November

 The day after Halloween I took Kyndall and her friend Adara on a shopping trip to fill their shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. You see, although November unofficially marks the beginning of the holiday season, we have a rule. Before a Christmas tree, Christmas lights, Christmas music, cookies, decorations, gifts, stockings or an elf show up at the Hughes' house, THIS happens first...ALWAYS! We look forward to filling our shoebox each year as a special way to get into the true spirit of Christmas. We've been participating with Operation Christmas Child since Kyndall was a toddler and I love watching her genuine excitement as she shops for the gifts and then meticulously packs her box for a little girl her same age who lives far, far away. It's a great reminder to be thankful for all we have been given, which is so much more than we deserve! Carrying out traditions is one of my favorite parts of the holidays and this is definitely one of our family's most cherished memories. We enjoyed having Adara join us this year!

Back in October Kyndall entered a few of her creations into the State Fair of Texas' Creative Arts contest. Even though the fair was canceled this year due to COVID, they still allowed the creative arts contest to go on. Mrs. Dian, Kyndall's sewing teacher, encouraged her to enter a few things and so she did. She made a patch work blanket with fabric swatches that represented all of her favorite things--from donuts and tacos to dinosaurs and sea turtles--It truly captured her fun and whimsical personality! She also entered a black and white sketch that she did of a panda during her art lessons. 

It was her first time ever entering her work into any kind of competition so we really had no expectations at all. Needless to say we were THRILLED to find out that she got FIRST PLACE for her blanket as well as an honorable mention for her sketch! If you know how big the State Fair of Texas is then you can probably imagine how many entries there were in her divisions. She was so happy about the news that she cried when I told her. She's never been into sports or pageants or anything even remotely competitive so for her this is the equivalent of a championship ring or a crown and sash. This was HUGE in her world of art! I say it all the time but we are so proud of our creative girl and the way she uses her amazing gifts that God has given her. I can't wait to see where these gifts take her in life!

Kyndall with her sewing teacher, Mrs. Dian Wade

Her name even made it into the local newspaper!

November 3rd 2020 was a big day--It was election day and this year was a BIG one. The state of our country, along with the COVID-19 pandemic had people very fired up about who they wanted for our next president of the United States. It had come down to Democrat Joe Biden and our current president, Donald Trump. Our family voted for Donald Trump.

Wearing her red, white and blue to school on election day

This year's election results will go down in history as one of the most controversial ever. It is now November 20th and we still do not "officially" know who our next president will be, despite the fact that the media has announced Biden as the winner. There is talk of cheating, miscounts, illegal votes and all kinds of other scandals so there has not been an official concession by Donald Trump and the powers that be are still in the process of investigating what really happened. 

The media has everyone believing Joe Biden is our winner. Time will tell.

Taking these two cuties to Wednesday night church

4th grade school picture day!

I don't think her hair has ever been this long!

Sewing a blanket for Nonie at sewing class

Our Friday morning breakfast date took us to Waffle House!

We met up with our friends Ryann and Erykah for a fun Friday night at Top Golf and dinner at Chili's

Best friends since kindergarten!

Family picture day! I haven't seen our photos yet but I can't wait!

Kyndall participated in a GAs service event one Saturday morning. The girls packed shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child and also worked on hand made ornaments to be sold and the money made will go to missions.

Matching for church on Sunday morning. I wonder how much longer she'll think this is fun?!

When Daddy has to work late on a week night, the girls head to Chili's to fill up on chips and salsa and warm skillet cookie!

Cam is so smart! He knows our patterns and our routines so well. When it starts to get dark outside he goes to the front door and sits and waits for Matthew to show up. On this night when Matthew was working late, the poor pup sat there for hours! He is such a protector and wants all his people safe and sound in one place and he won't rest until we're all home!

A sweet surprise showed up on my doorstep one weekday while I was home doing housework. I couldn't imagine who would send me flowers or what the occasion would be. I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever received flowers delivered to me, and definitely none this beautiful!

When I opened the card tears filled my eyes! They were from Kyndall's friend Adara and her Mom. Adara is the sweet little girl that we take to church with us each Wednesday and each Sunday. This was so unexpected but meant so much!

Friday morning breakfast date before school at Whataburger! Their cinnamon rolls are the best!

The boys had a grooming appointment and their groomer posted these cute photos on their Facebook page!

Huckabee

Cam

Kyndall's next creative vision is a Woody Woodpecker jacket. She is utterly OBSESSED with Woody these days and has decided she wants a Woody jacket so she took this sketch to Mrs. Dian and together they started the process. Hopefully it will be finished around Christmas!

As 2020 goes, on Friday the 13th I found out the unfortunate news that I was positive for COVID-19. I had been tested two days prior on the 11th after being exposed to someone at church who was not wearing a mask and later tested positive. I came into contact with this person and so did Kyndall and a few days later I began having mild symptoms--a stuffy nose, a slight sore throat and a headache. Definitely not the "typical" symptoms of fever, body aches and breathing troubles that we always hear about. In fact, if I had not known I'd been in contact with someone who was positive, those symptoms never would have set off the alarm bells for me to go and get tested. I felt like I simply had a sinus infection. In fact, my rapid test came back negative and the doctor also thought it must be a sinus infection and offered to treat me for such. Thankfully they also did a send off test which two days later came back saying I was positive. 

I am thankful that my physical symptoms have been mild, but the emotional rollercoaster that this news put me on was awful. For so long we have been SO careful to avoid this virus. We've done everything we were supposed to do and more and in the blink of an eye I became a statistic. It is a miracle that my symptoms are not worse considering my health history and my immunocompromised state. It can only be God! I am so thankful. 

As the rules for COVID go, our entire household had to quarantine for two weeks. Matthew had to begin working from home and Kyndall reverted back to her virtual school like we did the first 9 weeks. It was weird having all 3 of us in the house together for such a long time. It was also weird knowing we were not allowed to go anywhere, despite feeling good. Thankfully we had plenty of groceries in the house otherwise we would've had to ask a friend to drop some off for us. 

Kyndall was very worried about me and she made me this sweet card, along with a picture from happier times during our fall break beach trip just a few weeks prior.

She also sewed me this sweet little blanket. Her love language is definitely acts of service. Anytime she feels emotional about something her first instinct is to create something for the person she's concerned about. 

She also put together this fun little scavenger hunt for us to do as a family. Each card had a clue leading us to the next card and ultimately to a prize in the end. She is so creative!

Since COVID is a respiratory virus, one of the biggest concerns is breathing issues. My symptoms didn't exhibit any breathing issues that I was aware of, but I still felt like I should monitor my oxygen so a friend loaned me his oxygen meter and I checked it every day several times. Thankfully it never dropped below 98.

As I mentioned, my symptoms were so mild that I never would have even known I had COVID. None of them really lined up with the things they tell you to look out for. EXCEPT ONE! Literally over night I lost every bit of my senses of smell and taste. I'm talking about GONE! It was all find and good when I went to bed and then when I woke up the next morning it was all completely gone. This is one of the tell tale signs of COVID so I knew at that point I really did have it. I'd say in my case losing my sense of smell and taste was probably the worst symptom of all. I never realized how much of my joy comes from being able to taste and smell my food. For a week I was in the worst mood because as my family enjoyed all the yummy things we had in the house to eat, I couldn't taste ANY of it. This Blue Bell ice cream flavor only comes around at Christmas and it's HARD to find! We had just bought a tub of it when I found out I was sick. Of course Matthew and Kyndall devoured the whole thing before I could get my taste back! Ugh. I am thankful to say that after about eight days I slowly began regaining my senses and I was SO happy about it! Just in time for Thanksgiving! I had been told that some people never get their senses back and the thought of that was terrible so I was very glad mine came back so quickly.

Huckabee was a little confused as to why there was a house full of people each day when usually it's just me, him and Cam!

Since we were all stuck home for two weeks and all feeling surprisingly good, we decided to make the most of our time by putting up our Christmas decorations. I have always had a rule that decorations don't go up before Thanksgiving but hey, it's 2020 and anything goes this year!

This is the first year that I've had the opportunity to display this special piece of Christmas memorabilia in my own home. This beautiful and elaborate ceramic nativity scene was hand made by my MeMe back in the 1960s. For reasons unknown, it was gifted to me many years ago by MeMe but it has always been kept at my parents' house and displayed there at Christmas time. Last Christmas I asked if I could take it home with me and of course my Mom said yes. Kyndall got the special honor of putting it up in our dining room, placing all of the figurines just where she wanted them. Being the artist that she is, her eyes were filled with wonder as she admired each piece and took in all the details while carefully unwrapping them. It brought back SO many fond memories of when I did this year after year as a little girl. I know MeMe would be proud to know her gift is still such a treasure to us! Kyndall doesn't know this yet but someday it will be hers.

This note was handwritten by MeMe at the time that she gifted it to me. Unfortunately parts are hard to read because it was attached to the stable for many years before we took it off and had it professionally laminated. 

Sweet gifts from our neighbors Dr. Joe and Mrs. Lindsey during our time of quarantine. Mrs. Lindsey texted me every single day to check on me and see how I was doing.

We completed our quarantine just in time for our Thanksgiving travel plans to work out. Our two weeks ended the very same day we were scheduled to fly home and with the blessings and support of our family, we decided to go ahead with our original plans. 

Flying during a pandemic is definitely something for the memory books!

The Dallas airport was eerily empty. We were the only ones on the sky tram and that NEVER happens.

Only ones on the escalator

In an attempt to try and keep ourselves from being exposed to all the germs, we did something we've never done before. We splurged and paid a little extra to sit in first class, where the seats are more spread out. 

I could definitely get used to this!

We arrived safely in Tallahassee where my Mom picked us up. Later that night G-Daddy took the kids to Bas Pro Shop and while they were there they saw Santa. Pandemic Santa is a little different than typical Santa. He sat behind plexiglass and wore a shield on his face. The kids wore their masks until time for the picture. No sitting on his lap this year. I'm sure this is something Kyndall will always remember because it's just so strange to be living like this. But, we're making the best of it and trying to carry on traditions in the safest way possible--Even if that means plexiglass.

While at my parents' house I was looking through old photos and found a couple that made me laugh out loud!

I have no idea what I was doing in this picture but clearly it was Ashleigh-Anne's world and they were just living in it!

Dance recitals were the bane of my existence. I loved dancing but did not love the unflattering costumes they made us wear. 

Just awful.

Kyndall and Wyatt requested a slumber paty on the living room floor

Thanksgiving Day was spent in Two Egg, as usual

So many of my fondest childhood memories involve this homemade swing which hangs from Grandma's pecan tree. I love that the Great-Grandkids now enjoy it as much as we all did.

Me and Nonie showed up matching!

These two cousins were born less than a week paart and they also inherited the creative genes in the family. Kyndall and Garrison are both amazing artists!

Just because it was Thanksgiving didn't mean we weren't still in the middle of a global pandemic. Much to our disappointment, our extended family members did not wear masks during our gathering, but my family heeded the warnings and followed the recommendations. There was just too much at stake NOT to.

Sweet little Bowen

Thanksgiving lunch, picky Kyndall style. Ugh.

Another recommendation by the CDC was to move Thanksgiving gatherings outdoors. Again, our immediate family took this recommendation seriously and we enjoyed our lunch under the carport. 

How to drive an OCD crazy!

Post lunch football game

We enjoyed our first annual game of "Family Feud Thanksgiving Edition" which was a lot of fun!

Dad played the role of host Steve Harvey

The winning team with their prizes

Making Thanksgiving crafts together

The day after Thanksgiving Aunt Kelly sent this picture to show Kyndall that she stopped to rescue this turtle from a busy road! Yay Aunt Kelly!

Family picture day shenanigans...

Photo credit to 6 year old Wyatt

We spent the last half of our time in Thomasville at Nonie and Poppie's house. Nonie always has a craft or a project waiting for Kyndall when she arrives!

She also always helps Nonie and Poppie put up their Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend 

Matthew always wants Sonny's BBQ when we're back home and he got his wish

As has become tradition, the family celebrated my birthday a few days early by allowing Kyndall to plan a small "party" on Saturday afternoon, complete with HER favorite theme which this year happens to be Woody the Woodpecker. She had crafted and created all kinds of Woody themed decorations many weeks prior and packed them in her suitcase without me knowing. She even talked Nonie into finding someone who could make a Woody Woodpecker cake. 

Blowing out birthday candles during a pandemic...

Perfect gift from Kelly!

After dinner and gifts, Kyndall and Wyatt treated us to a puppet show

We ended the night watching Christmas movies on the living room floor

Headed back home on Sunday...

Looking very teenager-ish with all her gadgets

Airlines aren't serving snacks on the planes due to the virus but that's no problem for this junk food loving girl who packed her own bag of candy!

While we were gone my sweet Cam turned 14 years old! He is my best little buddy and it's hard to believe he's been a part of my life for so long. I'm thankful that he still seems to be in good health but I am definitely cherishing him more the older he gets. 

His favorite activity (besides following me around) is chasing this pink squeaky ball. He wants us to throw it over and over and over and he brings it right back to us each time.

Kyndall made these cute little fabric Christmas trees on her sewing machine and sold them for donations. She ended up making around $100! More than the money, she was so excited to have friends and family showing their support for her love of sewing and crafting.

Always catching some kind of critter. On this day she found a teeny tiny gecko on our front porch.

 A few days prior to Thanksgiving we weren't even sure what our holiday would look like. We put a lot of thought, consideration and prayer into making the decision to travel home following my diagnosis and in the midst of so many unknowns. With a few modifications and some important precautions in place, we still made one of my favorite days of the year special and memorable. Second only to my first Thanksgiving post transplant, this one will go down as the year I was TRULY thankful just to be there, healthy and happy in the presence of the ones I care about most. Though the elimination of hugs and the addition of masks was strange, the sweet memories made will overshadow all of that in years to come. The things I'm choosing to remember about Thanksgiving 2020 is the sound of laughter as the cousins  pushed each other on the swing under the shade of Grandma's giant pecan tree. Standing in a big circle taking turns saying what we're most thankful for, just as we've done every year prior. The good food that was EXTRA tasty following the loss of my senses of smell and taste. The belly laughs that ensued as we gathered to play Family Feud under the carport after lunch. Watching the guys play backyard football next to the cotton fields. Having a late night dance party in Grandma's living room with the kids. Seeing the little ones spread out at the kitchen table making crafts together. Digging through old VHS tapes and laughing until our bellies hurt at old home movies and above all, I'm choosing to remember that each and every chance I get to be with my family is a priceless gift that I need not take for granted. Thanksgiving 2020 will not soon be forgotten!