2009 Year-In-Review

Dearest Friends and Family,

This has been quite a year for our little family. We’ve settled in to our home in the country and have learned much along the way. We love the peace and quiet and having wild life right outside our windows. We often enjoy the company of deer and wild turkeys as they pass through our yard. Michael even once looked out the front window to see a herd of cattle (strays from a neighbor’s pasture).

We have learned, however, that country life is not all pleasure. We’ve put in a lot of hard work to “settle the farm” a bit and put finishing touches on our home. One which we wisely decided not to undertake ourselves was the installation of two patios (one out back and the other off the walk-out basement). In spite of all this progress, we still have many projects yet to be done.

Michael »

Michael after cutting a lot of brick for our new sidewalk. (Looked a lot worse in person).

Michael transitioned from working for Diverge to Angel Food Ministries (one of Diverge’s clients), and has been able to continue working from home. He has a flexible work schedule which has allowed him to juggle many demands during the day and evenings. Since Melanie is often tied up tending to Shepherd, most of the big projects fell on his shoulders. He has worked really hard this year and has accomplished a lot to tame our land and make our home more comfortable. This year we finished the basement. We did all the work ourselves except for mudding the drywall. Michael learned a lot and did several things for the first time (laying laminate flooring, installing bathroom fixtures and hanging seven doors). He also worked hard to get 680 feet of garden and orchard fencing up (the longest and most time consuming project). It is the project he is most glad to have completed. After what seemed innumerable delays we finally built a walkway from the driveway to the front porch steps (about 35’). We used 100 year old bricks from the house we use to own in Illinois. He also built a fence around our wood burning stove platform to keep Shepherd safe.

Michael spent over 100 hours in the tractor keeping something like ten acres mowed, moving rock, sand, compost and topsoil. With church, he was recently released as the second counselor in the young men and as Scoutmaster and called as the membership and financial clerk, as well as the Boy Scout troop committee chairman. In some ways he will be busier with his new callings in 2010.

Melanie »

Melanie continues to work part-time and enjoys her work. She still works every Thursday, Friday and every other Saturday (1/2 day). She is now the Primary President at church, working with the children 18 months to 12 years old. The work is challenging, but rewarding. She has learned many new skills in the process this year as well.

We planted our first garden her this spring. We were unable to invest all the prep time needed to prepare the soil, so the plants did not do as well as they may have otherwise. We spent a lot of time pulling grass and weeds. We also saw a lot of tomatoes and cantaloupe eaten by possums. We did get enough okra and cucumbers to do some canning and kick start our self-grown food storage items. In October her mother visited and taught her how to make jelly and blackberry syrup, for which some of the berries were picked on our own property. She loves to expand her homemaking skills – especially when it involves making something sweet. In addition to the garden we planted two pecan, two almond, three apple, two pear, two peach, two cherry and four pawpaw trees, six blueberry, five grape, two blackberry and five raspberry plants in the orchard. We also had our water line extended into the orchard and the garden so we have water readily available to water all our plants.

Melanie doesn’t have nearly enough time for crafting, but she did manage to paint and stencil a stool for the kitchen and is working on a second one. She has tried to find good bargains when it comes to keeping Shepherd entertained and clothed. A few of her “bargains of the year” include a $5 Lego table (from Goodwill) and mounds of garage sale clothes. As expected, much of her time is invested in Shepherd. It has become tradition that she bathe him in the evening and read him books at bedtime. She is a wonderful mother. It is a shame Shepherd calls her “daddy” more than “mama” so far.

Shepherd »

Shepherd has grown so much this year (5 ½ inches to be exact). By the time you read this he will almost be twenty months old. He has gone from crawling to walking to running. His first word was “clock”, to which he has added “uh oh!”, “cracker”, “no”, “yeah”, “mama”, “daddy”, “baby”, “sauce”, “hot”, “yellow”, “hello”, “go!”, “kitty, kitty” and “that”. To Grandpa Bill’s chagrin, he has not said “grandpa” yet. He is also now trying to sing along with the ABC song – usually chiming in at “W”. He loves books and will sit for long periods looking through his collection – sometimes singing or “reading” to himself as he does so.

Shepherd loves playing chase, pestering the cats, climbing on our tractor and lawn mower, being tickled, pretending to talk on the cell phones, greeting mommy when she gets home and the Monk theme song. He had is first girlfriend, an older woman at day care. She was nearly twice his age!!! (She was 2 when Shepherd was just 13 months old!) He also had his first heartbreak when the daycare closed and the two went to new, different daycares. He now has a mouth full of teeth and is enjoying the transition from gumming his food to actually chewing it. Still makes a huge mess though! Due to several ear infections, he had tubes put in his ears early in the year, which solved the problem. He also shared his first birthday party in May with Grandpa Bill who turned 80.

Shepherd keeps us both very busy and is the joy of our lives.

Sitting on the front porch, enjoying one of his favorite pastimes.
Already wanting to be like daddy when he grows up.
Shepherd’s favorite way to watch TV.
Unhappy because he found out he was three short of the world’s record for “most Cheerios crammed in the mouth”.
Our buzzzy bee, all dressed up for Halloween.

Looking Forward to 2010

This has been a year of much hard work for us. We hope that the next will be a little more restful. Here are a few things we are expecting.

Melanie is looking forward to getting her craft room set up and finally having an herb garden again.

Michael is hoping to spend much more time in the wood shop.

We all three hope for more visits from friends and family!!! – Hint, Hint

We wish all the best to you, our dear friends and family.

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