Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas from the Shirleys!!

This year has seen much change in our family.  Every member of our family has had some change in their life!

We started out 2018 with a snowstorm in Charleston!!  What we thought was going to be a little bit of snow that melted by the afternoon turned into major snow that lasted for 4-5 days!  It was magical and gave us another week of Christmas break!

Dave continues to advance in his career as an assistant professor at the MUSC College of Pharmacy.  He moved from a 9 month contract to an 11 month contract.  He also won an award....a campus wide Teaching Excellence Award for a developing teacher.

Which was a very big deal!  He even got a free parking space for the year because of it!



He also works with the SC State Pharmacy Association as President Elect.

  In addition to his pharmacy work, he keeps busy teaching high schoolers at church,

 being a dad,

and putting fear into the deer around Charleston!

He still loves to hunt and fish in his spare time.

Amy still works for herself as a Speech-Language Pathologist, but she moved from working at PACE to renting an office space one day a week.  The other days she still goes to the homes of children who need therapy.  I guess  you could day she is a concierge SLP!  She also helps teach the high schoolers at church in addition to the 3 and 4 year olds.

In her spare time she still enjoys running and was able to run a half marathon in February, the Tough Mudder in October, and a 5K with Camden in December.

Nathan has had the biggest change in the family....and it has affected the entire family.  He graduated from high school in June

 and started at the University of South Carolina in August.

 He is studying sports journalism and has been able to cover two Gamecock football games.  This involved him getting to sit in the press box and attending the post game press conference. He enjoys college and is doing well so far.  He has even started doing his own laundry!

Camden still attends The Charleston Christian School, however, he is now in middle school! He is especially excited about that as that means he is in the youth at church!

He was Danny in his music camp play, Danny and the Shacks, this summer.

He plays basketball and runs track and cross country.  In cross country, he ran in the state meet and qualified for the regional meet.  He was excited to run in the regional meet!

He continues to enjoy hunting and fishing with Dave.

 He also enjoyed beating Amy in the 5K they ran together in December!

Dave and Amy traveled to NYC in June to celebrate their 25th anniversary!

  Then the whole family went to Atlanta to see a Braves game...

and go to Six Flags!

Dave and the boys headed to Darlington for a NASCAR race.

And Amy and Camden had a fun hiking trip in November.  Lots of fun and memory making!

Amy and Nathan were able to make a trip of a lifetime when they went to Ecuador with their church on a mission trip.  They were able to work with children in the schools and the jungle there, running sports camps and telling them about Jesus.  They plan on returning in July 2019.  If you want to read more about the 2018 trip, read Amy's other blog, shirleygoodness.blogspot.com.

So that was our year of change!  But with all that change, many things remain the same.  Love and family and the reason for the season.  May we all remember during this special time of year that Christ came to earth to save us from our sins.  He is why we can celebrate. Why we have hope.  Jesus is the Reason for Christmas!

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Dave, Amy, Nathan, and Camden Shirley

  

 

Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas from the Shirleys!!  

Our annual Christmas post is later than usual this year because we have been busy celebrating Christmas!

Our year has had the usual busyness, but starting this school year, we have had Senior year busyness.  College applications and college visits and Senior thesis!

And of course the regular school work.  We also took a family trip with Grammie and the Storeys to Disney world during the week of Thanksgiving.  Coming home from that has had us rushing into the Christmas season.  So two days before Christmas I am finally sitting down and thinking about our past year.

Disney World...Lincoln wanted to be in our picture :)

Dave continues to teach at the MUSC College of Pharmacy and is involved in the state pharmacy association.  He was able to fly out to CA this year with Camden to visit family he hasn't seen for years.  He also continues to enjoy hunting and fishing.  He enjoys taking the boat out in the rivers around Charleston, both for fishing and water sports!  He has even started writing a book journaling his hunts.  He has also been busy keeping up with house repairs, but was able to find the time to go on a church youth leader retreat with Amy and go on a Christmas getaway with Amy to Pawley's Island.  He and Amy have started their second year teaching the 11th and 12th graders at church.

Amy continues working as a Speech-Language Pathologist.  She also ran three races this year.  A marathon in January, a mud run in March, and a 10k in April.  She was able to go to camp and a mission trip with the youth group this past summer.  Her unusual occurrence this year involved breaking her rib while going down Sliding Rock during Grammie Camp.  (Sliding rock is safe to slide down as long as you don't go down in front of someone who might run into you from behind!)  In recent months, she has been busy baking cookies.  She and Nathan are planning on going to Ecuador in March 2018, and she has been raising money for the trip by selling cookies, cinnamon rolls, and fudge. This has been fun!

Nathan is the Senior in the family!  He also went to camp and the youth mission trip this summer in addition to Grammie Camp.  And he volunteered at Winshape Camp this summer and worked on his Senior Thesis.  His thesis involves studying the effect of play therapy on a child with Cerebral Palsy.  He has received acceptance letters to Liberty University, University of Memphis, North Greenville University, and University of South Carolina.  His first choice is Liberty, but we will see where he gets the most money.  He wants to study Sports Journalism in college.  He played church basketball and high school baseball and football; and only got one broken hand and a concussion!

             
Camden is now in the 5th grade.  He was able to fly to CA with Dave last June and had a great time with his family...impressing them with his rapping skills!  He was able to go to children's camp, music camp, and Grammie camp this summer.  He played basketball in the winter; track in the spring; and crosscountry in the fall.  No injuries to report for him!  He especially enjoyed a trip with Amy and Grammie to the mountains during the snow.  He likes to hike, but really enjoys throwing snowballs while hiking!

Other family fun included going to Hilton Head with Dave during a pharmacy convention in June; and spending time at a lake house with friends during July.   

It has been a good year with lots of lasts that will be continuing until graduation in June.  Next year will have many updates I am sure, in addition to welcoming Nathan home for Christmas! 2017, however, is a year for trusting God with our future...both for our Ecuador trip and for college for Nathan.  Jeremiah 29:11 says that God knows the plans for us; a plan to give us hope and a future.  We have to trust in that.  Until the future is here, we are enjoying our time together as a family and remembering that all we have is because of Christ and His sacrifice for us.  And that all began with Him coming to earth as a baby...a truth we are celebrating this December!

Merry Christmas!!  Love, Dave, Amy, Nathan and Camden

photo credits Senior and family photos go to rheneydear @rheneydearphotography