2019 in Review

Merry Christmas, everyone! Welcome back to our yearly blog entry. Here’s what’s been happening around here.

DECEMBER 21, 2018

• Atticus Jonathan Unverzagt was born to Leif and Dori.

JANUARY

• Berit turned 16 and started driving.
• Another international student moved into our home, Bob from China.
• Emma turned 20. She was still at Bodenseehof Bible School in Freidrichshafen, Germany.
• Lots of basketball went down. Zofeyah, Berit, and Anders played. Jonathan reffed.

FEBRUARY

• Basketball. Snowstorm. Basketball. Snowstorm. Basketball. Snowstorm. Hope bought snowshoes.

MARCH

• Our family (along with the Monroe County Warriors varsity teams) went to Springfield, MO, for the National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships. 
• Jonathan traveled to Germany to speak at the Bible school Emma was attending.
• Berit got herself a little rescue dog, Simo.
• Sigre turned 22.

APRIL

• Hope became a beekeeper. She had one hive and harvested 10 lbs of honey.
• Anders was confirmed.
• Emma returned from Germany and got a job as manager and barista at Franklin Coffee House in Sparta (where Zofeyah works).
• Gretchen turned 28. She is a stay-at-home mom who works per diem as an OB nurse. Ryan works for the post office.

MAY

• Jonathan traveled to Uganda to train pastors for two weeks.
• Hope got brave and donated 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love.
• Anders played AAU basketball and traveled to lots of tournaments.

JUNE

• Jalen, our international student from Japan, moved out.
• We hosted Martin, an international student from France, for three weeks.
• Anara Swan Unverzagt was born to Britton and Cassie on June 12.
• Jonathan traveled to Pennsylvania for our church denomination’s annual Conference.
• Finn got stitches for a cut on his leg.
• We took our annual family vacation to a cabin in northern MN.

JULY

• Jonathan, Britton, Zofeyah, Berit, and Anders (along with a large group of people from our church) traveled to the Free Lutheran Youth convention in Estes Park, CO.
• We hosted Colombe, another international student from France, for three weeks.
• Zofeyah got her certification to lifeguard.
• Jonathan, Zofeyah, Berit, and Anders went on Faith on Fire drama team tour for a week.
• Jonathan spoke at a family Bible camp. Hope, Zofeyah, Anders, Finn, and Bronwyn went with.

AUGUST

• We hosted a Dyrud family reunion at our house. Over 100 people attended.
• Marielle Avonlea Haagenson was born to Analaya and Tim on August 12th.
• We did a little remodel, dividing a big bedroom into two smaller ones.
• Gretchen and Ryan announced the upcoming arrival of Sawatsky baby number 4 in March 2020 (grandbaby #8 for us).

SEPTEMBER

• Our international student, Bob, returned from China to spend his senior year with us.
• The Millpond Academy Homeschool began its 24th year. Zofeyah is in 12th grade, Berit in 11th, Anders in 9th, Finn in 6th, and Bronwyn in 5th.
• Hope continues to tutor international students in English as a Second Language.
• Homeschool co-op started back up again at our house; there are 20 students this year.
• Leif turned 25. He works for ISG Architectural Group. They bought their first house this year. Dori stays home, writing when she can and creating DIY projects to sell.
• Sigre moved home during a break between jobs.
• Finn turned 12.
• Analaya, Gretchen, and Hope attended the Wild and Free homeschool conference in Franklin, Tennessee.

OCTOBER

• Zofeyah ran in (and completed) the Twin Cities Marathon.
• Anders turned 15.
• Zofeyah turned 18. The next day she jumped out of an airplane.
• Analaya turned 30. She is a stay-at-home mom and helps with the caretaking of their apartment building. Tim is a teacher.

NOVEMBER

• Zofeyah got certified as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant).
• Britton turned 27. He is in the educational program at Winona State, and Cassie works at Logistics Health Incorporated.
• Leif and Dori got licensed for foster care and took in their first baby. 
• Jonathan and Hope attended the ECHO conference in Fort Myers, FL, in preparation for Jonathan’s new parttime position as director for the Hope Centers for the Children of Africa. He continues to pastor Christ Is Lord church, coach and ref basketball, and be a chaplain for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and the Sparta Police Department.

DECEMBER

• Bronwyn will turn 11.
• Zofeyah will begin her new job as a CNA in OB at Tomah Health Center.
• We will attend Triple Espresso in Minneapolis for our annual Christmas Trip at the end of the month.
• We look forward to spending time together celebrating the birth of our Savior.

We appreciate each one of you so much. Not only because of the fact you actually took time to look up a link you found in small print at the bottom of a Christmas card, but mainly because God has placed you in our lives. We are so very blessed. May your 2020 be filled with peace, hope, and joy in abundance.

2018 in Review

Merry Christmas to each of you dear friends (and relatives)! You are probably here because you read the small print on our Christmas card. Thank you for actually taking the time to stop by our annually updated blog. Here is what we’ve been up to the past twelve months.

January

• Berit turned 15.
• Emma turned 19.
• We hosted a homeschool co-op once a week at our house.
• There was lots of basketball between Jonathan’s officiating public school games and the Monroe County Warriors (MCW) homeschool basketball teams (Zofeyah, Berit, and Anders). Each of the three kids ended up winning All-Tourney awards at various tournaments during the season.

February

• Bronwyn started taking guitar lessons.
• Zofie started working as a barista at Franklin Coffee House in Sparta.
• Jalen Lee, an international student from Japan, joined our family. He attends West Salem High School in West Salem, WI.
• Granddaughter Eleri (Gretchen and Ryan’s oldest) turned 3.
• Zofie got her long-awaited golden retriever puppy. She named him Mosley.
• Britton got hired as a paraprofessional educator at Onalaska Middle School in Onalaska, WI. Cassie continues to work at Logistics Health Incorporated.
• Gretchen’s husband Ryan started working for the U.S. Postal Service. Gretchen continues to work in a casual position as an OB nurse at Black River Falls Hospital. 

March

• The MCW varsity teams headed to Springfield, MO, for a week at the NCHBC (National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships).
• Meanwhile Analaya, Gretchen, their kids, Finn, Bronwyn, and I headed to Grandma Dyrud’s house near Newfolden, MN, and to Winnipeg, MB, to visit Auntie Ingrid, Uncle Phil, and the cousins.
• Emma moved to Minneapolis for four months. She lived with Analaya and Tim while she nannied for several families from their church.
• Sigre turned 21. (She lives in an apartment in La Crosse and works at Hancock and Robinson CPAs as an accountant.)
• I attended the Set Apart Conference in St. Paul, MN, with my mom, aunt, two sisters, and Analaya.

April

• Anders got on an AAU (a well-known athletic organization) summer basketball team.
• Britton and Sigre walked the stage at the Western Technical College graduation ceremony--Sigre with an Accounting degree and Britton with an Educational Assistant degree.
• Berit and Anders took their first flight on an airplane, a little eight-seater, from Minneapolis to Thief River Falls to see Grandma.
• Bronwyn played on a park and rec soccer team.
• Gretchen turned 27.
• Leif and Dori surprised us with news of their baby coming in December.

May

• Berit and Jalen took drivers ed.
• Kids started using our new toy, the Rubber Docky (water mat), in the pond.
• We traveled to Plymouth, MN, for Cousin Brett and Serena’s wedding.
• Analaya’s husband Tim graduated from Hamlin University with a Master’s Degree in Teaching. He currently teaches ESL at Meadow Lake Elementary School in New Hope, MN, and they continue to be caretakers for their apartment building.

June

• Bronwyn took swimming lessons and passed level 5.
• We signed up to support a Brazilian child through Compassion International. His name is Carlos.
• Jalen went home to Japan for the summer.
• Leif and Dori moved to Mankato, MN, for Leif’s work at ISG Architectural Group. He is learning electrical architecture out of the Mankato branch. Dori gave up her barista job to stay home and write until the baby comes.
• The entire family gathered at a cabin on Eagle Lake (at Faith Haven Bible Camp near Battle Lake, MN) for four days for our 2017 Christmas Trip. We had such a wonderful time we all decided to gather together there every June for an annual family vacation.
• Jonathan and I took a 30th wedding anniversary trip abroad. We started off in Granada, Spain, and had an amazing time visiting our former international student, Antonio, and his family and touring the city.  We then flew to Norway to attend the General Assembly of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission and enjoyed the Blue Lagoon in Iceland during a lengthy layover on our way home. It was an anniversary to remember.

 July

• Jonathan spoke at two different Bible camps.
• Zofie attended and counseled at several weeks of Tent Camp.
• Bronwyn attended Tent Camp.
• Lots of cousins spent lots of time here.
• Emma finally got a peacock chick, and Eleri got her very own chicken who lives here in Grandma and Grandpa’s coop. (Yes, it has come in the house several times.)
• Dori and her sister Alivia came to visit for two weeks.
• Ewan David Sawatsky was born to Gretchen and Ryan. He was born on Gretchen and Ryan’s 6th anniversary and on his Great-grandma Dyrud’s birthday, July 21st.
• Later that same day Leif and Dori had their gender reveal party, and we learned we would be getting another grandson in December.

August

• Jonathan took the Faith on Fire drama team from church on a week-long tour. Zofie, Berit, and Anders are all part of FOF.
• Granddaughter Geneva, Gretchen and Ryan’s second, turned two.
• Jalen returned from Japan.
• We hosted two Hungarians who came to speak at our Labor Day Family Retreat.

September

• The entire family attended the Labor Day Family Retreat. Little Ewan was baptized there by the lake.
• The Millpond Academy Homeschool began its 23rd year and has five students enrolled: Zofie is in 11th grade, Berit is in 10th, Anders is in 8th, Finn is in 5th, and Bronwyn is in 4th.
• Homeschool co-op started up again at our house, this time with five additional students. We mummified a chicken during our Egyptian unit. (It was store bought and dead when we got in, in case you were wondering.)
• Finn turned 11.
• Leif turned 24.
• Emma left to attend Bodenseehof Bible School (Torchbearers International) in Friedrichshafen, Germany. She will return home in April.
• I began online coursework through English Success Academy to learn to teach international students how to prepare for the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) test. I continue to do ESL tutoring.
• Jonathan began his 19th year of ministry at Christ Is Lord Lutheran Church. He continues to officiate lots of basketball games and be a chaplain for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.

October

• I attended the Breathe Writers Conference in Grand Rapids, MI, with my mom and sister Tamara.
• Britton got hired to coach an Onalaska Middle School basketball team.
• Leif and Dori took a two-week trip to Ireland.
• The MCW basketball teams started their 2018-2019 season.
• Berit and several friends took a sightseeing trip to San Francisco.
• Anders turned 14.
• Zofie turned 17.
• Grandson Halden, Analaya and Tim’s son, turned 2.
• Analaya turned 29.

November

• Zofie, Berit, two aunts, four girl cousins, and I attended an excellent mother/daughter conference in Hudson, WI, called, “Speak Truth in Your Heart” (put on by Tomorrow’s Forefathers Ministries).
• Britton and Cassie surprised us with news of their baby coming in June.
• Bronwyn joined a park and rec basketball team.
• We finally put up a fence around our playground area. It was a family project, and it looks quite fine, if I do say so myself.
• Leif and Dori’s offer on a house in Mankato was accepted, and they plan to move in the beginning of January.
• Britton turned 26.

December

• Bronwyn turned 10.
• The entire family (minus Emma, of course) enjoyed our 2018 Christmas Trip to see Christian comedian Tim Hawkins live in Onalaska, WI.
• We continue to eagerly await the birth of our new grandson this month.

And there was so much more. Bullet lists don’t capture all those pleasant times of just being...hanging out with family and friends, picking berries, sipping coffee, family devotions with hymn singing and sharing, the music of cello/flute/piano/guitar filling the house, the smell of woodsmoke and scented candles, laughing together, ministering together, practicing hospitality, and cuddling new babies. Thankfully they also don’t include the flip side... the major scheduling challenges that go on around here, the adventures of owning several vehicles on “hospice,” the loss of a family cat, the hours of weeding and lawn mowing in the heat of summer, the challenges of training a puppy. But it’s all part of life. We just pray we handle it all, both the easy and the difficult, with grace, joy, and peace. Always reflecting our Savior in everything we do and say. And being a blessing to each of you.

JOY and PEACE to each of you this Christmas and in 2019!!