Welcome back to our blog, the one we update only once a year. If you are here, it's most likely because you received our Christmas card and actually took the time to open your computer and type in our address. Thank you for that. It means a lot to us. We don't want to force our goings-on upon anyone, but as long as you are here of your own accord, we are happy to share our month-by-month bullet points with you.
January:
~We enjoyed a family-wide bout of Covid, complete with lethargy and tastelessness.
~Traveled to Indiana for a wedding.
~Emma was in a car accident. She was fine. The van wasn't.
February:
~Zofeyah got her wisdom teeth pulled.
~Emma got engaged to Isaac McPherson, a pastor from Sparta.
March:
~Went to the homeschool basketball nationals in Springfield, MO, where Berit played the final game of her senior year.
~Jonathan traveled to Uganda as part of his job as executive director of the ministry Hope Centers for Children of Africa.
April:
~Anders joined an AAU basketball team.
~Zofie did ground school, the first step in her getting her pilots license.
~We had professional family pictures taken for the first time in many, many years.
~Had our 2020 Christmas "trip" to Le Chateau French Restaurant.
May:
~Cousin Ilya moved in for the summer.
~A bear destroyed our bird feeders.
~With a little help from friends and relatives, we sewed 300 cloth napkins for Emma and Isaac's wedding (and seven flower girl dresses).
~Leo, our international student from China, graduated and returned home.
~Britton graduated from Winona State University.
~Berit graduated from homeschool.
June:
~Emma and Isaac got married!
~Evander Jon Haagenson, our 11th grandchild, was born to Analaya and Tim!
~Britton and Cassie announced that baby #2 is on the way!
~Gretchen and Ryan announced that baby #5 is on the way!
~Finn took an online film-making class.
~We took our yearly family vacation to a cabin on a lake.
~Hope and Bronwyn tagged along on Faith on Fire drama team tour.
July:
~Zofie, Finn, and Bronwyn served at a youth work camp at Free Lutheran Bible College with a bunch of youth from our church.
~Anders traveled to a number of AAU basketball tournaments (in Orlando, FL; Atlanta, GA; Wisconsin Dells, etc).
~Finn filled in for Anders at Craig's Meats while he was gone. Getting a paycheck was nice, so Finn decided to stay on.
~A bunch of the family took a road trip to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter in KY.
~Finn, Bronwyn, and Hope flew up to visit Grandma Dyrud.
~Gretchen's husband Ryan passed his citizenship test and was officially sworn in as a US citizen a couple months later.
August:
~Jonathan spoke at the AFLC Family Camp, so a bunch of us joined him for the week.
~Jonathan and Hope attended their first truck and tractor pull ever (at the invitation of friends).
~We had a special girls' night at The American Players Theater in Spring Green, WI, to see the play Cymbeline (Berit's grad gift).
~Hope spoke at a homeschool conference for the first time.
~We had a better-than-expected honey harvest.
~Britton and Cassie's gender reveal revealed that we will be getting another grandSON in January!
~Britton got a teaching job at Blair-Taylor Middle School.
September:
~Cousin Ilya moved home.
~We took a family trip to the MN State Fair on our way to the Labor Day Family Retreat. And Finn treated several of his friends to a trip to the Renaissance Festival on the way home.
~Berit painted our house.
~Sigre started babysitting Anara, Britton and Cassie's daughter, and continues to babysit Gretchen and Ryan's kids whenever Gretchen works.
~The men did lots of work on our deck.
~The Millpond Academy Homeschool began its 26th year. We are down to only three students: Anders is in 11th grade, Finn is in 8th, and Bronwyn is in 7th.
~Homeschool co-op started up again. We had between 30-36 people at our house every Thursday.
October:
~Berit moved to Minneapolis for a couple months (for an adventure).
~Hope jumped on the sourdough bandwagon. It didn't go well.
~We made a trip up to Grandma Dyrud's for barn wood and got in on Canadian Thanksgiving cooked by Hope's sister Ingrid.
~ Hope and Zofie went with Jonathan on his biannual trip to Africa.
November:
~Leif and Dori announced that baby #4 is on the way!
~They also announced their plans to move from MN to KY this spring. (That announcement wasn't nearly as well-received as the first.)
~Britton and Cassie began the process of buying a house in Taylor, WI, only ten minutes away from Britton's school. They look forward to moving out of their apartment and being homeowners.
~Britton had emergency gallbladder surgery. It was a good move.
December:
So far this month we have received another international student, the ninth we've had the honor of hosting. The rest is to be determined, I guess. What I do know is that we will have 15 basketball games and two tournaments, a Faith on Fire performance, a Sunday School Christmas Program, four appointments, and several speaking engagements. We will celebrate four family birthdays, one anniversary, and the birth of our Savior. Any further excitement will just have to be included next year.
This is just a small glimpse into our year and our lives. There is oh so much else that goes on here. We have hosted cousins, friends, soccer teams, missionaries, weekly Sabbath Dinners, birthday parties, grandbabies galore, and many informal get-togethers. We've attended (and spoken at) Bible studies, Poetry Teatimes, weddings, drum and piano and carving lessons, youth group, field trips, and umpteen basketball games. There is rarely a dull moment or an empty schedule. But we are blessed beyond measure. God is so good!
May you experience abundant joy and peace in 2022! We are so thankful for you!
