A Year Goes By

A year is a long time to go without posting and a lot can happen in that length of time. Many things can change; height, weight, age, knowledge, creaking joints, number of children, while a lot of things can happen; graduations, new jobs, engagements, weddings, amongst many others. Life here in our little neck of the woods was no different.

April 2016
Hannah had oodles of recitals, including her own senior composition recital as well as a senior piano recital. However, all of that took a backseat when she got engaged! We were thrilled! Our sweet baby was going to be a bride!

Ellie turned 19.

May 2016
Hannah graduated summa cum laude from Bethany.
Hannah and Ellie went on band tour to Florida with the Bethany band

The rest of us went on vacation. First we stopped for the weekend at the first congregation my husband served. They celebrated their 150th anniversary and invited him to preach. What a joy to catch up with friends from that congregation. It was like a wonderful, hug-filled, food-filled, reminiscing-filled family reunion. After that a few days at my mom's before David headed to meetings in St. Louis, and the other kids and I headed to Chicago to celebrate dear Lydia's high school graduation.

Then began the summer of work.

The campground in town put in a brand new waterpark - two slides, a climbing wall, a ball area, and a walk where you hang on the ropes above your head as you try to move from floating pad to floating pad all the way across, plus a little zero depth entrance for the youngest campers. It was a huge project, and if that weren't enough, they added a Snack Shack right beside to aid the hungry swimmers. The new waterpark is why Nathan got his lifeguard certificate and over the course of the summer he spent many, many hours watching the multitude of swimmers enjoy the new waterpark.

The new Snack Shack brought me back into the working world. Once it was up and running in July, I began spending many hours helping make pizzas, learning how to make the perfect blurry, swirl the right amount into a cone for a soft serve treat, and how to clean everything up at the end of the day. Not only Snack Shack working but I also helped clean the cabins after campers departed.

Hannah and Ellie continued working at Pizza Ranch but also worked a couple times in the Snack Shack when needed. One week the only one in our family who didn't get a paycheck from the campground was David.

To keep straight where everyone was and who would be home to eat meals, we bought a dry erase board for the refrigerator and updated it as the weekly schedules emerged. It was chaotic. It was tiring. It was fun. And although Nathan, Abby, and Sam, spent many of their working hours watching the pool soaking up the rays of the sun, my work was always inside. So much so that I realized at the end of the summer I had not tried the new waterslides nor even put on my swimsuit once. That was a sad realization.

In August Abby turned 15.

September 2016
After the summer of work, the chaos didn't stop as now the wedding preparations were dwindling down to the end. Ellie went back to college to begin her senior year. A week at Camp Luther gave us time to relax before the final push to the big day!

October 2016
Hannah turned 21, three days later Nick, her fiancé, turned 22, and on the 15th they were united in Holy Marriage. It was a wonderful, beautiful day. Full of friends and family, faith and fun. We are so happy to have a new son as well as looking forward to watching their new life together!

Our happy family

My husband's family

Here are some other photos and here is a link to the wonderful sermon Nick's father preached, while this is a link to the wedding service.

November 2016
School work resumed at home for Nathan, Abby, and Sam while Ellie continued her final year at college. Sam, my baby, turned 14. Thanksgiving found us trekking to Chicago for a long weekend visiting our good friends and finally attending the Christkindle Markt. It was well worth the trip.

December 2016
School, Christmas baking and preparations, snow shoeing a few times, reading everyone's Christmas letters and enjoying Christ's gifts. On the 31st, our niece Cora got engaged to Anthony. Another wedding to look forward to!

January 2017
We started the year at Camp Luther for a week of snow shoeing, cross country skiing and tubing fun with our good friends. We ate our weight and more in Christmas goodies and other good food. The rest of the month was spent doing normal things, cooking, cleaning, learning, living.

Yes, a lot can happen in a year, and I'm going to do my best to not let another year go by before I post again.