2021 Sargent Sayings presents:
This year's favorite Christmas Carol,
Wexford Carol
Jacob & Kamryn Sargent...
did you catch that? Jacob AND Kamryn SARGENT!! They are marriaged! I gotta say that they have earned top billing this year. They chose to be married and sealed as an eternal family December 18, 2021 at the Payson, Utah Temple. Let's talk for a minute, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, marriage can be sealed by God in His Temples. Death does not need to end your marriage. Your family can continue forever! Their wedding makes me so happy because Kamryn is a slice of awesomeness. She is sweet and thoughtful and caring with a sense of adventure as deep as the ocean. These two are a dynamic duo and will bless numerous generations untold! A big thank you to all who celebrated with us their union. Since their sealing, I have finally stopped crying tears of JOY. Sheesh, my tears were endless. I'm so grateful that generations of loveliness will come through them.
Jacob studies Information Systems at BYU. So if you need information in a system, give him a call (yeah, I don't know a lot about his major yet). Jacob and Kamryn love riding bikes, hiking, and COMPOSED & performed a song together at their reception. I loved it so much!! At Halloween Kamryn was a Ritz cracker and Jacob was squeeze cheese, they are hilarious. Kamryn is in the Nursing program from UVU. Watch for her at a labor and delivery department at a Utah hospital (note: only if you are having a baby and in labor). We love these two and are so excited with how well they fit as a team. They are setting up a very cute apartment in Springville Utah. For those who appreciate true talents, Jacob has almost perfected the art of tying his shoelaces with his toes. We love them mucho, love how they support and love each other!!
Carter: At 20 years old he is getting an A++ in enthusiastic living because he recently became engaged to Emma Valentine
Carter continues to love life at BYU Idaho and is pretty much the cheering section for all things school! I figured something out... Carter loves doing whatever Emma is doing. He loves eating whatever she is cooking. The two are creating a graphic novel (Emma is writing, Carter drawing) and on his spare time, Carter is also writing a book of his own! Carter is currently defrosting in California and working at Chick-fil-A in Thousand Oaks. Carter is studying to become a Biology professor. He loves helping students as a Teacher's Assistant at BYUI. (a note of hope: Each of my kids have had their struggles in school. BUT as kids continue to TRY, teachers will be placed in their path to help them! Stuggling doesn't mean you are bad at something, it means you want to become better. Your struggling student may be motivated by a teacher to become a teacher themselves.)
Sperry: has survived the big move to California loves it here! Her Colorado school finally went back to "in person" classes. But with our move, she had to finish out junior year online. Within all the chaos, somehow she got her best grades.
"How are your beaches in Colorado?" As usual, Sperry has the most thought provoking questions asked of her. She stood out as a senior year at a new high school as one of the only kids wearing shorts and a t-shirt to her first week of classes. It can get "chilly" here, but to us it still feels warm! To start getting connected and making friends, she reached out to the volleyball coach in the summer to see if she could try out. Despite having a year long recovery from a major shoulder surgery the past year, she was able to make starting varsity volleyball at Thousand Oaks High School!
Her coach often referred to the timing as a miracle, since the team was in need of the position she played, and we think of it as a miracle as well. Since volleyball is now over, Sperry has gotten a job at a sushi place. She loves her coworkers and loves getting to know lots of different cultures and languages, such as learning some Spanish, Indonesian, and Korean from her coworkers. Some of the older ladies refer to her as "Sperry Baby".
Sperry loves meeting new people and loves living near the beach. She has been applying to a handful of colleges, wanting to pursue a major where she can work with kids with special needs. She has a gift for helping others feel safe and loved. She is very excited for her future! I love this girl even though this move was tough; moving away from her friends, her school, and her Colorado Life. I am so proud of how she keeps moving forward finding great friends. Sperry, or my daughter with my not so secret nickname of "Chica" has learned that God will answer you and will always direct you for good.
Fawna's fan club update: Fawna lives another year!! She has made it through multiple moves and continues to thrive. She is a comfort dog without a lot of comfort skills. But, I think I saw her tail wagging while she was meandering in the backyard on her "sniff about". She is about 15 years old now, and to honor her little life, we affectionately call our home "corgi ranch".
Marci & Scott: Corgi "Ranch-ers"
Just as in Wexford Carol, the Shepherds were told "prepare and go". That is the only reason I can explain our move back to California. We didn't have a perfect roadmap. But we knew that the prompting forward was from God and that we would grow as we go.
We are grateful for a new rocket factory job for Scott at Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos company) and changed the "orbit" for our family... my kids will eye roll at this pun and I'm ok with that.
In February of 2021, I was on my daily Zillow search and saw a home that was mint green... why mint green? It looked so cute in a quiet neighborhood. I thought, "what is up with that cute little grandma home?" The mint green home was listed for sale and then the post disappeared within 3 weeks. Whaaaat?Fast forward to Spring of 2021. We felt it was time to accept a new job offer and move. We sold our Colorado home (another miracle, thanks Lisa). At the end of April, we moved during a blizzard. An actual BLIZZARD people!! (Scott loves it when I emphasize that part). We didn't have time to say goodbye to many friends because it was COVID and BLIZZARD. Our original plan was to move in the late summer, but then we felt it was important for us to move quickly. (miracles were ongoing).
Scott, Sperry and I moved into 30 day corporate apartment and Sperry continued her Junior year remotely. Occasionally I kept thinking, "what happened to that little grandma house?" Then one day we drove past that mint home. We placed it on our driving route, just for fun! All the time, we felt like we were to focus on the city of Thousand Oaks. We didn't understand why, but the feeling was unmistakeable.
We had found a rental, but a week before we were able to move in, the rental feel through. We pleaded in prayer for another miracle, a place where we could wait for the right home for our family to buy. As we asked for another miracle, we were surprised when a friend found a home for us to rent in Newbury Park, CA. (miracle again). We visited grandma Karen in Utah to wait the 2 weeks until the rental was available. (miracle, thanks Grandma!). We moved into our rental and attended our first Sunday worship service at Church. We had no idea, but the same time we were praying for a miracle, the youth of our new Church ward had been praying for a miracle as well. The ward family had been fasting and praying for a young woman to move in. (see, more miracles!!) They kept saying to Sperry, "We prayed you here!!" It was the boost Sperry needed, even though she attended their rival high school... LOL! It was during this time we learned how to put our worries and fears aside. We found peace serving with our new friends from church while we waited to find our home. We had wonderful neighbors and new friends helped us feel at home while we searched for a home.
Looking for homes got a little exhausting. But every time we drove by the little mint home we would say, "when is this little grandma going to sell her home? What about this home?"
After 6 months, the little grandma home came up for sale! It was like a switch had been flipped from off to "oh heck yeah, it's ON!" Our awesome realtor arranged a tour within hours of it posting for sale. We couldn't believe how good we felt about this home. Even though it needed some upgrades, we saw through the old carpets and pink toilets. Our little grandma house felt like a fit! Met met the owner, Gloria. She mentioned to her realtor that she wanted us to buy her home. Green light, baby!! We were so excited, but realized that we needed to act fast!
We are in such an unprecedented housing market all over America right now. Specifically in California homes can go into a bidding war that pushes a home out of budget. We wanted to try something we hadn't before. We made a full price offer that included an incentive. In order for the seller to receive the additional incentive, the buyer had to accept our offer within 12 hours and take it off the market. Basically, enter in escrow the day it was posted prior to other's seeing the home. The timing was right for our miracle, and our offer was accepted! We closed within 30 days on Corgi Ranch at Thanksgiving 2021!
It was stressful getting everything ready for closing and all the paperwork in order during COVID. And the home had a list of things from the inspection report that needed to be fixed right away. Like the pink toilets from the 50's complete with toilet seats with sea horses in them. They were "not our style" and not in our era. We are VERY thankful that we have moved in and moved quickly to set up the tree in our new home. As for the pink toilets, don't worry. I'm asking Santa for a new subfloor in our bathrooms and a couple of boring "white" toilets by New Years. Fingers crossed! (see photo where Sperry found a curb alert cute pink house we had to get and placed it by the pink toilet for a photo!! (One stays and one goes!)
We wish you a very merry Christmas.
We wanted to THANK YOU for all the love and support. We want to encourage all to seek Jesus Christ as the shepherds did at his birth. (another miracle).
Thanks for being our amazing friends! Thank you for your kindness, being thoughtful, praying for us, and helping us!! We have a lot of friends that continue to wait for the right timing for their miracles. Seek peace. We pray you find peace while you wait upon the Lord for His timing. We hope you feel HOPE and a taste of HOME as you come visit Corgi Ranch. We love you.
