2014 at the Unverzagts'!
Written
by Sigre Unverzagt.
It all started in January. We
kicked off the new year with Berit's 11th birthday. She
had a big party with lots of her friends and had great fun.
Unfortunately, later that month, Dad's hunting dog of eight years
passed away. But we ended the month on a higher note celebrating
Emma's birthday. Emma turned 15, with driver's ed. on the horizon.
February started off with Dad's
birthday. Mom and Dad finally got to go on their 25th anniversary
trip. Dad's dream of bringing Mom to Brazil finally came true. They
took off the beginning of February and stayed in Brazil for three
weeks. Among the numerous things they enjoyed there, they got to go
to a very fancy spa, spend time in Rio, and visit the Ache Indians in
Paraguay.
March brought our first batch of kittens. Both of our cats got pregnant at the same time. As the cats grew bigger, Mom's concern about finding homes was also growing. We ended up with 11 total. With only a little difficulty, we found homes for all but one cat, which we kept, bringing the total to three cats at our house. I turned 17 and started working at Living Word Bookstore in Onalaska. Basketball Nationals were also in March. Since Britton coaches the Sparta homeschool basketball teams, that meant Britton, Anders, and Dad packed for a week in Springfield, Missouri. Dad is athletic director for the Monroe County Warriors, and Anders is the official water boy for the team, which meant he got to tag along for a week of late nights, fast food, and basketball. Every young boy's dream!
April was very exciting. Analaya
got engaged to Tim Haagenson! She met him when she got a job caring
for his grandma in his family's home. They make a very good couple,
and the family was thrilled! They got engaged at our house during a
trip down to "surprise" the family. To say the least the
family wasn't very surprised. Tim tipped us off a few days before so
we could all chip in and help things run smoothly. The family was
“conveniently” not home when Tim and Analaya arrived. They took a
walk outside to a little picnic table in the woods where
Tim proposed. When they came back to the house afterward, Tim's
family from the cities was waiting there to surprise them, and we all
celebrated with pizza, cupcakes, and floats. April was off to a good
start! Mom also scored online essays for Pearson, a company she has
worked for for the last few years. Gretchen turned 23 and enjoyed a
birthday supper with her husband, Ryan. Berit hurt her ankle during
basketball practice and had to have physical therapy for several
weeks before it returned to normal.
In May
we decided to start remodeling, a dream
of Mom and Dad's for years. They started by putting up a wall between
Mom and Dad's room and the upstairs kitchen. And turning the large
walk-in closet into a bedroom for Britton. This is the first time
Britton has actually had a room all to himself! One day in May, while
the kids were playing at a friend's house, Finn fell in their
basement and onto the cement floor. He split his chin open and had to
go in and get it glued. Thankfully the experience wasn't too
traumatizing, and he was running around and playing the next day.
Later on in the month Emma, Zofeyah, and I all went on a trip to Iowa
to help out some friends of our family. We stayed for a long weekend
to help out with projects and spend time with their five kids. The
very end of May, Leif came back from Sweden, where he'd been for nine
months. The family was ecstatic to have him back home for a while.
June was
quite busy with the family running in all different directions.
Zofeyah and Berit went to an all girls tent camp this year. Some of
the cousins from the cities went to camp with them. They loved it.
Anders and a few of his close friends went to the all boys camp a few
weeks later. The boys had a blast. Gretchen and Ryan announced to the
family that they are expecting! The due date is January 30th, so the baby will be joining the family before too long--the first
grandchild for Mom and Dad and first niece or nephew for most of the
kids. Gretchen and Ryan didn't find out the gender and are going to
keep the names they like a secret. So the family is having great fun
making guesses about whether it's a boy or girl. We are all so
excited to meet the new addition to the family! The family took our
annual Christmas trip in June. This year we went to the Mall of
America and went to Sealife. It was so cool to see all the different
kinds of aquatic life. They also had a little open tank of things you
could feel. We also got to see sharks, seahorses, jellyfish, and
numerous other fascinating animals. Then later that day the family
went to the amusement park in the Mall of America and enjoyed riding
several rides. It was a day full of fun and family! Mom and Dad and
the five youngest went to Annual Conference this year in Valley City,
ND. The younger kids loved to swim at the hotel and enjoyed the VBS
offered at the Annual Conference. Britton and Leif, along with a few
of their friends from church, went on their annual guys' road trip.
For their week long trip this year they went to the Boundary Waters
and canoed all the way to Canada.
July started off with
a bang. Or a dislocated elbow that is. While helping some friends
move (and sort of messing around) Leif dislocated his elbow. Mom
tutored a boy from Sparta in math and reading throughout July and
August, and we hosted the annual Unverzagt reunion. It was great fun
seeing lots of relatives we haven't seen for ages. July also brought
another batch of kittens. Our mama cats got pregnant and had 11
kittens total, again leaving us with the job of finding good homes
for all of them. Amazingly we did it! With great exasperation, Mom
exclaimed that we can't do that again and took all three cats in to
be spayed. We had another round of tent camp. Finn and Bronwyn went
for the short one-night camp for little kids. This was very big for
them because it was their first time spending the night somewhere
alone, other than Grandma's house. VBS was very fun this year. It had
an Athens theme complete with Athens-themed snacks, costumes, and a
market place. The kids had great fun attending and brought at least
one neighbor kid with each day. Leif moved for his job. He works at a
lumber yard, and they asked him to move to Kentucky to help get the
new branch they opened there up and running. He agreed and moved
mid-July. It takes him about 11 hours to drive here when he visits,
which is the farthest away from home any of the Unverzagt kids have
moved. (Britton plans to move to Kentucky and live with Leif as soon
as he finishes coaching basketball this year.) When Leif left, Sigre
and Emma got their own rooms for the first time. Britton left in July
for Brazil to house and pet sit for a missionary family while they
traveled to the states. He stayed there until the beginning of
October. Emma got her permit and started driving, which is always
exciting.
In August, swimming
lessons started. The family went to lessons in Melrose instead of
Sparta like usual. Mom and the kids liked it much better, and Finn
even stuck his face in the water for the first time. After years of
the kids asking and our parents trying to find the time, some of the
family finally went camping. They stayed one night at Lake Wazee
camping grounds and had a great time. Emma, Dad, and I went on Faith
On Fire tour for a week in August. Faith On Fire is the drama group
from our church, and once a year they travel for a week and perform
at a different church every night. It's a very fun week, although it
definitely takes us out of our comfort zone. Anders started football
for the first time with a park and rec team. He loved it and was
quite good at it too. August ended with a car accident.
Unfortunately, I was driving home from work one night and hit a car.
Our car was totaled, but everyone was fine, and in the end, that's
all that matters.
October was a very hectic but fun month. Analaya and Tim's wedding was on the 25th, so we spent most of the month getting ready for the exciting event. Britton arrived home from Brazil only five days before the wedding. Anders turned ten just three days before the wedding, Analaya celebrated hers just days after, and Zofeyah turned thirteen the day of the wedding. It was all very exciting! It was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful day! They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so let's just do that.
In
November, basketball started
for Anders, Berit, Zofeyah, and I, with Britton as a coach. This is
the first year Anders has been old enough to play, and he was ready
to go. Britton turned 22 mid-November and is loving his coaching job,
although he's busier than ever coaching three teams and working part
time as a personal care worker in a group home. I went and spent
another week with our family's friends when they had their 6th
child. They asked me to be godmother to the youngest, and I was just
thrilled.
December so
far has been off to a good start. Things definitely feel like they've
slowed down, although we are still busy between basketball, trying to
get remnants of school done, and church stuff. The kids were all in
the Christmas Sunday School program at church, and this year it was
written by Mom and Zofeyah along with another mom and daughter from
church. It was very entertaining but had a good message. Bronwyn
turned six on the 6th
and is always a very entertaining presence in our home.
I suppose that
about wraps up the year for the Unverzagts. I'm sure 2015 will prove
to be another very exciting one!
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