Anyone who looks back at this year in the archives of the future will see that this has been an unusual year for everyone. There has been so much on my heart. 

So, an update.

Anthony is still working at Titan Machinery, our local Case IH dealership. He has been there 20 years - quite a milestone! Recently after being quarantined they missed him so much they offered him a promotion when he got back to work. He will be the shop foreman, mentoring the new mechanics and assisting whenever others in the shop need help. We are so proud of him. Here at home we call him St. Anthony since he takes such good care of us. You will always find him taking care of anything that needs done, and everyone around him. He holds the title of "Favorite Uncle" for several of my nieces and nephews and spoils them with lots of playtime and games. 

Tucker had a milestone birthday this year. We now are the parents of a teenager! We realized on his birthday that we will have a teenager in the house for the next 1 1/2 decades. He catches us off guard sometimes because he is no longer a little boy - he is man sized these days. He is homeschooling this year and attending a couple classes down at Cedar Bluffs Public School. Like most boys his age, his favorite classes there are shop and weightlifting. In his down time you can probably find him hanging out with his cousins, planning his next roller coaster opportunity/adventure, skateboarding, drawing car designs for his future business, zooming around on his go kart or ripstick and listing to audio books and his music loudly around the house. He worked hard on his lawnmowing business this year and spends lots of time with our neighbors who are like grandparents to him. 

Adeline turned 5 this year. Seriously, how did our baby grow up so fast. She is still a tiny, sweet little thing and we joke that her life is a musical. She can often be heard around the house singing. The other day she walked past with a baby in her hand singing softly, "Babies are better than reindeer, Spin (Sven) don't you think I'm right?!" She is apparently a Willie Nelson fan and asks Tucker to turn up the radio any time "On the Road Again" comes on. For Christmas all she wanted was unicorn socks, and any time we are out of chocolate milk (which is pretty much always) she reminds me at every stop we make to remember to pick some up. She is doing some preschool here at home and loves learning, reading, painting and playing games with her Daddy. On vacation Dad was saying that he saw her asleep and she looked like an angel. She piped up and said, "I'm not an angel! Well...sort of." It does seems sometimes like she is part angel. 

This year has had a lot of transition for me. On January 4, 2020 my mom, Cynthia Schaller passed away. I had been her primary caretaker up until her death and both Mom and Dad lived with us for several months during that time. I miss her terribly, but I am so grateful that she did not have to deal with all the challenges of 2020. Trying to manage her health care during all of this would have been extremely difficult. I am still doing some photography as well as homeschooling. This year we have been working on some major remodeling in our house to make a more permanent space for Dad to live with us. He currently still has his home in Carroll, but also lives with us part time. We are getting much closer to completion on the project due to the help of many friends. We are so grateful for all those who have come along beside us to teach us and share their construction skills with us. 

While there are been many struggles and grief, there has also been a lot of gratitude. In May Anthony took me to a cabin in the Sandhills to celebrate Mother's Day, my 40th birthday and 19 years of marriage. All of those things are gifts to be grateful for. We also were able to get together will all of Anthony's family this summer to celebrate his parent's 50th wedding anniversary and had our annual cousin's trip in August. In November my Dad and I both ended up getting COVID. It was very mild for me (another thing to be grateful for!) so I was able to take care of Dad the whole time and make sure he had the medical care needed to get through it. After our bout with COVID we were free to go to Florida and see my sister down there. It was so nice to get out and have some fun this year.  

Like everyone else, we miss you all. We are looking forward to dinner parties again, and company staying with us in our home. Please, come and visit. 

Merry Christmas,

Anthony, Julie, Tucker and Pip