Well, here we are again, at the end of the
year. We look back to the busy events of
the last 12 months and look ahead to another year of ups and downs. I can barely remember last Christmas or
winter and somehow I have been too busy to do much scrapbooking or print photos
(I know, this seems impossible) but I’ll pick up the family story in the
spring.
Katrina finished her first year at UBC Okanagan and
got through a lot of those required courses that make her wonder “why” (as in
“why am I taking this?”) but also progressing in her desired major,
French. She travelled to Sherbrooke,
Quebec for 5 weeks of university French immersion and learned a great deal in
French as well as about dorm life. This
fall she was back at UBCO with another puzzling courseload (French,
Anthropology, Psychology, and Cultural Studies), some courses more useful than
others.
I’m not quite sure what happened to my sons this
year, but they appear to have pulled up their academic socks and began bringing
home A’s in courses like Physics 11 and PreCalculus. They were hired to do clean-up in March at
the mill where Marcel works and worked almost every Saturday from March through
October. They also both passed their “N”
driving tests in August, so they can drive on their own without a parent, but
with only 1 non-family member in the vehicle.
Anthony continues to enjoy art classes. He has more responsibility in Air Cadets this
year, and was pictured on the front page of the newspaper after Remembrance Day
for his part in the ceremonies at Coldstream Cenotaph. He purchased a car this fall and is enjoying
his “freedom” but also has discovered the cost of gasoline and the ups and
downs of working as a casual … just when you think you have steady work, you
don’t get called for a while. He begins
his Aircraft Mechanics apprenticeship this February.
Bronson’s activities are about the same as last year
… drum lessons (he played in a public concert put on by Wentworth Music in
June), working out at the gym and youth group.
He also is carrying a full course load and working very hard in his
grade 12 courses (English, PreCalculus, History, and Chemistry) this
semester. He has applied to UBC to enter
the computer science field.
Karen’s life was even busier this year: substitute teaching, secretarial work for 2
non-profit groups, and a full summer of work (May through September) at O’Keefe
Ranch, as well as the usual round of church activities. The annual camping trip
was complicated by caterpillars (shiver!) but September saw a “great escape” to
Langley and Trinity Western University’s 50th anniversary
celebrations.
Marcel continued with Tolko in maintenance as a
millwright. It was interesting to see
how much more he and the boys communicated once they started working Saturdays
at the mill. He enjoyed fishing
throughout the summer and went on a three-day trip where he caught a salmon
which was over 20 pounds.
Marcel’s mom has had a tough year, which has really
increased the amount of care she has needed from us. She had cataract surgery in the summer, and
the after-care involved us putting drops in the affected eye hourly for over 3
weeks, then reducing to 3 times a day, twice a day, once a day … and finally no
more drops (or salve). Unfortunately, in
September, she fell at home (propelled by a mighty sneeze) and broke her left
wrist and thumb. Wearing a cast made everything
complicated and every doctor visit was preceded by helping her to dress and tie
her shoes. The cast finally came off and
a physiotherapist has been coming to the house to help her with exercises. But lest we get too complacent, she has also
been diagnosed with breast cancer and has surgery scheduled before Christmas.
But we don’t want to end the letter on a sad note …
we have one more piece of news. At the
end of November, Marcel and I had a visit from Katrina’s boyfriend, Tyler
Young, who asked for her hand in marriage.
We gave him our blessing, then waited two long days until he took her up
to Silver Star and asked her to marry him.
She said YES and is now sporting a lovely diamond on her left hand. Wedding plans have us circling July 20, 2013
on our new calendar and looking up all manner of things on the Internet … wedding
timelines, flowers, bridesmaid dresses, locations … today was fun as she tried
on my wedding dress and those of my mother and aunt (did they fit? Somewhat. Would she wear them? We’ll see).
So 2013 looks like a year of formal wear … with the
boys graduating in June and the wedding in July. Next year, perhaps I’ll just send photos and
not write a letter (oh no, don’t tell me you’re counting on reading all about
it! Okay, I’ll write … I’m sure I’ll recover by December).
May you enjoy all of the blessings of Christmas.
With love from
Marcel, Karen, Katrina, Anthony, and Bronson
(as well as Muffin the cat, who is keeping me
company)
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