December

 

Entrance to Chinatown

Visit to the K-Pop store

Field Museum

Sue, the T-Rex

Cool fossils

Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza

Watching the Packers in our rental

Beluga whales were a favorite

Fireworks at Navy Pier

No, we did not go on the ferris wheel

She was brave and went on the ledge for a family pic

Skydeck

Family road trip

Hamilton! 

Christmas Day

Spoons with the grandparents

Christmas with the grandparents

Enoc and Lexi

After her choir concert

All of the WO choirs combined

Anibal at 20 years old

Snow day activity

Indianapolis

Band concert

Isaac's soccer tournament weekend

Caleb made profession of faith

-Caleb made profession of faith and it was so moving to hear him talk about his relationship with Jesus and his faith journey. 

-Isaac's USA travel team did a soccer tournament in Indianapolis. The first game they played outside and it was so frigid. The second game was indoors and the last game was outdoors, but the weather was warmer by that day. Nate and Isaac went down with two other boys and their Dads. They had some down time to explore Indianapolis and hang out.

-We had two snow days in December, yes!

-Lexi finished her volleyball season and Stephen finished his indoor soccer season. Unfortunately it's hard to get a good picture of indoor soccer.

-Caleb finished his semester and came home for break. 

-Our former sponsored child, Anibal, found me on Facebook. He is 20 and Caleb and I visited him in Mexico ten years ago. We have enjoyed catching up with him. 

-We had school dress up days the week before Christmas and we had different dress up calendars in our house. Every morning I would run thru with Stephen, Lexi and myself what we each had to wear that day. 

-Julia had her WO Christmas choir concert

-Lexi had her last Sunday School Christmas program

-Lexi's class did a presentation about what they learned in their macroinvertebrates research

-We opened gifts with my parents on Christmas Eve. We had some rousing games of Majority Rules and Spoons.

-On Christmas Day we went to church and opened presents afterwards. Some of the highlights were Hamilton tickets for Julia, Stephen and Lexi. Nate, the boys and my Dad are going to the Detroit auto show in January. Our main gift to the kids was a trip to Chicago.

-We rented a house for 2 nights and did all the touristy things. We got the Citypass for 3 locations. We did the Willis Tower Skydeck, Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. We visited Navy Pier at night, shopped at Water Tower Place, had Chicago style pizza, and visited Chinatown. It was a really nice family vacation. 

-For New Year's Eve we are having the Petersons over and a bunch of Caleb's friends are coming as well. 

November

 

Playing the switch and talking on the phone together with Dallas

Thanksgiving

Enoc

Stephen's 12th birthday

Lexi playing volleyball

Nate, Isaac, Carl and Levi went backpacking

GVSU college visit and lunch with Caleb

-Julia went to Young Life's weekend camp

-Isaac and I visited GVSU and met up with Caleb

-Stephen started playing indoor soccer

-Nate, Isaac, Carl and Levi went backpacking near the Manistee River for a couple of nights. They celebrated Nate's return of freedom! He was able to drive again and return to work. 

-We celebrated Stephen's 12th birthday! He requested oreo ice cream dessert and received a new Switch game along with some Lions gear. Stephen still loves watching football and musicals. He enjoys playing soccer, is learning the tenor sax at school and is part of the science club. The adjustment to middle school was a little tough at first, but now he thinks middle school is great. Stephen cares well for others and we love him very much! 

-We finally were able to have Enedina's family over to celebrate all the birthdays we missed during Nate's cancer treatment. We celebrated Naomi, Nolbi and Ruth's birthdays. It was great to see how much Enoc had grown as well. 

-Thanksgiving was a smaller affair with us and my parents as Enedina's family was out of town and Tim's family lives in AZ now. We are so grateful for another Thanksgiving together! 

October

 

Trick or treating

Carving pumpkins

End of the soccer season

Isaac and John

Grandparents Day

WO Bel Canto choir concert

Nate's room for 2 weeks

WO's Homecoming

Unity's Homecoming

-Isaac went to Unity's Homecoming with Mariah

-Julia went to WO's homecoming with her not-boyfriend boyfriend, Kaden. They officially started dating later in the month.

-Lexi continued Mandarin lessons with Lexus

-Stephen continued musical theater classes at Avalon

-Julia had her first choir concert of the year

-Nate came home from the hospital on October 7. He then had to be at home with someone for 6 weeks. We had many people helping our family and we are so grateful. 

-We had parent teacher conferences for the kids and they are all doing fantastic! 

-Lexi went on the Soul Kids girls retreat

-Lexi played Holland Rec vball for the first time, a 5th/6th grade girls team. 

-Isaac's soccer team had a disappointing end to their season, but they improved so much over the season and it was fun to watch them. 

-Nate, Isaac and myself visited Hope College and Calvin University. Let the college visits begin! 

-Caleb came home for fall break

-Nate got together with his family for a couple of days in Saugatuck

-The kids had fall break, but we did not do much this year

September

 

Cardale's football game

Nurses decorated Nate's door for his bday

That little bag has the T cells

Celebrating Nate's 45th Birthday

Waverunners before the hospital stay

Caleb's 20th birthday

HC's homecoming

Julia, Jill and Leila

Isaac and Mariah for HC's homecoming

Isaac, Oliver, Levi and Jacob at the Chicago Fire game

Varsity 

Naomi (5) using her birthday Dr kit present

Labor Day weekend at boater's beach

-We went out to boater's beach for a day with a group of friends. 

-Stephen and Lexi began soccer practices for their Holland Rec teams. 

-Nate, Isaac and friends went to the Chicago Fire game, which was Isaac's bday present. 

-Julia went to HC's homecoming with her friends Jill and Leila and Isaac and Mariah went as well.

-Stacy is helping out with our church Soul Kids program again this year. This is Lexi's last year and Stephen attends middle school youth group now. 

-Caleb came home for his birthday celebration. How is he 20?! He received a monitor for his present. Caleb is rocking it at GVSU. He's been on the Dean's list every semester. He has an on campus job as a supervisor for intramural sports referees and he is involved with Campus Ministry. He has a nice apartment with his 3 friends and they get along well. It is a joy to see the man Caleb is and we always love having him visit. We love you Caleb! 

-Nate had two days of outpatient chemo and then was admitted to Butterworth hospital on Sep 23. He received his T cell infusion that afternoon and then stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks for monitoring. 

-Nate celebrated his 45th birthday in the hospital. The nurses decorated his door and brought him a cake. It was hard to not be able to celebrate with Nate in person, but we opened gifts as a family over video chat. Nate is one of the most amazing people I know. He took this challenge in stride and kept his reason why always in the forefront. Nate cares deeply for his family and gives his best in everything he does. We love you so much Nate! 

-I took the kids to see Cardale's football game in Hastings. He is so talented and it will be fun to see where life takes him.