2014 notables

2014 was a pretty wild and crazy and extremely good year for us, although there are some aspects of it I wouldn't mind not repeating in my immediate future. Since I've got limited time on the computer these days (I'm holding an infant as I write this, and the other one is asleep for just a few more minutes), bullet points will have to do for this post.

Notables, for better and for maybe worse:

• Highlight - finding out we were pregnant and ending up with a healthy little baby
• Dim light - labor and delivery

• Highlight - Andrew shedding a few tears when he found out we were having a boy
• Dim light - being peed on during diaper changes from aforementioned little boy

• Highlight - our wonderful, beloved new church here in Indiana, PA
• Nothing bad about that one!

• Highlight - God providing the perfect house for us
• Dim light - it'll be 30 years before it's really our house

• Highlight - the town of Indiana, PA. I particularly like our grocery store Aldi, the fact it only takes me 10 minutes to get anywhere, and hearing Jimmy Stewart's voice at the crosswalks in town telling you when it's okay to walk
• Dim light - the fact we had to move three times in 2014. I never want to pack or unpack again!

• Highlight - how God orchestrated our departure from Tanzania (too many things to mention here, but looking back on the timing and details of it show his hand at work)
• Dim light - saying good-byes to friends in Tanzania

• Highlight - new friends in our new town! I am amazed by how quickly we've ended up with some great relationships
• Dim light - not being able to maintain friendships with friends far away as well as I'd like

• Highlight - local parks and our apartment's swimming pool
• What could be dim about those things?!

• Highlight - visitors coming to see us in PA - Hope College friends, sister-in-law and her family, mother-in-law, my mom, missionary friend from Musoma, and a friend from my CanIL days
• Dim light - um... extra laundry, I guess, if I have to have one on that ;-)

• Highlight - my parents buying us a guest bed as a birthday/housewarming gift so we have a nice place for all of our visitors to stay!
• Dim light - we wish our own mattress were as comfortable (we made a bad choice when we picked our new bed out)

• Highlight - seeing Zarya grow and change. There is a big difference between a 14-month-old and a 26-month-old! That girl is one smart, funny, active, talkative, sweet little toddler.
• Dim light - intelligent, agile toddlers can get into an awful lot of trouble in a very short amount of time...

• Highlight - having a really sleepy, cuddly, quiet baby. Jerod has got to be the easiest infant ever.
• Dim light - um... if pressed to come up with one, that it's hard to get interesting pictures of him because his eyes are closed and he's blissfully smiling in slumber every time we get the camera out. I don't think we have much to complain about with this little guy!

• Highlight - Finishing Ikizu Genesis!!!
• Dim light - that it took three years to get to that celebratory point, and that I already found at least one misspelling in it.

• Highlight - translation work. I love my job, and I'm thrilled that I can still do it from afar.
• Dim light - I miss being with the translators face-to-face

• Highlight - having fast internet, clean water, and consistent electricity in America
• Dim light - the utter lack of cheap tropical fruits here and no year-round sunshine and warm days

And that's my year! Or at least the parts of it I can remember right now!