Christmas 2020

Christmas 2020

 

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this finds you healthy and well in your heart of hearts despite the challenging external circumstances we are all facing this year. We wish you HOPE this Holiday Season and always: HOPE that transcends understandable wishes and desires for life to be different than it actually is; HOPE that understands joy & sorrow, good & bad, easy & difficult, birth & death are part of every single human life; HOPE that trusts no matter what happens, God’s goodness and love will come through even though we don’t know when, where or how it might happen.

We are gradually meeting new people and discovering new opportunities to serve in our new location. The pandemic has slowed this process, but has allowed us to settle in ways we never anticipated. Our professional lives are still active: Lloyd is serving on a few non-profit boards and doing some governance consulting and Vicki continues to “see” clients. We’re still running on a regular basis and eager for the fun of real rather than virtual races again soon. We’re thoroughly enjoying the wide range of outdoor activities that northern Michigan has to offer.

Our primary reason for relocating from central Iowa to northern Michigan last year was to increase geographic proximity to most of our kids and grandkids who live in Michigan or further east. We had plans to continue visiting those who live west of Michigan by flying or by using Iona, our teardrop trailer, for more extended visits (now that we are no longer working full-time). Our wishes and wants were filled with seeing more of our loved ones, including parents and siblings who are scattered all over the US and Canada.

We experienced a brief and wonderful taste of this new geographic arrangement in 2019, but this year the coronavirus put a damper on our expectations. We’ve seen less of our loved ones in 2020 than in any year before…..a strange phenomena, after leaving 27 years of familiar friends and community in Des Moines in order to see more of our loved ones!  We are learning to practice patience and trust on a daily basis.

A few years ago our daughter Kim coined the term original four to refer to her siblings, Kristin, Nicholas, Reuben and herself.  Here they are as little munchkins, and then thirty-some years later as adults:

There are others too, who joined the original four over the years, and became part of our family in one way or another. Some of them call us Mom and Dad, some of them don’t. Some of them have biological or other parents that are a part of their lives, some of them don’t. Our relationship with each of them is unique, but we love them all and hope they can benefit from the security and sense of belonging our family can offer.

Here’s a quick family update:

Kristin, Emma (16), Claire (14) and Levi (11)  live in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Nick & Jess and Rowan (2) live in Denver, Colorado

 

Reuben & Heidi, Eden (13) and Harper (11) live in Hamilton, Ontario

Kim & Paul, Marley (12), Gavin (8) and Gerrit (6) live in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Salome & Isaiah, Micah (6) and Rebekah (3) live in Frederick, Maryland

Michael & Amanda, Mikey (10), Javonnie (7), Cameron (5) and Adrian (2) live in Lees Summit, Kansas

Eddye lives in Owings Mills, Maryland

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays everyone! Keep choosing HOPE and please know you’re always welcome at nadamore!

With love,

Vicki and Lloyd

Vicki Vanderkwaak On December 6, 2020   /   A Word