Well, this year has brought on a lot of
changes in our little world. We moved
halfway across the country to Virginia in June.
Celeste got into nursing school in Texas and had been in school for a
whole week when Brian got a call for a promotion if he’d move to Virginia. We prayed a lot about it, but we felt like it
was the plan God had in store for us. So
Celeste quit nursing school and things happened fast. We found a great home for our dog Shadow
because we didn’t feel we would have a place for him in Virginia. We sold our Texas home in a week, and for the
price we wanted. We found an amazing
house in Virginia, with room to entertain and have visitors, and at a price
that we could actually afford. We really
believe God’s hand was on it, from start to finish.
Christian turned 7 this year. He started 2nd grade this fall,
and has adjusted well to his new school.
He says they work too much and don’t get enough time to play, which I
tend to agree with. His teacher did have
a baby five weeks early, so that has rocked everyone’s world at his school,
including his, but now he has a great long term sub. This summer he learned a love for climbing
trees and has made the tree in our front yard the neighborhood climbing tree. We have seen as many as 6 kids in it at a
time, and it is not that big of a tree.
He did gymnastics this year and got much better at his tumbling. We are starting basketball for the first time
soon, so we’ll see how that goes. He
bounces a ball everywhere right now. He
is very interested in tennis so we will see about getting lessons in the
spring. We have a ton of girls on our
street, but thankfully he has found a great friend in a little 2nd
grade girl 2 doors down. He can’t wait to finish his homework so he can go out
and play. He still loves to draw and has a new obsession every month ranging
from Looney Tunes to Star Wars to Charlie Brown. It is fun to see him explore new interests.
Brian, Celeste, Piper
and Christian McKean
Piper turned 9 this year, and
started 3rd grade. She is adjusting well to her new school and we all love her
teacher, who has had 40 plus years in education. She was worried about a male teacher at
first, but he has turned out to be awesome and really pushes her. She has several friends on our street and
same as Christian loves to go play outside with all the neighborhood kids. She also loves to ride the bus with her best
friend down the street. Piper is still
doing swimming and we might do swim team this summer. She is also going to try basketball this year
for the first time. She is our little
book worm and Brian is excited she is starting to read big books. She is really into the old Nancy Drew books –
at school she keeps a book handy, so she can read whenever she has a spare
moment. She also loves all the adventures
and placed we have gotten to explore in this area, and loves going to the
museums in DC. She is actually ready to
do some more exploring – she made a list of places we should go.
Brian is still at CSC, although in his new
role so far he hasn’t traveled as much – in fact, that was one of the reasons
we moved. He has only taken one trip since June. If he hadn’t taken this
promotion, he’d have taken 4 or 5 extended trips this year. He does tend to work a little bit longer
hours and traffic is a little crazier here, but we love seeing him at night and
he gets to go to the kids’ events. He
might travel more next year, and CSC is now restructuring, so we’ll see where
he ends up in the months ahead. We found
a local church and Brian plays bass there once or twice a month, but he still misses
playing with Nino at the Hills Southlake.
Celeste has been keeping busy
getting the family moved and then taking 12 hours of classes this fall toward
getting into nursing school in Virginia.
The program at George Mason is only a one-year program and so if she is
accepted, she’ll graduate only a semester later than she would have had in
Texas. Keep praying that she gets in! She is also volunteering in the children’s
ministry on Sunday morning and loves getting to know the 3 year olds.
We celebrated 13 years of marriage this year and keep going on
adventures together!
Since we have moved Celeste has been better about updating our blog so
you can follow us there
mckeanfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com. You
can also find us on facebook-Celeste Robertson Mckean or Brian McKean.
We are located only 30 miles
from downtown Washington DC and are learning our way around. We had some friends come this summer, and they
highly recommend our place as a crash pad.
We are only about 5 minutes from the Air and Space Museum that houses
the space shuttle Discovery.
Here is our contact info:
43066 Barons St. South Riding,
VA 20152
bcmckean@verizon.net
Celeste cell-817-602-4536
Brian cell-817-975-1247
We
are thankful that God is with us everywhere.
We hope to be back to visit family and friends in Texas and Oklahoma and
Kansas this Spring and Summer. We are very thankful for each and every one of you
that have touched our lives in so many ways, and we pray that God will bless
you and your family in the coming year.
We
love you all!
