Florida 2023

This year's Florida trip started out as quite the adventure. Tyler was gone in Orlando for the week for work, so the packing and prepping was left up to me. Thankfully, my school was on Spring Break that week, so I had plenty of extra time to get ready. The big debate centered around whether Tyler should fly all the way home on Friday just to turn back around and drive to Florida. He could have just flown from Orlando straight to Pensacola. There was also talk of him flying to Nashville and meeting up with us there (where we stay overnight to break up the drive). Thankfully, he took the least ideal option and flew all the way home on Friday. The reason it worked out so well is because there was a massive storm heading our way on Friday and it would have been terrifying to do that drive alone. Tyler's plane landed and he had just enough time to rush home, drop his bag from the week in Orlando, and grab a few items to throw into his next suitcase. We hit the road immediately in the hopes that we'd outrun the storm. We made it through most of Illinois with the storms following right behind us, but we hit REALLY bad weather in southern Illinois that night. It was awful and I'm so glad that Tyler was driving and got us through it!

Our Saturday drive was fairly smooth and we ran into just a little bit of our usual Alabama traffic. We made it to the house mid-day and immediately fell into vacation mode. The house we stayed in was amazing and we had a wonderful week. We were just a block from the beach, had a pool of our own, and were right around the corner from a public park with basketball and tennis. We had beautiful weather all week and enjoyed all of the fresh air and time outside. One of the highlights from the week was having the Evans family there for a few days. Vacationing is always more fun with friends! We also had a blast seeing the Blue Angels practice. It took three days of driving out to the viewing spot...practices kept getting cancelled due to cloud cover. It was okay, though, because the viewing spot was right next to Fort Pickens, which was really neat to tour. The drive to the viewing spot along the national seashore is also super scenic, so we enjoyed that the three times we did it! Other than that, we simply enjoyed the chance to relax, have family time, and be away from the hustle and bustle at home. We definitely treasure this yearly tradition and hope we can keep it up for several more years!

 

Dear Caleb,

Today you are 15! It's hard to remember life before you made us parents. Somehow 15 years seems like an entire lifetime, but it also feels like we blinked and reached this point. Watching you grow had been nothingness short of amazing. MAnd this year has brought about a lot more growth than many of the previous years.

Physically, you've gone from a boy to a man-child in less than six months. It seriously seemed to happen overnight. One day we were looking down at you, the next day we were eye-to-eye, and then suddenly, we had to tilt our heads ever so slightly in an upwards direction to talk to you! Your voice changed. You ditched the 14 year buzz cut and began to care about hairstyles. You have peach fuzz on your face and pimples that leave us constantly reminding you to wash your face! You lost your chubbiness and traded it in for a more athletic build (not easily earned, but well deserved after enduring of two seasons of tough sports). You went from thinking girls were weird and saying you just wanted to grow up and live the single life to being way more interested in girls and even dabbled in the relationship world at the beginning of the school year. Indeed a lot has changed in just one short year!

As has always been the case for our sentimental child who loves predictability and tradition, all of the change has not been easy. High school has definitely had its share of ups and downs so far. You're trying to navigate academics that are challenging (a first for you...who always found school to be ridiculously easy). You've taken on two new sports and rose to the challenge, but it wasn't always easy (especially with a broken finger just a few weeks into the football season). You've been looking forward to tackle football for years and it was a blast, but definitely not easy. You tried out for basketball, a sport you love, but were heartbroken to not make the team. It didn't keep you down for long though and you bravely jumped headfirst into a completely new sport...wrestling. You learned so much and came such a long way in one season. You didn't let the sting of not making basketball keep you from taking another risk by trying out for volleyball, which (thankfully) you made. You're juggling a lot and the added challenge of figuring out where you belong socially is probably the hardest of all the issues you're facing. We keep hoping and praying that you'll wake up one day and just be comfortable in your own skin and confident in who you are. We pray that you'll see yourself through somewhat of the same lens as those who love you the most. High school is hard though. You try so hard to look through all of the wrong lenses and try to fit a mold that you're not meant to be in.

No matter what this next year brings, we are looking forward to walking right beside you through it all. This past year is proof that SO much can change in a year. Even though we've had a lot of tough, tough moments, we keep clinging to the hope that this won't be your story for long. We pray that this birthday is a fresh start for our favorite Freshman. We hope that one day we will look back on the growing pains of this year and maybe be able to share a mutual laugh about it all. For now, though, our wish for you as you make your birthday wish is that this year is filled with an abundance of peace and joy. We pray that you will learn to lean heavily on the faith foundation that you've built and that God will help you see yourself as the amazing person He created you to be. We love you so much and know that you're here on this earth to do great things. You've already left such an impact here over the past 15 years and we cannot wait to see what your future holds.

Love,

Dad and Mom  

Health Hazards

The past few months have had their share of health problems in the Sturm home. On the bright side, at least we are going to reach our deductible nice and early this year!

We passed around some sickness right before Christmas. Caleb had it the worst and was down for several days during his first-ever round of high school finals. He handled it like a champ and managed to do a great job on his finals! It turns out he had the flu. We found that out when he went in to the doctor for an odd skin rash that was forming. That ended up being a Staph infection and he immediately started some killer antibiotics.

We made it through the holidays without much else, but mid-January brought about a drastic increase in the random stomach issues Caleb had all Fall. He started having episodes of extreme pain and cramping that began to happen more and more frequently. After leaving school early one day and seeing him in excruciating pain, we took him to urgent care where they drew blood and even did a CT scan. Not much showed up there, so we were referred to a pediatric GI doc. After and ultrasound and endoscopy (and several more flare ups), he was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome due to stress and anxiety. This opened up a whole new can of worms that we're still in the process of working through, but at least we have some answers!

Joel felt like Caleb didn't need to get all of the attention, so he went ahead and got a concussion at wrestling practice! When we picked him up from practice, he let us know that he had a bad run in with the mat after being dropped on his head, but he didn't seem to make a big deal of it. We carried on with life and he was fine for 24 hours. Then the symptoms began. He spent an entire night throwing up every hour on the hour. He had terrible headaches and was extremely sensitive to light. The doctor at urgent care diagnosed him with a concussion and the poor kid had to spend the next three weeks adhering to some pretty strict restrictions....no sports, no recess, and NO screens! We were all quite thankful when he was finally symptom free and could get the all clear from his doctor! Needless to say, we're going to think long and hard about what the future of his sports career will look like. We know that concussions can happen anywhere, but we sure don't want to have him go through this again if we can help avoid it.

On top of all of these major health scares, we managed to pass around some yuck early in February. Tyler tested positive for Covid and was down for the count for several days. We're assuming that the other two people to fall ill around that same time (Mom and Caleb) probably also had Covid. We aren't sure how the younger two avoided it, but we're glad they did!

Weekend Getaway

For years, we had the family tradition of getting away over Martin Luther King weekend. This year that had to change due to sports schedules, but we still made sure to squeeze in a getaway in February. Winter is long and making sure we spend a little bit of time away makes us all just a bit happier about the dreariness of January and February. This year's trip was to Lake Geneva/Milwaukee. We rented a cute little AirBnB and enjoyed the quality time together....AFTER we spent the entire day trying to deal with the lack of heat in the house!!! The trip was just for two nights, but we packed in plenty of fun including lots of games, shopping in downtown Lake Geneva, and a trip to Milwaukee to visit the Sprecher Brewery. We had a blast and are so glad we had the chance to get away.

Dear Joel,

Happy 11th birthday to our baby boy! No matter how old you get, you are always going to be our baby boy. It seems as though you're still okay with that label and we hope that never changes. Even though you are the youngest in the family, you still have what seems to be the oldest soul. You're quirky and eclectic and have so many layers that we're not sure we'll ever completely unveil them all.

Every single morning you wake up with your sleepy freckled face and your wild bed head and you immediately find the dog to snuggle with. Aside from Nyla, Chief might be your most favorite family member and we can't say that we don't blame you for that. Your other two siblings are complicated. You seem to appreciate and idolize them way more than they do in return. You desperately want their time and attention, but they are usually far too busy with their school work, extracurriculars, or PHONES! Thankfully, you have managed to find your own way this year and have grown to be quite fond of a variety of hobbies.

You played multiple seasons of soccer again this year. We were quite surprised when you hung up your helmet and bat last spring and chose soccer over baseball. We weren't too disappointed though...one hour soccer games vs. two hour baseball games is a pretty good trade off. Plus, you're a rockstar out on the soccer field and the faster pace of that sport matches your energy level much more than baseball ever did. You also blew us away this past fall by joining the cross country team. This team was open to any kids from 5th grade to 8th. You were one of the youngest kids out there, but you ran with all you had and it was a BLAST to watch you grow throughout the season. You finished up cross country and within a month or two, you jumped into another entirely new sport...wrestling. This has also been a school team that takes in anyone from 5th through 8th grade. You are one of the youngest and smallest wrestlers, and you don't have nearly as much experience as the other kids, but you've held your own. In a very Joel-like way, you've given it your all. You watch videos about wrestling and ask for wrestling matches with Dad on a regular basis just so that you can learn new moves and improve your skills. You've only taken part in a few meets and it hasn't been easy. You're a perfectionist and you HATE to lose, so this new "individual" sport has taken some getting used to. You tend to be a bit too hard on yourself and wrestling is helping you learn to give yourself some grace.

When you're not busy with sports, you manage to keep busy with all sorts of other hobbies. You still LOVE fishing and would spend days upon days doing that if you could. This summer, you loved having the freedom to head to local ponds...even though that left Mom in a continual state of anxiety, you loved it too much to not let it happen. You also spend countless hours outside this Spring, Summer, and Fall helping with tasks around the house. You are probably the only family member who looks forward to cutting the grass! You became an expert gardener, know a lot about how to take care of the pool, and are a huge helper with fixer-upper projects. When the colder weather hit and you were forced inside (which is definitely not your element) you managed to find new interests to keep yourself busy. You still love to build and create. You enjoy puzzles and have also become a fan of diamond art....a seemingly tedious art project that keeps you busy for hours! If you aren't busy your with various hobbies, you're likely chatting it up with one of us. Your curiosity leaves you always asking questions. Sometimes they're the most random questions about topics that are so complex and beyond our understanding and other times you're asking thoughtful questions like "how was your day?" or "do you need help with anything?". 

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall...you live each day to the fullest. You don't waste a moment. You are full of joy and bring fun to any situation. You are Dad's little shadow, Mom's sweet boy, and probably the favorite sibling if each of the other three had to choose one. Your presence makes everyone's day brighter and life is so much better with you in it. We have loved watching you grow from our baby boy into the awesome kid you are today. You've brought us so much joy over the past 11 years and we are excited to continue to watch you grow into the amazing young man that you'll one day become. Happy birthday to you Joely-Joel....we pray that your year is filled with all of the joy and happiness that you bring to everyone who is lucky enough to know you!

Love,
Dad and Mom

Holidays 2022

The month of December was jam packed with holiday fun! The days were exhausting, but worth the memories!

Each kid had a band concert....Joel's was his first one and they did great!

Lamont cookie day made a return for the first time since 2019! We had a blast...despite having to leave Caleb home with the flu :(

It's been so great to finally be back to volunteering at holiday parties. The 5th graders got to take over the gym for their party. It was loud and crazy, but oh-so-fun!

We got in our annual Hanukkah dinner and had such a great time eating some of our favorite Jewish foods....especially the potato pancakes! The kids had fun handing out their gifts to the adults and the adults, as always, loved seeing what was chosen for them.

Alex, our sweet neighbor, was thrilled to get in on the Hanukkah action one night!

We had a blast doing our annual Reindeer Games with the Rojas crew. We also had fun doing our traditional neighborhood scavenger hunt.

The kids were in school right up until the weekend of Christmas. It felt like so many traditions went by the wayside because of how busy that kept us, but we definitely made sure to sneak in some cookie baking! The neighbor kids joined us and we had a great time.

We celebrated Christmas Eve by going to church and having dinner at TiTi's house. Christmas morning was celebrated at our house. That night, we loaded up a giant meal and headed to a homeless shelter about an hour away to deliver a special Christmas dinner. We came home and enjoyed a delicious gas station pizza dinner from Casey's!

After a week of Christmas and birthday celebrations, we wrapped up the holiday festivities with a wonderful trip out to Indiana to visit with our "Florida friends". We had so much fun catching up and ringing in the new year together!