Decade Over
Let’s crank up the trusty ole’ time machine and take a peek back at the last decade, shall we?
2000 An exciting year to be sure! While on vacation in Michigan, Lindy went into labor prematurely. The fine folks at Spectrum Health managed to postpone the delivery for two weeks, so I had plenty of time to get to Michigan from Colorado. In June, Benny is born…10 weeks early, but otherwise in fine condition. He stayed in the hospital for a few weeks, but the folks at Spectrum got him off to a great start. In January, I was let go from AdvanceWare and started working for PeakOne in Littleton, Colorado, creating installation packages for their software. AdvanceWare and PeakOne mark my first pure programming jobs. I leave the dream of working as an industrial designer behind me. However, my training as an industrial designer makes me incredibly handy around the house.
2001 In April of 2001, we made the move from Denver, Colorado, to Holland, Michigan. It was hard to leave so many great friends behind in Denver, but we felt like all signs were pointing us toward West Michigan as home base, and we have not regretted the decision. We have, however, missed the abundant sunshine of Colorado. Makes me tear up a little bit just to think about it.
2002 We added a dog to our family. Woody the boxer came to live with us on Father’s day weekend. He has been the bane of my existence ever since. Lindy became licensed to provide daycare in our home. We soon had a house full of other people’s kids, and we used her income to pay off an auto loan, among other things.
2003 Emma turned 5 and learned to ride a two wheeler on the same day. Emma goes to preschool, and we begin to toy with the idea of home schooling. We make the transition to digital photography, and have probably taken 10,000+ photos in the last six years, with one major loss of data. The summer of 2008 is gone forever.
2004 In July, Grace is born! It’s hard to believe that four years passed between Ben and Grace being born. The years of only having two kids are such a distant memory at this point. A miscarriage or two in the intervening years is to blame for the 4 year gap. We officially keep Emma home and begin our home schooling odyssey.
2005 I begin recording all of our adventures on this very blog, thebossfamily.com. Been doing it ever since.
2006 In May, Anna is born! In June, just before he turned six, Ben was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. His diagnosis rocks us back on our heels a bit, but we continue to fight the good fight. Since June of ‘06, Ben has poked his fingers to check his blood glucose level approximately 6,000 times. It hurts every time. In October, we took a family vacation to Colorado. Ben begins his more formal home education, and it seems a good fit for him as well.
2007 In May, we move to an old farm house in Bentheim from our suburban house in Holland. In October, Jack Allen is born! We fully embrace the rural/homeschooling lifestyle, and we don’t look back.
2008 We settle in at our new house, while the economy begins to completely unwind. Once again, we’ve bought a house and prices immediately begin to fall.
2009 In March, the company I work for gave us every other Friday off…Yay! Except that our pay was also cut by 10%. Boo! In April, Will Daniel is born! Also in April, we got 13 chickens and two pigs for our little farm. We take a shot at our first garden. We learn a lot. In July, our whole family stood in stunned silence as the butcher came in and put an end to our two pigs, right there on our lawn in front of God and everybody. They now reside in our freezer.
What jumps out at me when examining the above list, is the fact that we added five kids to our family in the past 10 years. I can also see that for Lindy and me, our parenting and family philosophies have changed a lot. We feel like we’ve really turned our hearts toward home and tried to resist a lot of what the world tells us is worthwhile.
It’s hard to imagine what the next 10 years will bring. In a decade, I’ll have a 21 year old daughter! Yikes! I should probably start saving for the wedding.