Holiday Cheer & A Brand New Year

It is weird to think that we made the decision to host foreign exchange students only a year ago. Since then, four beautiful girls have come into our lives. It is also strange to think that Spicy and Hanna have now been here for as long as we had Dani and Amy. I am so glad we don't have to say goodbye to our sweet girls yet because I remember how that felt and I can wait on that terrible feeling! As we look back on 2013, we see a year full of happiness and a year full of sadness. To say we experienced all feelings and emotions in 2013 would be putting it mildly.

January brought excitement as we welcomed Dani and Amy into our home and began our hosting journey. We are so grateful for the time we got to host them and for the lasting relationships we built with our first girls. We made so many memories that we will hold for the rest of our lives.

February is my birthday month and it ended happily but the first part of February was a mixed bag of adjusting to life with the girls, dealing with hard things at school, and rejoicing with my side of the family at our annual bull sale.

March was busy with music contest, track, and daily life. This was the month we chose the students that would be coming in the fall and although I know it was hard for Dani, I am so grateful she helped us with this. We also took a trip to Chicago with Dani and Amy which we squeezed in and I am so glad we did because we have such great memories from it--although George's biggest memory is probably how sick he was.

April is the month of prom and it was also a snowy month here. We spent several days at home due to the white stuff and those days are some of the most memorable for me since it gave us many extra hours to spend together as a family. Bacon, eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, and orange juice generally started out our day and most of the time we were fortunate to get a break in the weather about the time we needed to stock back up on the "necessities" of life.

May began with George's birthday, birthday week, birthday month....and saw the ending of the school year and all the busyness that comes with it. We then set out on our Great American Road trip. At first, I was hesitant about this trip because I knew it would mean many, many hours in the car and we were stuffed in the car like you wouldn't believe. In the end though, I am so thankful that we journeyed through nine states and experienced so many things together in our final days as a family.

June brought what I thought would be the saddest and hardest goodbye of the year (though I was partially wrong there) as we bid farewell to our sweet daughters and sent them back over the pond to their biological parents. I still miss them dearly but now I think back with happiness that we had such a wonderful opportunity to make them part of our family. After returning home, we went to Montana (again...for the second time in the summer) for my cousin Danelle's wedding and had a great time.

July started out happy and busy. The Fourth of July is always a big celebration here and this year was no different. We spent some time in Fremont as well--I always love being in Fremont in the summer because it reminds me of when George and I started dating! We set out at the end of July for Montana (third time!) but this trip was different and marked by two celebrations; one happy, the other sad. My mom's parents were celebrating their 60th anniversary and we had a large family reunion with all but two family members there. However, the day before we were to leave to go to the campground where we would celebrate we received word that my dad's mom (Grandma Bob) had gone to Heaven and so ended July.

August is a bit of a blur. On the way home from Montana the pickup broke down on the side of I-90 at 3:00 a.m. just outside of Kadoka. Since we could not get a tow until the morning, George, Dad, and I slept in the pickup and waited for dawn. After riding all the way from Kadoka to Lakeview in a tow truck, knowing that in a couple of days we would bury my Grandma, home was a welcome sight and my bed an even more welcome sight. August 3 was a sad day.
We spent some time in Fremont when we picked up not only our new students but also two students that are living with our art/Spanish teacher. Spicy, Hanna, Jules, and Susi quickly became friends. They brought back some happiness in August! We knew we were in for a fun year...

September = Hanna's birthday & school. We also had the addition of two more students to our STS group: Sabine and Ella. September was fairly uneventful other than the usual activity of school and fall activities.

October is Halloween and our wedding anniversary. The girls helped decorate the house and we had a fun October working on studying for drivers' permits, riding horse, going to Minneapolis for a Huskers game, and just being an awesome family ;)

November is Thanksgiving and we introduced Spicy and Hanna to overeating! They were a tremendous amount of help in the kitchen and I seriously wondered how I ever got everything done without them (oh yeah, just got up WAY earlier). These poor girls probably get sick of helping me out but they are so good at it and so capable! We traditionally decorate over Thanksgiving weekend and this year was no different.

December was a busy, sad, happy, mixed roller coaster ride. December is always crazy for me because of the programs and preparations that need to be made for them. We had 10+ girls spend the night to sing "Silent Night" in four languages at our church--what an experience to have that many girls sleep on our living room floor! We baked 10 cheesecakes, served 80 people a fancy dinner with a concert, hit a coyote with the car, made over 600 runzas, and celebrated Christmas! These quiet moments I am spending on a beautiful January day in 2014 seem like a better start to the new year than the ending to the last :)

Our 2013 was a happy, sad, jam packed year. We look forward to 2014. May God bless your new year and may His love shine in your hearts and lives now and always.