2015 has come to a close...

Here I am, closing another chapter.  What a sweet year 2015 has been...

This was the year that Micah went from baby to toddler "big boy."  He found delight in any windmill or burnt out lightbulb.  "Maybe Daddio will fix it?" He started talking up a blue streak at the end of the year, and mimics anything--good or bad--that his siblings say or do.

This was also the year that Gracie marathon-read herself to sleep, and Joshy started Kindergarten.  Grace started piano lessons with Sarabeth; Joshy said goodbye to his training wheels.  Gracie transitioned to soccer with goalies, while Josh was on his first real soccer team with his best buddy, Kai. LEGOS were the toys of the year, and their room was run over by too many stuffed animals.

This was the year that we had three friends over when we discovered Micah had Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (oops!), and the year Linnea lived with us for four glorious months.  Our three Whitworth seniors transitioned to the real world, and Jeff & I flew to Denver for Christina's wedding (and our 10-year anniversary)!

This is the year that our family transitioned from attending New Community Church to Whitworth Presbyterian Church, closer to our neighborhood.  We continued meeting with our Bible Study group, and watched the Harper family move to the south hill. It was the year of the huge wind storm of November, and we lost power overnight, but grew lots of friendships through tree removal, and electricity-sharing at our house.

It's the year Melissa and I finished with 29 students and then were given a dream class of only 23.  Our childcare was filled with a beautiful tapestry of faces--G'ma Colleen, Annie, G'ma Dianne, Linnea, and Kaitlyn.  It was the year Jeff had an amazing student teacher and discovered he liked running, after all.

It's the year my cousin Megan got married in Stanley, Idaho, and Brooke started college here at Whitworth.  We lost Chad in February, but gained little Nellie in April.  We were sad when our Seahawks fell short of winning the SuperBowl in February and found carrot tops in G'ma Trudy's yard on 4/1.  Dad had his big back surgery on my birthday week, and Jeff lost his wedding ring and then found it in the ashes of the shop stove.

We are so blessed.  Lord, help us to never forget! Goodbye 2015 …now off to print the blog-book, the year recorded for all of posterity! (In our family, "posterity" means the moments when kids with icky fingers leaf through the pages of our blog-books, looking for pictures of themselves "when they were little."  So sweet.)  :)