2018:  A Retrospective

 

Highs:

* Lauren and I managed to get away for a date together every month last year.

* Genevieve went from inarticulate grunting to speaking sentences.

* Will started pre-K and Daniel started Kindergarten.

* Daniel got a bicycle for his birthday and started learning to ride it.

* Daniel excels at reading, placing in the 97^th percentile (top 3%) in a nationwide reading test. He's approaching third-grade level, if he's not there already.

Mixed Blessings:

* We finally said good-bye to the church we've attended since before we were married. We looked around and realized that, after nearly a decade, we just didn't have any friends there.

* I stepped down as the Department Chair after four years so I could focus on my dissertation, which still isn't finished.

Lows:

* Numerous small repair jobs around the house turned out to be much bigger projects than anticipated.

* Medical bills were a heavy burden.

* My local BJJ school closed.