December 25, 2012
Merry Christmas to Family & Friends!
I am sending
this letter through various mediums to different groups in hopes of catching up
all those who might be wondering about the Rutledge Family and Burt’s
health. If you get it in multiple ways,
please ignore any duplicates!
Perhaps one of
the most exciting things about 2012 is that we had no occasion to use the
health update group as Burt’s health remained pretty steady. There were no hospitalizations and no crises
and, for that, we are immensely grateful.
He saw pretty steady improvement for 3 or 4 months after the feeding
tube was removed in October of 2010.
Things leveled off after that, which has been a little discouraging, but
he is still in a much better place than he was even 2 years ago. Through some additional testing, it was
determined that he likely has a gluten sensitivity so he is currently embarking
on a gluten free diet. He also has also
cut out Coke as excessive amounts of corn syrup tend to have a negative impact
on the digestive and immune systems. If
you know him, you know what a big deal that is to him!
He is still in
that awkward place where he is much better than he has been but still not well
enough to be able to work regularly. We
feel that he is right on the cusp of being able to consider returning to work
but just not quite there and that is a frustrating place to be at times. He did take a couple of classes in January
& February and really enjoyed those.
He decided, however, that nursing is not the direction he wants to go
when he is better. He has so many skills
and talents that taking on a very intensive and demanding three year program is
not something that either of us felt was in the best interest of our
family. When he is able to work, he may
return to higher education or he may decide to work in elementary education or
do something completely different. Highlights
unrelated to health for Burt from 2012 would include a road trip with his
brother Mark to Nashville in March to visit their other brother, Dave, flying
down to Georgia for the Lyle family reunion in June, a second annual golf weekend with two of his
best friends in October and serving as Best Man in his best friend, Wendell’s,
wedding in November.
Daniel is now
officially in the 6th grade and loves being a “middle schooler.” I think that is easier to love when you are
homeschooled than it is for many kids who attend school outside the home J We work at lessons most weeks Monday through
Thursday and then spend Fridays with our home school group or doing other
things. In addition to lessons he is
also involved in Karate and a Middle School Choir. He started his second year of karate in
October and earned his purple belt around the same time. Currently, he goes 2 or 3 nights a week and
is really enjoying it. While he may
never choose to compete, it has been great for his confidence and
coordination. He also really loves being
part of the Middle School Choir with Oakland Homeschool Music Inc. (OHMI). We just enjoyed his Christmas concert on
Monday and now are looking forward to a blissful two week break from all
activities!
In addition to
those regular activities, Daniel participated in numerous camps and the like
during the summer: Basketball camp on
campus, church camp at MCYC, VBS at Rochester church of Christ (RCC) and
Meadowbrook Christian church, and the children’s musical at RCC. I don’t know if he will do basketball camp
again, but he is already registered for summer camp at MCYC for 2013 and can’t
wait to attend Elevate at the college for the first time. He also plans to help with VBS (since he has
aged out) and participate in his last year of the RCC summer musical in the
upcoming year.
As for me, if
there was a theme to my 2012, it would probably be that burning the candle at
both ends finally caught up with me. I am
still teaching and supervising the Residence Life program at the college while
filling one of the two live in Resident Director positions on campus, serving
as lead teacher for Daniel, and doing photography on the side and I still enjoy
it all, but I have had to pull back my teaching for the college significantly. This has been hard on the budget and required
some significant adjustments, but it has been good in many ways. The cut back did not take place until the
Fall semester and there were several things we had already planned that could
not be changed so I was not able to take full advantage of the new schedule
this fall but hope to be able to do better about just being fully present and
available to those around me during the spring semester. I am a big fan of “being where you are” and
one of my goals for 2013 is to really live into that more.
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Other
highlights of my year would include: Taking
up running, spending a lot of quality time participating in that activity with
two of my best friends and “training” long distance with my three sisters in
law who live in Florida, Tennessee, and Dewitt, MI, participating a half
marathon with my three sisters on Mackinac Island in October and taking photos
at my niece, Kaitlyn’s wedding in Missouri in October (and doing senior
pictures of my nephew Abram while I was there), 
As a family, we
were able to spend some quality time making memories throughout the year. Some of the things we enjoyed were: A quick trip to Florida in March to see Dad
& Jeanie; our annual Michigan vacation with Mom & Harold and Uncle Tim;
Several visits to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum with different
folks (Anne, Christopher & Andrew Leonard; Mom & Harold; Dava Castro; Mark,
Penny, Sydni & Dylan Rutledge) and an end of summer excursion to Cedar
Point with Daniel’s bust buddy, Zack.
These end of
year letters are always a challenge for me.
By nature I tend to look at the positive side of things and, in reality,
we are truly blessed. Focusing on the
positive, however, always runs the risk of painting a one-sided view of our
world where everything is lovely and there are no trials. The danger of that is that it is not
real. The joy in our year definitely
outweighed the pain but that is not true for everyone. For our friends and family who are hurting
this season, our hearts are with you in your pain. We want to be people who will rejoice with
those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. My prayer for you all is that God meet you
where you are and provide people in your immediate circle who will represent
Him by doing the same.
Blessings to
you in 2013!
Love In Him,
