In lieu of a Christmas letter...

 Wow!  I set a record for least amount of posts since I began blogging.  Maybe I should close this blog?  As our children got older, I found myself struggling with what to blog about that does not infringe on their own privacy and stories...so I just blog less and less.  I stopped writing Christmas letters somewhere along the line...so here is this year's wrap up in lieu of a letter sent by mail.

Frankly, I can hardly believe we are at the end of the year.  In a way it seems like only yesterday that we celebrated Christmas, in other ways, 2020 seems ages ago.  So here are some random happenings from this year, not all inclusive, and roughly in order.

January-March

Winter of 2020 was rather uneventful aside from the Presidential inauguration.  The kids went to school (Zach, Micah) or homeschooled (Janae, Mark).  We had various appointments.  The last weekend in March, my parents kept the kids and Randy & I went to Gettysburg for the weekend.

April-June

In the Spring, we finished up the school year.  In addition to the normal appointments, Janae and Micah had assorted doctor appointments for various health concerns.  Janae ended up with a diagnosis of POTS; Micah had no official diagnosis.  In April (or maybe March?) our Truck Rally committee made the decision to disband and turn the Truck Rally over to the TFC International Office.  So it was different not being involved with them this year.  In June, Randy & Janae flew to Alaska to serve with LightShine Ministries at Globe Creek Camp.  The boys and I camped at Spruce Lake for a weekend with our church family (Gehman Mennonite) as usual.  We appreciated the help of some of our friends with parking the camper and hitching it back up at the end of the weekend.  We also had 2 graduation parties for nieces.

July-September

July 10th, Autumn married Derek Horst.  They had a beautiful day for their wedding!  We also went to the cabin with Karen's family.  Zach enjoyed Teen Week at Woodcrest.  Micah attended Solid Rock Sports Camp. We continued to have assorted appointments.  Mark went to Day Camp at Woodcrest.  We took our yearly trip to the beach.  The kids started school (Janae - Homeschool, Zach & Micah - Gehman Mennonite, Mark - Cocalico).  Randy rode in the BR2RB Bike Ride.

October-December

We settled into school routines, keeping our extra things to a minimum.  We went to appointments and various family/church/school events.  The day after Thanksgiving, after dealing with severe pain for many months, Randy had surgery on his lower back.  He is now in the recovery phase and so far is feeling so much better than before the surgery.  We look forward to wrapping up the year with assorted celebrations with family and friends, barring unexpected events or illnesses.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

~Karen

End of Summer

Well, I obviously don't blog much anymore.  Maybe that will change with the kids going back to school?  Maybe not.  Now that the kids are older, it's just so much harder to blog without stepping into their stories and privacy.

We had a lovely but busy summer.

• Our daughter got married!
• Camping with our church family
• Cabin with extended family
• Time at the beach
• Church
• Jobs, Appointments, errands
• And all the normal life stuff...cooking, cleaning, laundry, yard work, etc.

And now we are headed back to school.

1. Janae - Homeschooling.  Senior Year.  She is working and focusing on the few remaining credits she needs:  Government/Econ (City on the Hill program + Notgrass), English (British Lit), and Biology.
2. Zach - Grade 8 @ GMS
3. Mark - Grade 7 (Learning Support) @ CMS
4. Micah - Grade 6 @ GMS
5. JH - Home with me for 1 more year.  He's doing Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and has an IU13 Special Ed Teacher.

As the kids head back to school, I'm hoping to get caught up on things around here that need done.  Not homeschooling any of the boys should help, but we'll see.  I also want to do some canning now that I've finally found lids a few weeks ago.  And I imagine JH will need plenty of attention as he withdraws from having his brothers with him every day.  I'm also looking forward to the humidity breaking and fall weather (but not winter so much).

Have a lovely day!

Blessings,

~Karen

What to say?

 Over the past few weeks I've had lots of blog posts in my head...but somehow they never end up coming out of my head and onto paper.  Today I have a few minutes before our son's IU13 Zoom meeting, and now I can't remember what was on my mind.

During my devotional time in the mornings, I've taken to tacking another book onto that time...sometimes a Christian biography, sometimes an informational book, a meaningful magazine article, whatever I want to read that I haven't been getting around to reading.

Right now I'm reading through the book of Luke (I'm focusing on the Gospels during the 40 days leading up to Easter.)  I've finished 101 Hymn Stories and am reading 101 More Hymn Stories.  I'm fascinated by the tidbits I'm learning.  Right now I'm also reading "Becoming Elizabeth Elliot" by Ellen Vaughn.  I've recently read a couple of allegories (The Pilgrim's Regression by C.S.Lewis and "Hind's Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard) and a book on FASD during this time as well.

Other reading I've been doing includes lame novels and the intriguing book "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)."'

The kids are home from school today (again).  Snow was great the first few snow days...but now they are no longer going out in it much.  We've had lots of rescheduled appointments this month.  Mostly because of snow but a few because of illness.

I wonder if the crocuses have come up underneath the snow?  I think it will warm up next week so maybe I'll find out!

Random Reflections

 Greetings to whomever is reading this!  It is cold and chilly and breezy outside of my kitchen.  Speaking of my kitchen, it's gradually coming together.  We decided to update it by painting the cupboards, getting new door & drawer fronts, hardware, and counter tops.  We also took out the drop down ceiling above the cupboards so that I can set things on top of the cupboard.  We painted the walls and the trim.  (When saying "we", I really mean "Randy" as he did the majority of the work.  Our friend who coordinated our kitchen cupboards/counters part of the project is coming tomorrow to hang the doors.  While having them off has been handy, I'm quite ready to block out all of that visual clutter!

I see I only blogged about 11 times last year.  I find blogging more difficult as my children have grown up...I don't want to step on anyone's privacy!

I did, however, intend to blog about 2020 back in December...but we were busy and then my laptop screen shattered and so here we are, the middle of January and I'm finally getting to this!  When I looked at my schedule for next week, I realized that my life is pretty much back to normal as I have 10 varying appointments/events scheduled for the week.  😀

So without further comment, here are the highlights of 2020:

• January - mid March - Normal life.  Homeschooling.  Working.  Church.  Reading.  Watching TV. 
• Mid-March - end of May - Life kind of ground to a halt.  Stayed home except for getting groceries.  Wrapped up School.
• June - December - Resumed normal life as much as possible considering cancellations and accommodations.
• Randy - Continues to drive truck and work hard to provide a living for our family.  We were blessed that he was able to work all year long.  Quarantine projects included making us a beautiful new bed.
• Karen - I continued with homeschooling and household & child management.  I read whenever possible.  I continue to help Randy with his business bookwork as well as sharing Young Living with others.  In the fall I taught a class on the Israelites at our local Co-op.  I'm homeschooling Janae and Mark for the 2020-21 school year.
• Josiah - This year Josiah & Marisa got married!  The plan was to get married in September, but Covid happened and plans changed.  He bought a house in February, got married in June at a very small outdoor ceremony, and had a larger reception in September on the original wedding date.  He also changed jobs and Marisa finished her schooling.

• Autumn - Autumn continues to work at Half Dozen Cafe in Reading.  In November, she and Derek (Marisa's brother) got engaged!  So we are looking forward to another wedding in 2021.

• Janae - Finished 10th grade and started 11th grade.  She continues to homeschool.  She also works at a hatchery vaccinating chicks and with a butcher packaging meat.  She turned 16 and is looking forward to getting her license in 2021.
• Zachary completed 6th grade in May and returned to Gehman's Mennonite School in the fall for 7th grade.  He is enjoying back at school after 3 years of homeschooling.
• Mark continues to homeschool.  We had planned to send him to our local public school this year, but with the varying regulations, we decided to keep him home another year.  He continues working with a tutor and loves to play with trucks and paint.
• Micah completed 4th grade at Gehman's Mennonite School last spring and moved on to 5th grade this year.  He's into all things Star Wars.
• John Haydyn keeps us on our toes.  He is now 4 years old and enjoys playing with his siblings and watching "Shaun the Sheep.''
• Vacations:  We were able to work in a cabin weekend in the spring (our family) and summer (my extended family), Camping with our church family, and a week at the beach.  I was so thankful we had not planned any road trip as the dynamics would have made that challenging.
• Other:  We celebrated Randy's Parents' 70th Birthdays and 50th Anniversary.  We stayed home a lot (those of us who are introverts didn't mind terribly much.)

Happy Belated New Year!

~Karen