Another year has come to a close. We spent December with holiday celebrations at the kids’ school. We also had celebrations at AWANA. We celebrated Christmas at home as a family with a special piano concert, videos about Jesus’s birth and Charlie Brown Christmas. We spent the last week of the month enjoying time together, Tim had the whole week off from work. We finished with our New Years Eve festivities of gifts, staying up late watching movies, and getting ready to greet a new year with doughnuts.. We also prepared for January when Alicia returns to work and we get into a new routine. As we enter 2022, we like to take time to look back at the previous year and reflect on all the changes and accomplishments.
Cordelia blossomed in first grade at the beginning of the year. She made great friendships, won the speech contest for first grade and the love of learning achievement at the end of the first-grade school year. Now in second grade she is excelling in her math skills and developing her writing skills. She had her first horse riding experience with Mimi and Papa in February. She had a fun summer doing Lego camp and gymnastics camp. Cordelia has learned the free-style stroke in swimming. She learned the basics of gymnastics and started piano lessons. She’s lost six teeth so far. She is growing into a lovely, helpful young lady.
Anthony has been transitioning from toddler to older kid responsibilities. While his mental capacity is high, he’s been working on his emotional control and handling challenges and changes. He’s stepping up as a leader at school and focusing on setting a positive example. He had a fun summer doing Lego camp, a sports camp and going to Disneyland. He’s confidence in swimming has greatly increase and now he can swim with ease and no adult assistance. He learned a lot in gymnastics and really improved his strength. He started piano lessons and is doing well. Overall this year seemed challenging for Anthony as he works through handling his emotions and frustrating situations. But he is also a super fun kid to be around and give us lots of laughs and smiles.
Lydia really enjoyed and excelled during the first half of the year while in pre-school. She learned lots of fun things and learned how to interact better with others. The second half of the year has been more free-form play/learning as Lydia has been home with the Au Pair. Lydia got to experience her first zoo camp with Grandma and Grandpa this summer. She’s continuing to improve in her swimming and can swim a short distance unassisted. She’s growing more in her personality and is generally fun to be around. She really enjoys playing dress up and playing with her dolls.
We started off the year with three kids and now we finish the year with four. Natalie has been a fun addition to the family. While taking care of a new born is exhausting and a lot of work, we are so happy to have Natalie. She has an easy-going personality and is happy to be around doing whatever. All of her siblings really enjoy her and love giving her hugs. She’s made some good milestones during her first three months. She can roll off her tummy, hit her toys, sleep through the night with no swaddle, and is learning to drink from the bottle. This next year will be fun to see her developing and growing.
Alicia had an interesting year. She started the year juggling morning sickness and work. For the first half of the year, she was still working from home and leading Sparks through zoom. Then in the summer there were several changes. The kids switched from full time school to at home with the Au Pair. Alicia’s company also required their employees to return to work in the office. And before the summer was over Alicia had applied and interviewed for a new position in the Project Engineering group within her company. Obviously, the birth of Natalie brought several changes. Alicia is taking advantage of her maternity leave as much as possible before returning to work in January to her new position in the Project Engineering group. Alicia still maintained involved in Sparks, even with the baby addition.
Tim’s year had some great successes and stresses at work. He was continually praised for his accomplishments and contributions. He was a leading contributor on several project and became a licensed small drone pilot. Tim’s company overall went through some challenging times and he almost switched jobs to a different company but ultimately decided to stay. At home Tim made a linen cabinet for the master bedroom, harvested another year of fruits and vegetables in the garden, and upgraded the workbench in the garage shop. Tim also reached a milestone birthday and is now 40!
We celebrated 10 years of marriage this year, enjoyed a Powers clan vacation in Utah, grew in our friendships, increased our service in AWANA, continued improvements to our house and spent quality time with our kids.
In the midst of the day to day it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. We are truly blessed with so many things. We are grateful for our family support and the friendships we are growing. We are thankful for our family and how God is working in each of our kids’ lives. This year has certainly had it’s fair share of challenges and difficulties too. Constant changes to childcare dynamics, changing requirements for COVID regulations, and job stresses. But we know in all things God is still in control and our desire is to focus on Him and do what He’s calling us to each day.
We wish each of you a 2022 filled with God’s love and peace and are so grateful for your prayers and support.
