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Over the past few years, I (this is Tracy) haven’t felt the
least bit interested in writing a Christmas letter, especially after receiving
a few from friends and family and realizing that their lives were moving along
much more smoothly. Who wants to read a
letter filled with consternation over life’s bumps?
2013, though, has been a positive new beginning for us, for
the most part. 2012 was really, really
tough. We learned early in the year that
our landlord was going to file bankruptcy and would lose our home in
foreclosure. The good news was that we
didn’t pay rent most of the year; the bad news is that my work dropped
significantly (along with the nation’s economy), which means that the only
reason we were able to get through the year was that we didn’t have to pay
rent. Unfortunately, that means we were
practically broke by December and had NOTHING saved to move.
We looked extensively but never found another place in our
area, and with all the issues arising with my job in the DC area, we decided it
was time to move back West, where I could find an officialship (working in
court), and we would be closer to family.
Trust me, you don’t know how much you miss your family until they are
out of reach!
In the beginning of January I was offered an officialship in
Twin Falls, Idaho. I’ve never lived in
Idaho, and I honestly can’t remember whether I’ve ever been in Twin Falls, but
it couldn’t be TOO horrible, right? We did some backbreaking, lightning-speed
packing and still had the unfortunate experience of being ill prepared when our
wonderful ward members helped us more than we have ever needed before. We had to leave a LOT behind (mostly my stuff
because that’s how we moms roll).
We left our home in Fredericksburg January 12th –
it was 70 degrees. When we arrived in
Twin Falls, it was 14 degrees. Yes, nine
days later we had experienced a 56-degree drop in our TEMPoral surroundings!!
We somehow managed to make it safely across the country,
only affording it with the generous help of Mom and Dad Barksdale. We made a stop to visit with my Aunt Cheryl,
Uncle Floyd, and Grandma Osborn (who turned 93 the 17th of this
month!) It was a brief but wonderful visit.
We moved into a house sight unseen, which was also good
news/bad news. The good news is the
house is very nice and is in a very nice area.
The bad news? The landlady didn’t
tell us she was having financial difficulties, and as early as May we learned
that our tenancy may be in jeopardy. The
end of June we learned, despite two months of assurances that all was well with
the mortgage, we no longer needed to pay rent.
I will spare you the litany of disasters that followed that announcement
other than to say that today we are STILL looking for a new place. We secured and then lost two different houses
in the intervening months. There are few
homes that fit our criteria (location, size) and even fewer that do not say NO
SMOKING/PETS!!
We have learned, though, that the Lord’s got this. We try to exercise patience and to not let
despair get in the way. Because THAT is
what 2013 has really given us. We knew
we needed to come “home,” and we knew this was the right opportunity for me,
careerwise. And we were right. I love my job; love my judge and
coworkers. And even though it’s a bit
isolated, and it’s been a rocky road, I have to admit we love Twin. Who would have thought that a dry, tree-less
(virtually) spot in the high desert would be beautiful? Oh, but it is! We have
the most gorgeous skies a lot of the time, and when it snows, we often have
breathtakingly beautiful sunny days where the sun makes the snow glisten as if
it is covered with diamonds.
Darryl has been working feverishly on depotools.com, an
internet-based management system for court reporters, deposition firms, and
lawyers who work with court reporters.
We have high hopes for its success.
I sat down the other day so he could give me a “tour,” and even though I
know he’s brilliant, I was still blown away by his work. He also had the opportunity this summer to
fly back to Maryland and New York to do a photo shoot for Marriott. His cooking at home is fattening up his
family, but we’ll forgive him, because he outdoes himself with every meal. He
has loved being close enough to his grandbabies that we have been down to Utah
three or four times, and he’s been able to squeeze in some grandpa time. That does a grandpa’s heart good! And it does
my heart good to watch him BE Grandpa.
Scott set aside his beloved horn when he discovered, much to
everyone’s chagrin, that the musical opportunities in Twin are far inferior to
any he had in Virginia. He still loves
music and has discovered that he has his daddy’s vocal talents as well as his perfect
pitch (which makes the Barksdale family’s traditional off-key birthday singing
painful to both my Barksdale boys J).
We have been encouraging him for a while because, with his dad’s beautiful
voice and Scott’s musical abilities, we figured it was pretty likely Scott
would follow in Dad’s footsteps. And we
were right! We have also encouraged
Scott for years to get into debate because, well, he LOVES to debate
every.single.thing. And guess what? After quitting band after only attending ONE
day (he literally knows more about music than the instructor), he had to fill
that period with something, so he selected debate. And guess who was right –
again? We have seen our boy grow so much because of his experiences with debate
and speech, partially because he loves the teacher and partially because Scott
has found his niche and a whole new “family” to love. And his debating skills
surpass our expectations. We may be the
(sorta) proud parents of an expert litigator one day.
Kristi set aside her flute for ONE semester but is eager to
take it back up come January. She has
continued taking lessons via Skype, so her skill isn’t waning. We love having musical children. For her
first year of high school, since German is only offered as a DVD-type class
here, both kids quit, and Kristi is now taking French. She was worried about moving away from the
friends she’s had since she was seven, but since the start of the new school
year, she has found several friends who are just as fun and silly as she, and
her bubbly personality has once again risen to the surface. As part of Young
Women Excellence, where she gave an excellent talk (ask her about the “orange”
joke), she also wore the skirt she made (with a little help from Mom) that was
her project this year in Choice and Accountability. The connection is learning how to make and/or
alter clothing so that it is modest and WHY she chooses to be modest. The kids
are required to take speech, so Kristi has the same teacher Scott has for
debate (and last year’s speech class). I
think she’s a little surprised that she isn’t bad at giving speeches. She still doesn’t love it, but her poise as
she gave her YWE talk was lovely to see. She keeps insisting that she likes
boys, but we forbid that till she is 35!
This summer we attended the wedding of Darryl’s daughter,
Tracy, to the best guy, Chad Whitaker.
Scott and Kristi were attendants in the wedding, and Darryl was very
happy to walk Tracy down the “aisle” for the ceremony. Three of their adorable children were part of
the ceremony as well. We are all so
happy for Tracy and Chad and their kids.
The kids have also enjoyed getting to know their niece,
Rosalyn, Jenny’s daughter. Roz keeps
everyone on their toes. She is very cute
and very smart and accepts those things matter of factly.
My daughter, Lauren, was also married this year and lives
in Kennewick with her husband, Collin Pound.
We were able to move Lindsay and her husband, Jake Foster,
to Twin in May. They lived in our spare
room till last month, when they got their very first apartment. They’ve been married about a year and a half,
and they are sure enjoying the independence of having a home they don’t have to
share with family. Both of them are doing
very well. Jake works in asset
protection at Walmart, and Lindsay, who has worked for McDonald’s for over four
years, was quickly promoted first to crew trainer and then quickly to shift
manager, where she seems to be thriving.
It is fun to go to McD’s and watch her work.
Aaron is still in Virginia, which was hard for all of us
(mostly Mom), but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Aaron. Because we were leaving the area, he found a
home in Fredericksburg before we left, so he’s been on his own about a year
now. It hasn’t all been easy, especially
since, until just recently, he not only didn’t have a car, but he didn’t even
have his driver’s license. Now he has both,
and between that and the fact that he has surprised all of us – especially
himself – he is a fantastic salesman for Staples. He rose from being a temporary hire in August
2012 for the back-to-school rush to being the go-to guy for their entire tech
department, and he has topped the region several times for total sales. The region comprises Virginia; Maryland;
Washington, DC; and Delaware. But he
misses the family, and we all miss him.
We are also very proud of all he’s accomplished.
Okay, it’s my turn.
As I said, I love my job. Darryl
and I had a “meeting” in December last year to outline the issues that were
causing us so much trouble. Almost every
one of those issues has been met by my taking this officialship, so we both
feel much less stress than we did then.
I miss Virginia (though I sure didn’t miss it this summer!), and it’s
weird not being in and around DC, but since Twin Falls is really a lot closer
to the size of the town I lived in when I was in high school, I feel pretty
comfortable here. I really love my court family. Having worked with many judges in the past 21
years, I am especially blessed to be able to work now for a judge who is kind
to everyone, though he tries to appear curmudgeonly, and it is truly a pleasure
to write what he says. Many judges feel
the position gives them freedom to be rude and overbearing; not this one,
though!
The sadness close to my heart colors my Christmas, but I am
so very grateful for the loved ones I have who fill my life with laughter and
happy tears. These are good people, well
worth the time to know and love. I know
that my life would be unimaginably desolate without them.
As this year draws to a close, we wish you all the
best. May you all enjoy health,
happiness, and prosperity. May you feel
the loving hand of Heavenly Father in your lives. We love you all and think of you often.
Love, the Barksdales – Darryl, Tracy, Scott, Kristina
