Lamppostings

So, I obviously missed doing a 2023 review so I’ll do one now, as much for my benefit as anyone else’s.

2023 had some pretty cool things going on.

In January of 2023, Westside Church, where Melissa has worked since 2002 (apart from a break when the kids were little) became Westside Church and Community Center, and Melissa became the Westside Community Center Coordinator. It’s hard to express how much I love this, how proud I am of Westside, and the joy I have in doing my job.

2023 also saw Jude getting his driver’s license, continuing to take classes at Central Oregon Community College as well as Oregon Family School.

Zane started high school at OFS as well, and continued playing double bass with the Central Oregon youth Orchestra.

Colin continued his work with Cenith Innovations and enjoys being a manager and software developer. He also plays keys regularly at Westside in the regular services and in the bilingual service, Iglesia.

We are all working on learning Spanish through Duolingo!

We had a lovely visit from Colin’s cousin, Pamela Blackett. It was great to catch up and play tourist.

June of 2023 was one for our history books! We did a three week train trip through Europe with our dear friends, and favorite travel buddies, Graeme and Becky. I documented the journey, starting here. We visited 7 countries via train and it was amazing.

We had some lovely visits with family as well. Reminded that it’s always worth the effort to stay connected.

We discovered a shared love of pickleball! We played so many games – board games, video games, mind games… Melissa and the boys read a lot of books, Colin listened to a lot of podcasts.

We had regular board game nights, video game nights, movie nights, weekly games and chats with Gran in New Zealand, and weekly online church and lunch with Mom and Dad.

It was a good year.