2015 in Review

Yes, we do update our blog regularly. Every Christmas. I know that’s not often. I’ve heard the complaints. All I can say is…maybe someday I will become a blogger. But in the meantime, please enjoy our yearly updates.

The Year in Review:  2015

January:

            *Berit turned 12.

            *Hope had surgery on a toe that had been dislocated for six years.

            *Emma turned 16.

            *There was lots of basketball. Sigre played for the varsity girls; Zofeyah, Berit, and Anders played on the junior varsity teams; Britton coached; and Jonathan was the Athletic Director for the Monroe County Warriors homeschool basketball program. He also reffed a number of games for other teams.

February:

            *Jonathan spoke at a men’s retreat in Northwood, ND.

            *Emma got her driver’s license and started nannying for three kids in Sparta.

            *Eleri Hilda was born to Gretchen and Ryan.

March:

          *Guys went to the homeschool basketball nationals in Springfield, MO.

            *Our remodel was completed—two walls torn down to make a bigger living room, wood floors refinished, basement door moved.

            *The younger kids attended weekly homeschool co-op classes at church; Hope taught writing.

            *Sigre turned 18.

April:

            *Britton moved to KY to join Leif.

            *Hope completely course work for certification in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages).

            *The family (six youngest kids) took a trip to KY to bring a trailer load of household items to the boys.

            *Jonathan started doing monthly church services in the Memory Unit at the Morrow Home in Sparta, WI. Hope and the five youngest accompany him to sing for the residents.

May:

            *The men redid all our garden fencing and put up trellises for the blackberries and raspberries.

            *Sigre graduated from high school.

            *The family (five youngest kids) took a trip to DeKalb, IL, to visit old friends and our former church.

            *Hope was chosen to be on our clinic’s Patient Advisory Council.

            *Jonathan began a three-month sabbatical which included travel, personal retreats, lots of good books, and mentoring.

June:

            *Our entire family spent three days together at a cabin on Little Stone Lake for            our 2014 Christmas Trip.`          `

            *Anders joined a park and rec baseball team.

            *Grandma U took Sigre on a trip to Mackinac Island as a graduation gift.

            *Grandma D, Aunt Helene, Emma, and Hope accompanied Sigre to the outdoor theater in Spring Green, WI, to see Pride and Prejudice, her graduation gift from Mom and Dad.

           

July:

          *Britton, Leif, Emma, Zofeyah, and Berit attended the FLY (Free Lutheran Youth) Convention in Estes Park, CO.

            *Jonathan and Hope attended the Grand Assembly of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission in Stavanger, Norway. Afterwards they spent a week with Dr. Derek and Pauline Stringer in Christchurch, England.

            *We had to find a new home for our dachshund, Panz, when he started killing our chickens for sport.

            *Zofeyah, Berit, Finn, and Bronwyn attended Tent Camp, a ministry of the American Missionary Fellowship, in Alma Center, WI.

            *The family (six youngest kids) took a trip to the Black Hills of SD.

            *Britton and Leif moved back from KY in order to go to school.

August:

            *Berit and Anders took the Hunter’s Safety course.

            *Sigre, Emma, and Zofeyah went on a weeklong tour with the Faith on Fire drama team which Jonathan directs.

            *We did a second little remodel with the help of Analaya’s husband Tim and his parents, converting our schoolroom into two bedrooms for the older boys, adding floor to ceiling shelving in the kids’ playroom for all our books, and converting our junky dog shed into a cute garden shed.

September:

            *Jonathan began his 16^th year of ministry at Christ Is Lord Church in Onalaska, WI.

           *Hope turned 50 and spent the day celebrating with all the children home.

            *Tim began his final year at Hamline University where he will complete the ESL teacher licensure program in June. He and Analaya continue to live in St. Paul. Analaya nannys two little girls several days a week and does some occasional home care.

            * Gretchen, Ryan, and Eleri moved from Minneapolis, MN, to Stillwater, MN. Ryan began his final semester toward a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Crown College. Gretchen continues to work as an OB nurse at Black River Memorial Hospital.

            *Britton began the Instructional Assistant program at WTC (Western Technical College) and started working at Coulee Region Adult Day Center.

            *Leif began the Architectural Technology program at WTC and started working at Gap.

            *Sigre began the Accounting program at WTC and nannys a couple days a week for two little boys.

            *Our homeschool, the Millpond Academy, celebrated its 20^th anniversary.

            *Emma began her junior year of high school and started working as a soda jerk/coffee    barista at Ginny’s Cupboard coffee shop and restaurant.

            *Zofeyah entered eighth grade.

            *Berit entered seventh grade.

            *Anders entered fifth grade.

            *Finn turned 8 and entered second grade.

            *Bronwyn entered first grade.

            *Hope attended a Children’s Ministry conference at Answers in Genesis in Petersburg, KY, with two other women from church.

            *Our apple trees produced heartily, so we made applesauce, applesauce, and more applesauce.

            *We did a mini-remodel by adding a wall and moving a bedroom door to make a little hallway downstairs in preparation for eventually adding a breezeway into a garage with an attached granny flat.

October:

            *Anders turned 11.

            *Zofeyah turned 14 and got her ears pierced.

            *Finn got the birthmark/mole on his face removed.

November:

            *The entire family saw The Little Mermaid at the La Crosse Community Theater and then ate out at Old Country Buffet for our early 2015 Christmas Trip.

            *Gretchen added to her schedule a very part time position as a casual OB nurse at Lakeview Hospital, six blocks from her house.

            *Finn had tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed.

            *We finally junked out Lazarus, our fifteen passenger van who had faithfully served us for thirteen years.

December:

            *Bronwyn, our baby, turned 7.

If you are reading this, chances are good you received one of our Christmas cards this year. We want you to know how much we love and value each one of you and that you were prayed for. Individually. Out loud. We could think of no better gift to give the people we love than to lift them up in prayer to our Lord and Savior—the One who is the whole reason we are celebrating.

2014 in Review

2014 at the Unverzagts'!

Written by Sigre Unverzagt.

It all started in January. We kicked off the new year with Berit's 11^th 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.

September is a month full of birthdays for us. Mom kicks it off with her birthday. Then Finn turned seven and Leif turned 20 within a few days of each other. September also kicked off gymnastics and the homeschool co-op at our church. Bronwyn, the last Unverzagt, started school this year. Mom no longer has any younger kids running around while she teaches school. Well, at least not intentionally. Dad decided it was a good time to begin the downstairs remodeling and took a sledgehammer to the livingroom wall. Now with that gone, we have a much bigger livingroom area, enough to fit the whole family when they are all home. Mom and Dad won a trip to Seattle, WA to speak at a big conference as the Clients of the Year for Consumer Credit Counseling Services. They got to stay in a nice four star hotel and greatly enjoyed the trip. Since Dad did his internship in Ferndale, they also enjoyed getting to see friends from their old church. We also found out we were eligible for free window replacements all over the house. It was a huge blessing to be able to get rid of our leaky windows and finally trap the heat in our large house.

October was a very hectic but fun month. Analaya and Tim's wedding was on the 25^th, 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 6^th 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 6^th 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!

2013 in Review ~Sigre Unverzagt

 Dad had a big year; he turned 50!

Also, he, Sigre, and Emma went to Hungary in August and really enjoyed it.

Mom had a big scare this year with a heart attack in April. Thankfully she recovered very well and is fine now, and remains healthy! Also, she got a wonderful opportunity to go to San Francisco with Grandma (Dad's mom) and Auntie Gina.

Mom is very thankful for Grandma's (Dad's mom) coming out once a week to be a teacher's aid, something Mom has always wanted!

Analaya is keeping busy and enjoys working at three different jobs: a receptionist, a nanny, and a caretaker. She loves living in the cities close to Gretchen and Ryan. She had fun playing softball on a church team this summer. But even more than that, she loves spending time with Tim Haagenson, who recently came home to meet the fam. He was a big hit with everyone!

This year Gretchen graduated from the WTC nursing program! 

She works in home health care in Minneapolis and got her dream position in OB at the hospital in Black River Falls on weekends. So we see her at home more often, and we are all happy about that. Ryan is working as a server at The Newsroom in downtown Minneapolis and will be returning to school to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice.

Britton went to Brazil for four months this summer to work alongside missionaries.  Among the many, many things he did there, he went repelling one day. He begins college in January.

The separation seems like it was hard for Britton, but who's to say for Leif. :)

 Leif went on lots of trips this year: Texas, Chicago, and the U.P. He is currently in Sweden for a nine-month stay, going to a Bible school in Holsby Brunn.

 The picture above is from the boys' trip to the U.P.

Sigre, the smartest, funniest, and best-behaved child got her driver's license this year and enjoys driving a lot. She also got the wonderful chance to go back to Hungary with her dad and bring Emma this time, too!

 Emma got her ears pierced, her tonsils out, and got confirmed this year. Lots of the family came to see her get confirmed.

She somehow managed to look about perfect while in the hospital to get her tonsils out. Having said that, it was a long, painful process.

Zofeyah is playing basketball again this year and loves it. She joined Berit in playing soccer and likes that, too. Also, she got a buck this year hunting with Dad! The whole family is enjoying the meat.

Berit played soccer for a 2nd year in a row and then decided to try out basketball as well. She loves both!

Anders spends most, if not all, of his time either watching or playing football or basketball. He is currently very into football, so this year he spent his birthday money to buy himself a football outfit.

Finn started riding his bike, and started school this year! He keeps very busy all the time and loves to show us his newest project. He schemes a lot to find a way to make money. This was his most recent attempt, and he made quite a bit for a little boy.

(The sign says, "Please put money in the pail.")

Bronwyn is always jumping around and getting into trouble, so no one was very shocked when she broke her arm and her leg (at different times) this year, bringing the total of broken bones up to three. For a five-year-old, that's pretty good!





Have a very Merry Christmas, and God's blessings on you in 2014!