Christmas 2002
Hello and welcome to another exciting Christmas update from the Wilcox family. As an added twist, this year, I am writing with my eyes closed. Why you may ask? Because I have done it so many times already? No, because I managed to get sawdust in my eyes while working on a manger for our front yard. Never again will I hear myself say, “just one more cut and then I will go look for some safety glasses.” Alas, the manger is not yet done and I still can’t open my one eye very much. But enough about my workshop follies, more exciting things have happened in the last year.
Grayson has kept us both very busy this year, from taking his first steps to now running around the house. During this time he has gone from his first bit of baby babble (say that five times fast) to his first word (which happened to be “light” – pronounced still “ight”). We even have been doing at least one bit of sign language. He can now sign “more” quite well and uses in interchangeably to mean either “more” or “please let me play with this thing that I am currently pointing at”. Still, Grayson seems to do new things on his timetable rather than ours so my “super-dad” ego is always in check.
Grayson loves dogs and cats and since everyone on our street has at least one animal we are in good shape with none of the pet ownership responsibilities. Grayson yells “da” at anything with four legs and then begins chasing it. While we’re speaking of dogs my folks have added a new four legged critter to their household this year – he is a toy poodle named Cody and has quickly won his way into everyone’s heart.
Among our continuing challenges will be keeping Grayson away from a couple of food allergies that we discovered he has. The first is eggs, which the allergist has said he will probably grow out of. The second, and more serious allergy is peanuts. This requires us to carry an emergency shot with us in case he is ever accidentally exposed. We are baffled at the allergy since nobody in our family has had this same problem with peanuts. I keep wondering now if he’ll end up being allergic to other Georgia classics like peaches or pecans.
Our biggest change this year, despite being parents of a toddler, was our move. My company followed through with their threat of consolidating the Norcross and Marietta offices. While the 50 mile commute was not as bad as I expected, the number of miles and the potential for really bad days on the road (2 and half hours one way), were enough to convince us that we needed to move for our long term sanity.
The first order of business was selling our house in Flowery Branch. Knowing that we needed to save as much as possible we decided that we wanted to try selling by owner. God was totally looking out for us. Becky “just happened” to bump into someone in the doctor’s office that wanted to buy a house specifically in our neighborhood. After some great negotiations, both parties ended up getting a good deal. We saved some real estate fees, and they got the house for a little less.
The search for our new house was more agonizing than selling our old one. After tons of deliberation, prayer, and haggling, we ended up with a house in Acworth, GA. Luckily our neighborhood lies outside of Cobb county where “all the other” northwest Atlanta area folks live. We ended up in northeast Paulding County that has the distinction of being the site of several civil war battles leading up to the famous battle at Kennesaw Mountain. The battle at Picket’s Mill took place just a few miles from our new home.
The hardest part about the move was leaving northeast Georgia and our friends since it placed us approximately 70 miles from Flowery Branch, but several great things happened with the move. First, we got a house that we really like with a basement (with room for my workshop where I shoot sawdust into my eyes) and a guest room on the main floor (so you still get your own floor – hint, hint, come visit us…). Second, our new neighborhood has lots of amenities – swimming pools, water park areas with water shooting up out of the ground (Grayson just loves those), and lots of large play areas (which Grayson loves even more than the water).
Lastly, we have some great neighbors (and I don’t just mean the WWF wrestler “The Big Boss Man” who lives down the street) with kids Grayson’s age. The Lord really blessed us with some wonderful next-door neighbors – the Barnes family have quickly become close friends of ours. Becky really hit it off with Kari and they now share everything from coupons to Diet Cokes. Grayson has also enjoyed playing with the Barnes girls and may even already have a date to the senior prom as well.
We also have found a church we like called West Ridge Church. While I can’t tell you that I like it just because one of the guitarists for Third Day goes there (although it is kind of cool), I can say that finding West Ridge has really helped us adjust to the move. We’ve started attending a West Ridge small group that meets right in our neighborhood.
My parents are doing well. My mom just had her yearly checkup and everything was fine. My dad is dealing well with his retirement despite the fact that we have kept him (and my mom) so busy helping us move and then doing all sorts projects on our new house.
Becky’s parents have also been up to visit us quite a bit, with the move and then most recently for Thanksgiving. Also with their help, we had the opportunity to fly up to Baltimore, MD to attend Brandon Corfman’s wedding. Becky and I had a wonderful time, and we were so pleased to finally meet his beautiful bride Doris. Even though it was a busy weekend, we did manage to sneak in a trip to the B&O Railroad museum and an Orioles game right before we flew home.
Speaking of the railroad museum, Kevin and Heather Morgan visited us this past year. We had a wonderful time catching up on things, and they got to meet Grayson for the first time. As for some of our other friends from college, three more boys have joined the Fab Five clan this year. William McArthur was born in March, followed by Harrison Baker in September and then most recently Davis Scott in October.
While most folks were lining up outside of stores the day after Thanksgiving for deals on TV’s, DVD players, and variously sale priced electronic toys, we went shopping the day after Thanksgiving for deals on other things. After pouring over the ads we decided to go to Wal-Mart at 5:45 am to have them price match some competitors ads for Hot Wheels, diapers and macaroni and cheese (among other things). Another sign of how our lives have changed.
Well, now that my eye is feeling better, I have a manger to go finish. We wish you and your family the very best this Christmas and New Year.