The loss came in April when our precious fur-baby Brew could no longer fight his seizures and trusted us to give him back to God. Eric, Isabelle, and I were not ready, but he was not ours to keep. Journey was devastated to lose the stinkiest member of our family. He was his brother's protector since Brew had his quirks (like making friends with the fence at the dog park, among many of his quirks, which made Brew a target for other dogs showing their aggression so Journey always kept his eye on him and never got too far in case he had to run another dog away so Brew could continue his friendship with the fence), so Journey struggled not knowing what to do with himself at first and just plain missed his buddy, but he's adjusted well now to being the only dog-child, and we are perfectly content with that. Carley is still the little princess of our house, and we are perfectly content with that too. But we sure do miss our Brewsky.
I am still hiking! Although not as much as I'd like, thanks to a hike-gone-wrong in August, I am practicing when I can. You can read about that horrible, awful, no good hike right here if you'd like. I have to admit that the mistakes we made were embarrassing and extremely dangerous, but the lessons we learned are essential for future hikes and now that I've had to time to figure out what to do better, I'm feeling like I am ready to take on ALL the trails in 2019! I volunteer weekly at a local homeless shelter and it has become my most favorite place to be when I am not on a trail.
Isabelle is a Sophomore in high school and got her drivers permit this year! She is slowly learning how to drive and navigate in a very busy and very hectic city. She has knocked out 6 college credits so far like they were no big deal and is on track to graduate a semester early. Eric and I will continue to gauge her class load and stress level each semester, but so far she is breezing right through. Isabelle also volunteers with me every week at the homeless shelter and our friends there are sure to ask her if her homework is finished! Eric and I are thankful for the extra encouragement they give her to stay on track! Isabelle also volunteers for the El Paso County Sheriffs Department in October when they put on their annual haunted house - she will happily scare the dickens out of you for a good cause!
Eric is the company commander of E/1-43 ADA Maintenance Company who are currently deployed overseas. He deployed very suddenly this fall but that is sometimes how things work in the Army. Isabelle and I are missing him like crazy and pray that 2019 brings them all home safely. It isn't easy being apart from each other but we are thankful that we get to text and Skype every day which helps for our adjustment and for keeping each other as absolutely involved as we would be if we were together. You all already know that we are a family that does every single thing together so him being gone has been tough for us. Eric's absence is unmistakable and giant in our every day life, but I am doing what I can to absorb as much as I can from Isabelle so that she can continue to focus on her friends, school, and volunteer work. For Eric, he remains focused on the mission and his Soldiers and that's exactly how we want it! All three of us look to God for the lessons to be learned during our separation and remain strong in faith as Eric serves our country.
Eric, Isabelle, and I hope that your 2018 was a joyous one! Even if it was filled with all the lessons learned, loss, and sudden changes as ours, we hope that you found the joy mixed in there too. There is always joy to be found.
With Love,
The Schnell Family
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