• 19Jan
    Categories: Family Comments: 1

    …don’t know when I’ll be back again… We thought we would be home right about now, but when we arrived at the Del Rio International Airport at 5:15 this morning we were informed that the first of two flights that leaves the airport was canceled due to the fact that last night’s incoming flight (one of two) did not make it as a result of heavy fog. In other words, there is one plane that flies out of Del Rio at 6:15am to Houston, returns around 3:30pm, flies back to Houston at 4:30pm, and returns to rest for the night at 11:00pm. So, we are taking it easy and making the most of our extra hours–John is trying to break his Wii wakeboarding record, we got a little extra sleep, finished watching “Up,” and are just hanging out. Hoping the fog has lifted enough to make the afternoon flight a go.

    The weekend has been full of fun–a Hatch family gathering, reuniting us at the temporary home of Erin’s sister and her family, in Del Rio, a border-town in southwest Texas. It’s been good to be together. We have enjoyed catching up; playing games (freeze tag, golf, boom-chicka-boom, Chutes-n-Ladders); playing with Katie & CJ’s Chespeake Retriever, Boone; competing in Wii tourmaments; cruising and wakeboarding in the Amistad Reservoir; meeting and bbq-ing with Katie & CJ’s friends; and laughing a lot.

  • 03Jan
    Categories: Family, Thoughts Comments: 2

    Our past 10 years in review:

    1. Graduated from George Fox University 2000
    2. Erin finished Master’s Degree from Ithaca College 2001
    3. Erin worked at Indiana State University in 1 year internship 2001-2002
    4. John started working at Nike 2001
    5. Erin took job at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX 2002
    6. Started dating  2002
    7. Erin moved to Oregon and took job at Portland Community College 2003
    8. John gets new job with Nike GPS 2003
    9. Started the weekly tradition of “Family Night” 2004
    10. Got engaged and then married 2004
    11. Bought a house 2004
    12. Erin took a job at George Fox University 2005
    13. Grandpa Roy passed away 2005
    14. Erin started working on a book with colleagues from grad school 2005
    15. John ran the Honolulu Marathon 2005
    16. Grandpa Williams passed away 2006
    17. Traveled to Costa Rica 2007
    18. Decided to travel around the world 2007
    19. Erin continued writing the book 2008
    20. Quit our jobs and left the country 2008
    21. Erin published “Golfing With Your Eyes Closed” 2009
    22. Returned home from travel 2009
    23. Blessed with jobs at George Fox University (Erin) and Nike (John) 2009
    24. Started a business (more on this soon!)

    Of course there’s tons of other things that fall in the gaps of each of these big items and should make the list, namely our families who have given us uber cool spouses, awesome nieces and nephews, and so many memories (Lins, John W., CJ, Dusty, Bailey, Marissa, Cassidy, Kylan, Addison, Paul) AND the amazing friends who have journeyed with us in that time–both those we still see regularly and those who we were with only for a season.

    There are really so many more important and significant life events that have happened over the past 10 years. These have been years that have formed who will be forevermore–these are years that have truly shaped our beliefs, our friendships, our worldview, our traditions, our family habits, our relationship with each other, our passions, our careers, our lifestyle, and our goals and vision for our future. Pretty cool, hey?

  • 03Jan

    In some ways this holiday season felt like we were seeing old things with new eyes. Traditions we had taken for granted in the past were exciting again: freshly squeezed OJ Christmas morning, Christmas Eve service and the post-service Shari’s dining experience, stocking exchanges, our own gift exchange and “Christmas” a day or two after, lazing around with family in person rather than via Skype. It was good to celebrate together. We were especially lucky to have family from Philly visiting and sharing their holiday time-off with us.

    The celebrating continued with New Year’s Eve–another tradition that was seen through fresh eyes. We hosted friends for a fun evening which included ping-pong, BINGO, a white elephant exchange, clanging and banging pots and pans, a midnight run, and a table full of delicious food and drinks. Again, it was good to be together.

    It’s been great to have a new perspective on the usual things of the holidays and we hope to find ways to see this season with fresh eyes each year.

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    It ain't a party until someone's wearing a lampshade, right?

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    The guys gather around to find out where the child stars are today from Pete's People magazine

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    Midnight run... short shorts, gold leggings, and rain... great combo