Of course, the return trip home mandates a stop at the convenience store / restaurant in Marble, AR for some popcorn chicken, catfish nuggets, and a root beer (or orange cream soda if you prefer).
I also worked in a July canoe trip on the Buffalo, which is generally unheard of. Good water with basically nobody else on the river. Another great day. I had more trips to the Buffalo this year than I have ever had in a 12 month span. Awesome!
We worked in a weekend trip to one of our favorite camping destinations: Blanchard Springs. Great times as usual. This time the trip included an unanticipated near-catastrophic equipment failure when the welds on the tongue of the camper broke (not at highway speeds) and stranded us in the middle of the road in downtown Gilbert, AR on a Friday afternoon (a suburb of Marshall and Harrison). We were quite a novelty there in Gilbert for several hours. Eventually the portable welding unit arrived and made the necessary repairs to get us on our way. Pleasantly, the repair fee was extremely reasonably priced, as opposed to “How much you got?” The remainder of the trip was quite good and more typical. Three families enjoyed the great outdoors and making memories…particularly when Georgia became airborne while her dad was swinging her wildly in the hammock.
We were able to head to Destin, FL again this summer on our somewhat annual beach vacation. All the typical activities were conducted including the expanding group of wave runners and the ever popular, family-engaging, memory-making, end-of-trip photo shoot conducted on the final afternoon / evening of the week. This year added a fourth family to the mix. They shared a 3 bedroom condo with us…so I don’t know if they’ll choose to return next year.
Thanksgiving saw the entire Templeton extended family heading to a cabin on the Buffalo River for the holiday. A bit of cabin fever may have set in across the 15 participants as the freezing rain and snow blew in at 15-20 mph. The final day was quite sunny and most of us worked in a hike to an awesome / sheer overlook to the River. God’s majesty was wonderfully evident from that view. Wow!
2010 included the sadness of the death of several close friends and / or extended family members. Some were sudden and some were somewhat anticipated. Regardless, it was a challenging year in that regard for all of those touched by their life and death. And yet I know that we were not impacted nearly as much as the immediate families of those who passed away.
Business-wise, it’s been a very dynamic year. We closed our business in Tulsa. I had a great opportunity to join a startup healthcare IT company early in the year, and then a great opportunity to leave that company and subsequently join a healthcare services / consulting firm later in the year. Beth continued working with the local CPA firm during 2010 tax season and will join them again in 2011 for the season. Never a dull moment.
Beth joined a women’s morning bible study this year and has really enjoyed it. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors of Creative School where Ruby attends. We are fortunate to have the flexibility to participate in some of these activities.
We added a new 4-legged member to the family this year: Mallet. He joined us in December in a moment of weakness. He’s all puppy, and all mixed up in his bloodline: I don’t think his mother was particularly selective. He’s now about 4 months old and creating havoc in the house and particularly with Polly.
We hope your 2011 is off to a great start. Those impacted by the Storm of the Century here in the first week of February are looking forward to Spring already. Hope you are safe and warm. Happy Valentine Day!
John 3:16; Romans 8:28