This past year was the most eventful year of our collective lives: one of us was born (and two of us became parents); we lived in three different states (PA, FL, KS); and we said goodbye to dear friends in Philadelphia, even as we returned home to our welcoming families in Kansas City.
In the midst of packing up for yet another year filled with the promise of many adventures, we wanted to take a moment to reminisce over all that happened in 2013.
Here are the highlights:
In January, our lives were forever changed when our son, Maximilian, was born. We quickly learned that we had no idea what we were doing. We will be forever grateful for the family, friends, and co-workers who brought us meals, held our son so that we could take a nap, and generally embraced us in our sleep deprived state.
Six weeks later, we road-tripped down to Florida, where for a month we soaked up the sun (and the help from Oma and Opa). And we even managed to get some sleep.
In May, all of our family joined us in Philadelphia to celebrate the baptism of our son. It is a day we will always cherish.
Early in the summer, we learned that Paul was awarded a fellowship to write his dissertation in Leuven, Belgium. As a family, we became excited about this new adventure.
Unfortunately, however, this great opportunity meant saying goodbye to close friends, epic board game nights, the best coffee shop in the world, a vibrant Church community, and Amanda’s amazing co-workers at HelpHOPELive, where she worked for the last two years.
We spent the summer studying (Paul), selling or packing all of our belongings (Amanda), and learning to crawl (Max). For two intense weeks at the end of September, Paul took his doctoral exams, and we said goodbye to our very first home together.
We hit the road again, making our way back to Kansas City. Upon arrival, we promptly took over Amanda’s parents’ basement. Our three months in KC have been anything but boring.
We flew to Denver to visit Becky and Mike (Paul’s sister and brother-in-law). Max took his first flight, and tasted his first pancake, both of which were great successes.
Then, we returned to Boston to meet our niece, Elle, and to celebrate her naming ceremony. Upon meeting her, Max promptly pulled her hair (jealous of her gorgeous locks, we presume).
Paul and Amanda have been tackling a number of challenges together, including running our first 5k (the KC Turkey Trot). We have also taken on a number of consulting jobs, working to save up for travel in Europe next year. Paul also learned that his first essay will be published in a book, due out at some point late Spring 2014.
Max has been working hard, too. He eschews traditional crawling techniques, opting instead for a Walking Dead zombie crawl, wherein he drags one leg behind him, pulling himself along (at frightening speeds) using only his upper body. In the last few weeks, he has made quantum leaps in development: he pulls himself up to standing, walks along couches/tables/puppies with shaky but determined steps, talks nonstop, and has sprouted six teeth. He still loves his pancakes.
In the next month, we will celebrate Max’s first Christmas, first with the Camachos in Kansas, then with the Carharts in Florida. Our next challenge is to fit our lives into three suitcases so that we can make our new home in Belgium come January.
2013 brought more joy, exhaustion, and anticipation than we could ever have dreamt for ourselves. And the really wild thing is that 2014 is looking even more thrilling. We are so looking forward to taking this journey together, and to sharing it with you.