Here’s a Highlight Reel
Bryan and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary in November. We still feel like we did when we first met, but our relationship is growing truer as it matures. We are so thankful for the challenges we endured before we met each other, we are astounded at what we have and do not take it for granted.
We spent our anniversary (Thanksgiving Day) by ourselves at Antrim 1844.
We celebrated a traditional Thanksgiving, the following Saturday, with our 8 children + 1.
Don’t be thinking Norman Rockwell, but it was very nice.
We all made it out of a local escape room after our feast.
A year in review would take forever but I’ll give a few highlights for anyone interested in the Chaney/Cole Gang. I will leave out the hard parts, but you can certainly see the real deal on my blog at CharlottesSoul.com.
Bryan and I both became Life Coaches this year. He specializes in (but not limited to) divorce, and I am helping people with self-care and life balance. Bryan also got his realtors license, joined the Rotary and has so many things going on, I barely know what they are.
See our business page here for more information.
https://chaneygang.com/
Bryan ran for Alderman for the City of Frederick
He did an outstanding job. Having Republican on the ballot was not a good thing for any politician this year. We are not sure what God has in store for him but we are committed to the call.
I love coaching. I am about to re-release my debut book under the new title Soul Work for Cancer. I have also developed a model for Wholeness for your Soul through Balance. It is called S~E~E~P and provides a framework for being aware of, and growing in the areas of Spiritual~Environmental~Emotional~Physical parts of the soul. These are things that helped me recover from great trauma and this program is proving to be a powerful tool for others too. I am about to launch my new Soul Work Journal that provides an understanding or the need and opportunity for readers to continually grow stable in these areas. I have begun my Pathways program in Toastmasters.
Last Summer we took 4/8’s of our kids to Europe. It was an outstanding time-despite my pre-trip jitters.
I’ll provide a brief synapse of our offspring, in order of age but certainly not importance:
John- I call him John Boy
When I yell downstairs:
“Goodnight John Boy,” someone inevitably yells up
“Goodnight Mary Ellen.” I love that, especially since not one of our children has seen The Waltons.
John graduated from WVU (West Virginia) last spring. He’s an electrical engineer and working in in Germantown. Very proud of him and he has a love interest, that I have taken a shine to.
Travis also graduated last spring. Majoring in Marketing from Northeastern University in Boston, he is on the verge of beginning his career.
He too has a delightful lady friend.
Brooks will graduate from CU (Boulder) next spring with a degree in finance. He has taken his smarts and applied himself well.
He will rock and roll wherever he lands. We love having him around, he has great energy and he’s always instigating something fun to do.
Brad has taken his comfort in the great outdoors to an epic level. Quite the undertaking and we’ll have to wait and see how it all turns out.
Blake is majoring in physics at RIT (Rochester). I can only imagine what it is like to live his life. He hasn’t seemingly cut his hair since he left for college a year and a half ago, he’s as handsome as ever.
Anna-wow girls are so different. The whole checking into college required attention to detail that I didn’t know existed. She is in her 1st year, but no longer a freshman. She is an honor student at WVU and working in the campus radio station, with her own show, and interns for a record label. Last I knew, she was applying for a scholarship to go to China this summer. She’s a true go-getter and I love watching her chase after goals.
Grady will kill me if I told you he’s got A’s and A+’s, admired by teachers, faculty, parents, and grandparents. Grady is running his ship, I am just supporting him. Boarding school has been great for him, he made the right choice. I trust him to make future choices. He took to ice hockey last fall and he loves the ice.
Grace is all about dance, dance, dance. She loves to dance and she does it well. She is also very intelligent. I personally think if she doesn’t become a dancer she’d make a heck of a physician.
Lots of loved ones came and celebrated our marriage last summer (after the fact).
I didn’t know your sons’ names and nearly fell over when I saw them…My late brother’s name was Brooks and his older son is Blake. <3 <3
Thank you for sharing your family with us!
Well doesn’t that make sense! So glad God introduced us Stacy. I’d like to hear about your Brooks and his Blake. Merry Christmas!
Rebecca (you know who this is)….:)
This is a beautiful union of diversity…all these lovely children!
Thanks for sharing your stories..