Year In Review

This is the time of year we look back at where we've been and ahead to what is to come. In church this morning we were reminded to look at our spiritual lives to see where we need to improve and then take steps to make that happen. If any of us say we're fine the way we are, we are not being honest. No one is perfect and there is always room for growth in becoming more like Christ. 

All that said, it is still easier to chart the path of our lives by our visible activities than invisible spiritual things. So here is a snapshot of our lives in 2018.

Our first great-grandchild, Avery Lynn Miller, was born January 15.

Some of my cousins came to help quilt on February 21.

On March 5, Leroy marked 45 years of working at Shank Door.

We enjoyed a week of lovely weather in Sarasota, Florida, the end of March. We had not been in Sarasota for 44 years.

 Our bathroom was remodeled the middle of May.

 We took some time out of our family weekend at the cabin in June to take a 5-generation picture.

 In July we went to the Museum of the Bible and the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.

 On Labor Day we made apple butter at my sister's place and crossed the Susquehanna on the ferry boat on the way home.

We enjoyed  a weekend of camping in Ohio September 21-22, though we wimpy old folks slept in the house.

We went to Holmes County, Ohio, in October where I was scheduled to speak at a writer's conference. An Amish family gave us a place to sleep in an apartment in this building which is used for his business of making horse-drawn farm equipment.

It was a very wet year with record rainfall and a heavy wet snow the middle of November made us wonder what kind of winter we will have.

Leroy celebrated his 75th birthday with a special lunch at work.

We had 34 people at the table and one in the high chair on Christmas Day.

A lot of activity that isn't recorded in pictures took place. Leroy worked on the John Deere tractor he is building from scratch and helped Gerald a couple times with his remodeling project. I crocheted an afghan, wrote a book, a couple articles for the historical society's magazine, a genealogy appendix for the reprinted Jonas Martin Era book, and about a dozen short stories for children. And then there was all the normal daily work of earning a living and keeping the house.

What are we looking forward to in 2019? More of the same everyday life, Lord willing. At this point we have no big trips planned but wild ideas may pop up as we go along. We'll take a day at a time and try to grow spiritually so that when we look back again at the end of the year we can see a difference.