The Rainbow Over 2015

2015….The Year of Gratitude.

2015 was a rough year, not the best chapter in the Casebolt Clan book.  We were tested in ways we never imagined.  March 26^th, the day our chaos went from normal to pure insanity, and just didn’t let up to give us much breathing room.  On this day, as we stood outside in the daylight looking at the damage inflicted on literally everything we owned a rainbow appeared over the house.  I specifically remembered looking up to it and thinking “I am going to take this as a good sign.”  It seems to have been a rough year all around for many people we know, with challenges and losses of loved ones, ourselves included.  As the year progressed and the hits kept coming, we tried so very hard to focus on the day at hand and just be very grateful for each other and life. We each had moments where we completely broke down.  We cried together and when one of us broke down the other 3 made it a priority to pick that person up and carry them through their moments, with no questions asked. We lived many days this year in what we call “survival mode” with the goal just to make it through the day.  When I think back on the year that it has been for many, I feel that instead of recalling all of the negative stuff, I need to reflect on the rainbow….A.K.A the good things that the year brought.  After all, it has been an enlightening year overall.  So instead of recapping our year, I asked everyone in our family to come up with a list of 10 positive things they enjoyed about the year.  I was going to put them into a condensed list, but I really enjoyed reading their thoughts.  I noticed a theme throughout all of our lists: FAMILY! I apologize for this being such a long post, but I felt it was important to capture everyone individually (NOTE: ALL lists were captured without collaboration). Here is our lists:

JACEE –

• Making Varsity softball and lettering in it as a freshman
• Shawn making varsity Lacrosse
• Devon’s wedding
•  Both kids going to high school
•  Passing Physics
•  Everything going well in High school
• Shawn getting his driver’s license and getting his jeep
• Being in my friends Quince
• Family trips to the mountains
• Going to Glenwood and seeing the caves
•  Steamboat trip
•  4 Wheeling trips
• Family movie nights
•  My Venom Family
• Winning a softball tournament
•  The Diabetes run to support my team mates
• Playing in all the softball tournaments   

•  Music
• Going to the Bring Me the Horizon concert

• Discovering Twenty One Pilots
• Building a shed together as a family
• Pineapples (The fruit!)
• Starbucks

Shawn –

•  Making bonds as a family.  Being a family (sticking together through thick and thin).
• Maryland
• High school for both of us
• Academic All-State for Football/Academic All-Conference for Lacrosse
• Devon’s wedding
• Getting my license
• Getting accepted into IB
• Glenwood!!!
• Me-Making varsity Lacrosse & My sister making varsity softball
•  Being a strong willed family
• Being able to count on each other
• Getting a job
• That Young “W”
• Building a shed
• Being a family

Being a family is on this list 3 times because I think being a family is the most positive thing.  With everything that has happened this year I believe that being a family and being able to come together, recuperate and rebound back stronger than before is a positive thing.  The influences and abilities to make sure we are trying to the best of our abilities and that we make sure we are emotionally healthy is most definitely a positive thing.  The bonds we share to stay closer than most families and the time we spend together are positive as well.  Family (the 4 of us) is a positive thing.

Jason –

•   Devon’s wedding
• Both kids lettering
• Shawn getting accepted into IB
• Steamboat trip and winning the mountain magic tournament
• Shawn getting his first job
• Jacee excelling in highschool
• Being married to my love for 19 years
• Growing huge pumpkins
• Brining a turkey for the first time
• Surprising Mandy with Shen Yun for her birthday
• All of our family trips and time together (4 wheeling, camping, trips to the mountains)
• And finally being a FAMILY, because we are always there for each other!
• 
  

Mandy –

• Shawn’s accomplishments

• Making varsity lacrosse and lettering

• Academic recognitions (All-Conference, All-State and lettering)
• Getting accepted into IB

• Getting his first job
•  Getting his license
• Jacee’s accomplishments
• Making varsity in softball and lettering
• Getting to watch her excel in softball
• Getting accepted into AVID
• Watching her excel at high school (this is absolutely amazing to watch!)
•  Watching her be in her last middle school play
•   Starting on our backyard-landscaping wise
•  Our Garden
• Growing large pumpkins
• Attempting new things
• Watching the garden come together
•  Devon’s Wedding
• Family time
• Jason surprising me for my birthday to see Shun Yun.
• Shawn’s Maryland trip- It was a great experience for him, my dad and Jason.  But it also gave Jacee and I our first girls weekend together.  I enjoyed every aspect of it all.
• Our small trips away
• Glenwood
• Steamboat
• Camping
• 4 Wheeling
• I am thankful for all the help and support we received from so many through the year.
• Finally I am thankful for the lessons this year brought us. 

Through the downs this year brought, I learned that we have a unique family dynamic.  I learned this: We all believe in each other. We all support each other through everything.  We all love each other unconditionally.  We all believe in our little family.  This is important to me because sometimes I am the type of person that feels like I need to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.  Sometimes I feel like I need to be strong for everyone else and carry them through.  I learned that it’s okay to not carry the weight alone.  We unconditionally carry the weight as a family, and with 2 teenagers this was a great lesson for me to learn.  There will be good chapters and bad chapters in our book, and that is okay!

With that said, we are very much looking forward to 2016.  We already have a lot to look forward to (since we are booked through July)!  2016 will bring us:  A new decade of our lives; our 40^th birthdays!  We will also be married for half of our lives…..20 years! The world of College shopping!  Lots of sports! And teaching our sweet girl how to drive!