To our dearest Family and Friends,
I hope our Christmas greetings find you and your loved ones doing as well as can possibly be. This year has been one unbelievable whirlwind of answered prayers for our family; I still can’t believe what I’m about to type:
This past year has been filled with so munch uncertainty, and lived on faith alone. We started off the year at Stanford, where Nick was finishing his Masters in Business Management. I had some delusional thought that grad school would be a respite from the tempo we kept in the military, but I was way off. Nick logged long hours working on homework, studying and group projects, networking and his job search. Blessedly, his hard work paid off in January when he was offered a position as a CEO-In-Training for a private equity firm, Alpine Investors. He then embarked on their “pairing process” to determine under which seasoned CEO he would be apprenticing. It wasn’t all work and no play, though, Nick was able to steal away for a couple snowboard excursions in Tahoe, a campout on the beach and even a private flight (with one of his veteran buddies manning the stick) for an over-nighter in Vegas. To say it was a full year would be an understatement, business school students know how to pack a calendar.
While Nick burned the midnight oil, the kids, our smuggled-in dog, Molly, and I took full advantage of every square inch of our 850 square foot apartment. We were lucky to have it, but man, was it a character-building opportunity for us all—most especially me. We lived outside in the communal playground and fell in love with our buddies from all over the world who’d meet us there every day. It was a kid’s dream come true, and an unparalleled support community for stay-at-home moms.
There were multiple different opportunities on the table for Nick’s work after graduation. We were prayerfully open to whatever God had in store for us, knowing His plan is always perfect. We found out in the middle of May that Nick would be working in San Francisco and that we’d be staying in the bay area. An unbelievable blessing, though our joy was matched with worry of securing a place to live. The rental market in California is notoriously difficult to get into, not to mention filled with mind-numbing price tags.
With schools and Nick’s commute as our top priorities, we were, thankfully, chosen from many applicants to be the tenants of a home in the Castro Valley hills because the neighbors, mutual friends of the Sacksteders and the landlord, vouched for us. Little did we know that we’d grow to love the neighbors and the neighborhood so much that when we saw a “for sale” sign pop up at the home in the end of our cul-de-sac, we decided to try our luck at buying it to secure our place here.
Low and behold, our before-going-on-the-market offer was accepted. Our landlords graciously allowed us to break out rental agreement four months in without penalty so long as we found new tenants, which was a prospect made more complicated by a very steep hike in their already steep security deposit. 10 house showings later, the day that we closed on our new home, a new tenant was secured. Praise Jesus to have that behind us, and that His timing is always perfect! On October 15th, we moved, for the fourth time in 16 months, with the help of all of our family, friends and incredible new neighbors traversing the six house separation by truck and foot with all of our things. Many hands make light work kept running through my mind as I choked back tears watching it all unfold, what have we ever done to deserve God to provide us with so many willing hands?
Despite Hannah asking me where we are moving to next, the kids have transitioned beautifully with all of our moves…
Emmy is our brilliant problem-solver child. She can masterfully work a solution to any roadblock I throw in her plans, and I’m always sure to commend her efforts. I did, however, enlist her help in potty training the twins. Highly motivated by the potty treats, she assumed control of James’ progress and forced him to relieve himself 14 times before lunch on day one, I even found her feeding him raisins to encourage number 2 because the treat was even better. She was ruthless and he cheerfully complied. She is in first grade at Jensen Ranch Elementary, the school where my mom has taught for the last 20 years, in the classroom next door. How is this real life?!? Emmy is a self-proclaimed collector of Baby Alive dolls (she has one) and just last night asked me to help her create Christmas cards from her “family.” Luckily, we already have the photos from the newborn shoot she insisted on the day she bought her doll.
Hannah, our sensitive, hard-loving, and perpetually misunderstood middle child is in pre-kindergarten three mornings a week. She and the twins have opposite school days, enabling her to fulfill her life-long dream of being an only child for 6 hours a week. She devotes so much time and effort and thought into everything she puts her name on, a little perfectionist in the making. She loves to keep active and does burpies as party tricks, but gymnastics has been her favorite outlet for her energy. She is working hard practicing her letters on her off-time from school by professing her deep admiration for our 16-year-old neighbor in love notes. My favorite line: “I love you so much, I can’t stand it!” He won her heart by playing football with her in the street. (Thankfully, he’s a great kid with a good sense of humor.)
Julia is a little darling, and has each and every one of us wrapped around her little finger. She’s in preschool two mornings a week, but has her beloved backpack loaded and ready every day. She’s more prepared than I am. She has a perma-claim on my lap and anyone who challenges her feels the full extent of her 27 pound wrath. It’s scary and never worth it. Her stamina and determination will pay off as she works toward meeting her career goal of becoming the “Toof Fairy.” She is indeed a hard worker, as evidenced by the additional tasks on her chore list that she assigned herself. They are modifications of her big sisters’ responsibilities such as: reading for 2 minutes each day and making her toddler bed. We’re grateful that she now takes personal pride in her sleep quarters, because the transition out of a crib was hard-earned developmental milestone for us all this Spring!
James is the most enthusiastic, happy little boy. He’s been likened to Buddy from the movie “Elf” and I couldn’t agree more. He’s also a bull in a china shop, and can (unintentionally) leave a path of destruction that brings me to my knees. He’s tenderhearted and totally amenable to playing with the girls however they want to play (princess dresses included.) James is a Magatile-tower-building whiz and lives for “boy share” at school, where he brings his beloved blue ni-night each time. His teachers are so wonderful to act surprised every time he runs up to show it to them. Aside from his preference for nudity over clothes, he’s a perfect gentleman, opening doors and carrying things for his sisters and I, he even likes to play with my hair. A gesture that is a sure-fire way to delay bedtime or chores.
I keep spontaneously bursting into tears because I can hardly believe my luck this year. Truly. Everyday it’s something new: watching the sun rise over the hills from our back window and the sun set over the bay from the front, skipping through the aisles of the brand new Hobby Lobby, Army beating Navy for the first time since we attended the game 15 years ago, taking the kids to Legoland and Disneyland this summer (though I can’t say all of those tears were joyful…) Topping the list, though, is living life with both of our families again, which has been only cemented now that Kris and JP bought a home 10 minutes away from ours.
I get to host both sides of our family and extended families for Christmas Eve this year, and for a military wife whose spent most Christmases away and a couple on her own over the last decade, well, the thought of it makes me burst into tears all over again. We wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas, and pray that your 2017 is filled with health, happiness, and prayers that are answered in beautiful ways that defy your wildest imagination.
With love,
Nick, Ali, Emmy, Hannah, James and Julia Horn
