Our Year In Review

 

How is it possible that it's time for this post already? It honestly feels like just yesterday that I was wroting our 2021 year in review! Gracious, these years fly by faster and faster! 

On the whole, 2022 was a fairly good year for us. There were definitely some bumps in the road along the way, as there always are, but in the end we found our way (as we always do). 

The pandemic continued, though not nearly as scary as it was when it began. As I write this Covid, RSV and pnemonia have created a tripledemic and it is my sincere hope that as we head in 2023 that we stay well and healthy. 

We celebrated Emma's fourteenth birthday with a small, yet perfect-for-her gathering, and Grace's sixteenth birthday with a perfect day for her. Seeing Wicked in Boston ON her actual birthday with her dearest friend (and her mom who is one of my dearest friends) was a brthday wish come true! 

We said a sad good-bye to our sweet Lily-Rose and a few months later welecomed in our sweet Clover Blossom (who, we have no doubt, was sent to us by Lily-Rose)! She has been a wonderful addition to our family and she brings a smile to all who spend time with her. 

In between saying good-bye to Lily-Rose and welcome to Clover, I had shoulder surgery. The recovery was long (and in a way is still continuing). I am back at the gym but am so far from where I was or what I was able to do before my surgery that it truly feels like I am starting over again. 

The girls spent two weeks at Pilgrim Lodge this past summer and we had the most wonderful weekend in Freeport between those two weeks. We even got to get togehter with my soul sister Jannine and her wonderful family while we were in Maine! Oh, how I wish we all lived closer as I have no doubt we'd be together all the time if that was the case! 

The girls fisnished their first year at Parker and started their second in the fall. It has been a bumpy road with Parker this school year, and as a resultt it's very likely that after this school year ends they will both return to being homeschoolers (which, if truth be known, is a mch better fit for all of us). 

Grace and Emma celebrated ten years of dance this past June. Both have become such beautiful dancers and it was a joy to watch them on stage (indoors!) at recital time! 

Emma got her first job this autumn: working at Honey Pot Hilll Orchard. Such a pefect first job for her!

Grace has started to learn to drive (and has done really well so far). It's an honor to get to be there to help her learn this skill too (as I have for everything else she has done)! 

In addition to being in the second year of my doctoral program, I am also getting ready to take on the Sunday School at the church I work at in Holliston. My time with the youth group was incredible, and I will miss them dearly, but I am looking forward to getting to know the younger childrena nd the families of FCC better too.

David continues to see patients, to teach at Northeastern and is in his secon season as a ski patroller at Wachusett. 

Grace has also gotten her first job this year too. She has joined the ski instructing staff at Wachusett Mountian. So proud of our girls and how they have chosen such perfect first jobs for each of them! 

We are looking foward to the adventures and experiences that 2023 gives to us. We are hopeful that this year will be kind to us and bring health and happiness to all. xo

As promose wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast and give thanks, 

And dearly love their friends, 

And hope for peace. 
And now, so do we, here, now, 

This year, and every year. 

-From The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper