Well, I kept planning to do a blog during the holidays last month, but you can see that didn't work out! So just a bit of catching up for me to do on this blog. We arrived home after our 3 month trip west for Mary and Ty's wedding to spend Thanksgiving in Cashiers. Our trip west took us over 7,000 miles and I can honestly say we were not ready to go home. But with the holidays quickly arriving we made it back one week before Thanksgiving. We left the RV in Hilton Head at our lot so we didn't have to worry about winterizing it. Elizabeth and Tyler spent Thanksgiving with us. We had a fun weekend with them, including picking out one of the smallest Christmas trees the Dews have ever had. But once decorated it was beautiful. Mary and Ty stayed in Idaho this year but are planning to make it home next year for Christmas. Having married daughters is awesome but learning to share them is not as easy! We spent our first Christmas in 28 years alone.
After Thanksgiving, I took a one week trip out to San Diego to spend some time with my parents. My mom was out of the hospital and I wanted to be there to help out. My sister, Laura, joined me for the week and our brother already lives there so it was a nice week. My niece Kara cut my hair and I also really enjoyed a girls night with my 2 friends I met in 1st grade!
Bob and I did sneak back to Hilton Head for one week in December. We enjoyed some warm temperatures and seeing the island decorated for Christmas. We even got into the spirit by decorating the RV!
Elizabeth and Ty visited us in Cashiers a few days after Christmas and we had fun pretending it was Christmas Day after they arrived. Even Scooby enjoyed opening his presents! We finished the evening with a family FaceTime with Mary and Ty.
On December 31st we hit the road and headed to Florida with an overnight stop in Hilton Head. Our desitnation was Homestead, Florida where we would spend the next 3 weeks working on a project through an organization called NOMADS. The project we signed up for was at a small church in Homestead. NOMADS is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and chooses projects all over the nation where groups of RV'ers will arrive and stay for 3 weeks at a time to perform many different types of work, mainly construction/repair related.
We were with a team 8 other people and accompolished so much in that 3 weeks. We did things like taking down chain link fences, painting, landscaping, pressure washing, cleaning, and laying tile/carpet. It was hard work but also a lot of fun doing it with a team. We worked Monday through Thursday and had 3 day weekends to rest up.
Our first weekend off we went up to Seabring, Florida for a CHIN track day event. Bob had a blast running his Miata on the track and the highlight had to be the visit from his mom. She arrived with LOTS of great food and even spent one session IN the car with Bob. She is one strong lady!
The second weekend off we headed south to the Florida Keys and stayed at Fiesta Key RV Resort and Marina. We enjoyed a fun and relaxing weekend with lots of sight seeing including spending a day in Key West finding all the places Bob remembers from his years living there as a child. His father was a helicopter pilot and stationed there. We found his elementary school and Navy housing where he had lived. Over the weekend we also spent some time kayaking in the mangroves which were so beautiful and peaceful. One of the couples from our team joined us for a really fun dinner of the evenings in Key Largo. However, the highlight of the weekend for Bob had to be jumping out of an airplane!
We returned for our final week and finished up the projects we were working on.
It was sad to say goodby to our new friends from our NOMADS build. But I know we will all stay in touch. Our final night at the church, the pastor and his wife, both from El Salvador made us the most amazing meal of authentic foods from their country. What a sweet way to thank us for our service. As with anytime you serve, you receive way more blessings than you give!
We are now in St. Petersburg but I will save that for our next blog, which I promise will not take as long to put out as this one. Happy New Year to all and praying for 2022 to be a great year for us all.