Evies class had a quiz today. The winner gets to compete in front of all the other classmates. But being in front of people actually backfired/ it motivates Evie to NOT be in front of the class.
Evie: the question was, “which president lived in Monticello? I answered ‘Woodrow Wilson’ (even though I knew that as the wrong answer)“
When we left seattle, it was in one of its classic dark and rainy periods, and we were in need of sunshine. Hawaii did not disappoint.
From hapuna beach, Hawaii
Hello, family and friends! As 2022 comes to a close, we are grateful for all this year has brought us, both the highlights and the lowlights. Here are a few:
HIGH: OMA & OPA’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY: In August, we traveled to Rhode Island to gather with family and friends for the celebration of Tim’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary! We also made stops in Boston and New York City, where the one of the girls’ highlights was visiting Alexander Hamilton’s grave.
HIGH: Honey Rock: In June, the girls went to HoneyRock Camp in the woods of Wisconsin. HoneyRock was a formational part of Tim’s growing up years so it was special to us that the girls got to attend with their Kniffin cousins.
HIGH (literally): CYN CLIMBS ANOTHER PEAK: In July, Cynthia was a part of two backpacking trips, first helping to lead a trip to Marmot Pass with women from church and later climbing Glacier Peak in the North Cascades. Both trips presented challenges but were highlights of her summer!
LOW: EVIE’S BROKEN FOOT: Towards the end of April, Evie’s foot was crushed by a metal pipe that fell from the ceiling in a museum—the definition of a freak accident! Thankfully, her broken bones and flesh wounds have healed, though a scar and some continued irritation on her foot continue to remind her of the accident.
FULL OF LITTLE HIGHS AND LOWS: OUR NORMAL LIFE: Most of our days are filled with:
Wishing you and your family the hope that we remember this Christmas season—Jesus Christ, the light of this world, and His coming and already here Kingdom.
**PS: Next year, Lord willing, we will bring you greetings from… Medellin, Colombia! Many of you have heard about our plan to move to Colombia, from July 2023—April 2024. It is amazing to see how the Lord seems to be opening doors for this move—initially, our desire was simply to immerse our family in Spanish and experience living outside of the U.S. Medellin was a natural choice since Cynthia’s brother lives there. As we’ve continued to plan, we’ve made a number of additional connections there, including one with a neighborhood church planting ministry
that we are so excited to be involved with and learn from!
We’re experiencing record cold and snow here in seattle. Obviously, that’s all relative: “record” here means we experienced a high temp below freezing for the first time in something like a decade.
But it all has a certain romance to it. I am trying to enjoy the new snow, and the Christmas lights reflecting on it, while I can. The forecast says we will likely only have it for another day or two.
This year, the girls have really gotten into window art, with “liquid chalk”. And, in the middle of the holiday season, our window has been busy. Tonight, we changed from thanksgiving to Christmas art.
You can tell the girls put some of their own flavor and humor into these drawings. I think the Thanksgiving one is particularly funny.
This thanksgiving really landed with me. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think it had separate, definite parts that each were pretty excellent. As opposed to a lot of Thanksgivings that have one part that lasts a long time (usually family sitting around a table), this had some distinct and different part that balance each other out. I think I’d say this is my favorite since we’ve had since moving here to seattle.
2. Dinner at D&C’s: great, great food. That’s pretty much every year, so I don’ t have much to add to it. We have great cooks in our family
3.Pickelball at Mount Baker Courts. i would say all the Kniffins are showing real progress in their pickleball skills. We should be able to start having tournaments, some itme soon
4. Abbey’s play, “the New world”, back home at D&C’s. I can’t tell you how proud I am of Abbey’s play. she put a LOT of work into it… and you can feel the care she put into the details. She also really put a lot o work into directing and practicing with her cousins. Here’s the play: “New world” play, Thanksgiving pt. 1 – YouTube
5. Play, relax, let the adults talk. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Abbey finished an after-school program that began at the beginning of the school year. Much to my delight, she chose to do an after-school tennis program that she enjoyed. The final day, the “tennis jamboree”, was at the lovely UW tennis center. Abbey won an award (pictures above)
I have to say here: I feel some personal pride at sticking with certain activities (like tennis, and a few others) even when my kids don’t immediately take to it. Persistence and habit and exposure are great tools at getting your kids to enjoy things you think are good for them
Not much to say here, other than how it’s beginning to dawn on me how special these days are
knorthwestkniffins 