2019 in review

As I look back at the goals I had listed for this year, some were accomplished and many were not. Some things happened as planned such as our trip to Myrtle Beach, and other things were very unexpected. Here are a few of the things that stand out to me the most as I reflect on 2019.

1. The most earth shattering event in my life in 2019 was definitely the sudden passing of my brother on March 3 just one month after he turned 35 years old. I can only think of a handful of times in my life when I've pulled an "all-nighter." The two most recent were in August 2015 when Paul told me he was going to leave higher education and return to Kennedy Concrete and March 6, 2019 - the night I received a phone call from the police in Philadelphia telling me that my brother had passed away. Paul and I have been married for 18 years, and that was the only night of our marriage that he held me the entire night. Usually neither of us can sleep if our bodies are touching, but he managed to get some sleep that night while holding me. His love and support meant so much to me during those first few days of intense grief. It's now been over a year since I was with my brother in person. On March 1 I'll hit the one year anniversary of the last time I talked to him. Although the shock has worn off, I still miss my brother very much. The kids inherited a Nintendo Switch and an iPad from my brother.

2. The biggest changes in our home this year were having a new deck installed, Dad and Margie gave us a grill, buying a new kitchen table and six chairs, buying a new microwave, and having a new furnace and air conditioning system installed after going without air conditioning for about 2 months during the summer. The majority of the projects I hoped would be completed around the house in 2019 weren't accomplished (finishing the repair of our master bathroom, painting drylok on the basement walls, replacing a broken widow pane, etc.). Paul began working on the kids' bathroom the end of September, which meant for all but 12 days of the past three months we didn't have access to any showers. Our jacuzzi tub got used far more in 2019 than it was the previous 11 years. I also washed my hair in a sink far more often than I had in decades.

3. I paid off the retirement loan in the spring, which meant for the first time since 2000 I am debt free! We've been building a savings account this year so that over the next few years we will be able to pay for things like braces for Ian, a new roof for our house, and a replacement for our minivan whenever that becomes necessary. Thus far we have set aside 40% of what I think we will need over the next few years for all of those expenses that are not typically in our budget.

4. Oliver learned how to ride his bike without training wheels, how to ice skate, how to swim, be much neater when using the bathroom (most of the time anyhow), tie his shoes, and recite the books of the Old Testament (he had learned the NT in 2018). He made a lot of progress in reading and gymnastics over the year, and he spent 3 nights at Camp Susque, which was his first experience with overnight camp. He lost his first three baby teeth this year. The first two were extracted by the dentist in January, and I pulled one of his out this month. He went skiing for the very first time in February!

5. Ian showed a lot of improvement in demonstrating courage. He climbed the steps to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown, went zip lining for the first time, and was baptized in November. Ian and Nadia sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale this fall. When Ian was very young he was allergic to many foods, and then for several years we weren't aware of any allergies that he had. At this point we are confident that he is allergic to pecans and walnuts. Ian also made quite a bit of progress with playing the piano. He has passed Nadia out in the piano books; he's also beginning to play some songs, such as Christmas carols, by ear.

6. Nadia participated in a science fair for the first time and joined the middle school chorus at Meadowbrook Christian School in the fall. All three kids participated in a wax museum in February for the first time. Nadia and Ian both made tremendous progress over the past 12 months with learning many parts of speech and with their writing skills. This was our first year of having a child in middle school. She went with the youth group to the Creation music festival in the summer, which meant she spent more nights in a tent than she ever had before. She completed her ninth AWANA book this month and recently started memorizing the book of Hebrews so she can participate in the Bible Bowl with other students in grades 6-12. Nadia learned how to use the sound equipment at church for the 10:45 youth service on Sunday mornings.

7. I lost 30 pounds through dieting. Recently I've begun using the elliptical about four times a week. I taught at BU from January through May, but I was not offered another contract for the 2019-20 school year. Although that was another bombshell to process emotionally, it has been heavenly to be at home with my kids seven days a week and to have my workload be reduced to a more manageable load - homeschooling three kids, laundry, cooking, cleaning, yardwork, etc. is more than enough to fill my "plate." I have been using two apps the past few months - one related to cleaning the house and the other for meal planning, and I find both of them helpful, especially the meal planning one. I have done a much better job of cooking a far wider variety of foods the past four months.

8. The kids earned almost 20 Junior Ranger badges from National Parks in 2019! We started collecting them in 2018, but this was the year when we really got serious with that!

9. We went on about 61 field trips! Some of the places we visited this year included Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, two trips to Refreshing Mountain (zip lining, ropes course, rock climbing, etc.), Pennsbury Manor, Old Barracks Museum (NJ), Valley Forge battlefield, Yorktown battlefield, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Battleship Wisconsin, Nauticus, Fort Sumter, Fort Raleigh, USS Yorktown, Wright Brother's Memorial, Highland, Monticello, Montpelier, Luray Caverns, Gettysburg, Crayola Experience, Intrepid, Central Park, Fort Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Antietam, Manassas, White House of the Confederacy, Petersburg, Appomattox Courthouse, Natural Bridge state park, Lake Tobias, Reptiland, and the Museum of Glass. We also attended a variety of shows and concerts. Nadia saw Little Women with Tab and Cinderella with me. We all saw the touring Broadway Lion King in Norfolk, Beauty and the Beast at CWC, Mulan at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater, and Christmas Wonderland in Camp Hill.

10. The kids and I enjoyed a week with Aunt Janet on Long Island. Seven of us (including Paul's parents) enjoyed a vacation with stops in Virginia and North Carolina and a week in Myrtle Beach. The kids enjoyed a variety of camps including chemistry (boys), Camp Susque, horseback riding, Camp Good News, history camp, baseball/softball clinic, and theater camp (Nadia).

11. We read a lot of books! Ian read at least 67 chapter books this year, Nadia read at least 82 chapter books (some of which were over 800 pages long), and we enjoyed at least 126 chapter books together. I didn't keep track of how many picture books that we read, but it would be in the hundreds if I had.

12. This was the first year in our 18 years of marriage that we went on zero dates over the course of the year. Our last date was in March of 2018. Yikes! We *might* actually take a little 19th anniversary getaway together in the summer of 2020 if the boys go to overnight camp at Camp Good News the same week that Nadia goes to Camp Susque for a week of girl's camp. If that doesn't pan out, hopefully we can at least go out on one date in 2020.

13. There were three very significant heart related problems in our families this year. First, my brother passed away from a sudden cardiac event in March. Then Paul's mom spent a couple of weeks in the ICU in October following a heart attack. Lastly, my dad failed a nuclear stress test last week, which prompted him to have a heart catheterization the next day, which revealed serious blockages that couldn't be addressed by stents. He will be having quadruple or quintuple bypass open heart surgery in the near future. I'm thankful that my mother-in-law survived her heart attack and that my dad's heart problems were discovered before he had a significant cardiac event like Maurice or Ellie experienced earlier this year. We are praying that his surgery can take place in a timely manner and that the surgery and recovery will go as smoothly as possible. Margie is a retired nurse so she will have more knowledge regarding his care after he is discharged than most spouses would.