Another year closes with so many reasons for gratitude! High points from 2025:
· Spring break trip to a little cabin to rest, hike, read, and play games
· May roadtrip to North Carolina to visit Ben's parents, as well as a visit to the ocean and tour of the USS North Carolina (accompanied by Amy's parents)
· Enjoyed a brief family getaway to the Upper Peninsula in August with some great hiking and exploring
· Ben and Victor had a tremendous adventure visiting Global Partners, the Moes, in Papua New Guinea in August. Highlights included hanging out with the Moes' boys, a helicopter ride to the remote village where they serve in translating the Bible, and getting to meet with the missionary community's youth group.
· Victor (13): started a boys' Bible study with some guys in his class, still enjoying piano lessons, small group, youth group, homeschool co-op, and friends, joined the young men's choir, working hard and doing great in 8th grade
· Josiah (11): joined the Middle School crew! In addition to digging into 6th grade schoolwork, also continued piano lessons, played Upward basketball, and moved to his own room in the basement this year, where he is keeping two houseplants alive and enjoying his own space
· Elliot (9): now in 4th grade, continues to be a quirky, exuberant boy-to-the-core, always ready to wrestle, roar, and engineer Lego feats of ingenuity, but also sweet, tender friend to Jemima
· Calvin (7): fills notebooks with his imaginative drawings, quips and puns like a middle schooler, and (fittingly enough) loves to read Calvin & Hobbes, Garfield, and the Chronicles of Narnia
· Jemima (4): the little lady of the family, Queen of the Irrelevant Comment during family Bible reading, delights us with her sweet kisses on the cheek, her constant motherly care of her baby dolls and stuffies, and her joy to curl up on a lap to read a story. Takes inordinate pleasure in high heels, pretty dresses, and Ben's painting of her fingernails
· Amy: digging into ancient myths and Greek tragedies (for teaching Grade 9 English), as well as teaching a Grade 5/6 writing and Grade 9 Logic & Worldview class at co-op, enjoyed a year studying Romans in women's Bible study, and dabbled in buckwheat flour and sourdough add-ins in the kitchen
· Ben: phenomenal time on the trip to Papua New Guinea, still loving to pastor middle schoolers and their families at The North Church, ran the Tough Mudder in June (and has been struggling with plantar fasciitis ever since)
Quotes:
Jemima: I've got my glide up shoes (light up shoes) on so I know where I am.
Jemima, praying: Dear God, please help the Northern Lights to turn off when it's daytime.
Jemima to Mom, after we listened to "Let It Snow" on the radio: Is this song not your favorite?
Mom: Yeah, it's not my favorite, because it's not actually about Jesus. Jemima: Is it about a princess?
Calvin (overheard): Jemima, you're in a bath, and in a bath, you're supposed to get wet.
Elliot, in robot voice: Hello, people, I have come to… Jemima: Dance. Calvin: Destroy you.
Josiah: I'd like to buy something at least a little useful. Even like a fake passport or something.
Ben, saying he was taking zinc because his sinuses had a lot of pressure after returning from PNG.
Elliot: Stick it up your nose, so it will help your sinuses.
Jemima, driving in rustic UP Michigan: Daddy, I'm looking for animals. Dead animals.
Calvin: Josiah, do you think I should have a weeding-themed birthday party?
Victor: I've been searching my entire life for a white chocolate ice cream, and there it was, in front of me on the shelf.
Ben to Jemima: When did you last go to the bathroom? Jemima: June.
Jemima: Mom, you pick, blue or red. Mom: I'm blue. Jemima: No, choose the other one.
Elliot: I know what we can get for Mom for her birthday. Bigger pans.
Jemima, marching into the kitchen: Where is my baby sister?
Jemima, playing with Calvin, who wanted to keep doing Legos: Mom, my little baby kid, that kid, doesn't want to go to grandma's house.
Josiah: Dad, you don't just need your car tools. You also need your kids.
Jemima, frequently at the beginning of this year, offering the affirmative: Yepskidoodles.
Jemima: Mom, can you fill up my water bottle? Because my tongue is starving.
Mom, to Josiah and Elliot: Both of you wear gray uniforms tomorrow. Jemima: I like gray unicorns. Victor: No, gray uniforms, not unicorns. Jemima: But I like unicorns.
Jemima, discussing ages of siblings: And Mom, you're Victor's age.
Jemima: This ponytail holder was outside. It is not yours. It's God's.
Jemima: Walking down the stairs, I hurt my ankle over my hand. (wrist)
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.—1 Timothy 1:15
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