The Unverzagt family is growing. Two new grandbabies in one year. We love it! So what else have we been up to besides gaining grandchildren? Here is a brief overview of 2016.
January—Basketball, basketball,
and more basketball. Jonathan reffed. Britton coached. Zofie, Berit, and Anders
played. Berit turned 13, and Emma turned 17.
February—Grandbaby #1, Eleri,
turned one. Britton got certified in TESOL and can now Teach English to
Students of Other Languages. Jonathan turned 53.
March—Zofie began taking cello lessons.
Both the boys and girls basketball teams went to Springfield, MO, for
nationals. The rest of us went to Newfolden, MN, to visit Grandma Dyrud. Sigre
turned 19.
April—After 46 years of being a widow,
Grandma Unverzagt married Pastor Ron Wik (on her birthday). Finn started taking
drum lessons. Gretchen turned 25.
May—Zofie got confirmed. Ryan graduated
from Crown College with a second degree in Criminal Justice. Hope tried her
hand at grant writing. Britton entered a relationship with Cassie, a delightful
young woman from our church.
June—Our family attended Faith Haven Bible
Camp near Fergus Falls, MN, where Jonathan was one of the speakers. Hope, along
with several other women, modeled for Macy’s at the annual Go Red luncheon, an
event to promote women’s heart health. We welcomed an English Immersion student
into our home for eight weeks. Hope tutored Antonio in English every day, and
our family learned a lot about Spain.
July—Jonathan, Emma, and two other
students from our church joined a team of 12 people from IA on a missions trip
to Hungary for three weeks. Britton spent the month of July in Brazil with a
group of six guys holding basketball camps and ministering. Construction on our
new garage began. Anders attended a Christian Laettner basketball camp.
August—Jonathan, Emma, Zofie,
and Berit (and a bunch of other students) went on Faith on Fire drama team tour
for a week. Ryan began his job as telecommunicator for Ramsey County 911 in St.
Paul, MN. We hosted the Dyrud cousins reunion. On the day we said goodbye to
Antonio, we welcomed little Geneva Brin into the world (Ryan and Gretchen’s
second daughter). Axel, a black lab/hound/pit bull mix, joined our family.
September—The Millpond Academy
Homeschool began its 21st year. We hosted two Hungarian missionaries
for several weeks. Finn and Bronwyn played park & rec soccer. Hope began
tutoring four Chinese students in ESL. Tim began teaching ESL to 3rd
graders in two different schools in Robbinsdale, MN. Leif turned 22. Finn
turned 9. And Hope had a birthday, too. The college students headed back to
school: Britton in education, Leif in architectural technology, and Sigre in
accounting. Leif marked the halfway point of his separation from Dori, a lovely
young woman from KY who has a 20 month mission commitment in East Asia.
October—Hope attended the Breathe
Christian Writers Conference in MI with her mom and sister, Tamara. Anders
turned 12. Zofeyah turned 15. Analaya turned 27. Our first grandson arrived--Halden
Daniel (born to Analaya and Tim).
November—Jonathan, Hope, Britton, Emma,
and Zofie, along with five other members of our church, went on a missions trip
to Paraguay and Brazil. Britton turned 24.
December—Bronwyn turned 8. Leif
will finish college and begin looking for employment in his field.
Of course, there were lots of other goings-on during
the year. That’s just life in a large family. Jonathan performed many weddings.
The girls had lots of extended babysitting jobs. Zofie joined the praise team
at church. We put up a new pool after the old one finally gave out after many
years of hard use.
There were some difficult times—four inches of mud
sliding into our basement, Grandpa Ron Wik enduring open heart surgery, the children’s
neighborhood friends moving away, our gymnastics coach moving to IL, having to
junk out five of our vehicles (including Leif’s nice car after he hit a deer),
strep throat, and pneumonia.
And there were blessings—dear friends coming to know
the Lord, a brand new garage to park in, our blueberry bushes producing
abundantly for the first time ever, our precious little passel of grandkids,
iced coffee on the deck with good friends, encouraging Bible camps, our
wonderful church, three new-to-us vehicles, God’s continual provision. We have
it so good.
It is our desire that you will see God’s hand in every
situation of your life and His fingerprint on even the seemingly unimportant
details. Then be overwhelmed with thankfulness.
Christmas greeting to each one of you, and thank you
for taking the time to actually look up our yearly blog and read it. We appreciate
you.
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