This was the year of natural disasters. In February a massive snow storm knocked down hundreds of miles of power lines. Fortunately, our local power company has some diesel generators to provide extra power during the hottest days in the summer and they somehow managed to keep the lights on while we were “off the grid” for five days. In late May, it rained and rained and rained. In early June the Cedar River which flows through town flooded. The previous record flood occurred in 1999, just after we bought this house. That year, we were evacuated from the neighborhood (with Sister Judy, Aunt Barbara, and Grandma Louise) but the house experienced no water damage. This time however we ended up with two feet of back-up in our basement; not flood water, but not pleasant.
The whole city was caught off guard by this flood; the crest estimates rose dramatically after we had been evacuated, so we were unable to move things out of the basement. As a result, we lost a number of boxes in the basement of old photos and mementos from our pre-Iowa days, as well as our water heater and a number of tools. To make matters worse, Brian had left for Iowa City the day before the water rose and was unable to return, due to the flooded roads, until after the cleanup was well underway. Mariah did an amazing job of meeting with claims adjusters, navigating FEMA bureaucracy, cleaning up the basement (with lots of help from friends and volunteers), all while looking after three nervous children.
It was impressive to see the city of Waverly pull together in flood recovery. Throughout the town there were roaming hoards of volunteers helping out strangers clean up their basements, haul damaged furniture, and in general doing whatever they could. One helpful retired librarian grandmother watched Jeri, Zac and Carrie while Mariah and Brian bleached out the basement. We had very minor damage compared to many of our friends and neighbors. There are houses in our neighborhood which suffered irreparable structural damage, although most people are now back in their houses with fresh drywall, new appliances, and new basement walls or are steadily working to repair their homes.
But the year was full of many other milestones. In January, Carrie started at daycare, since she was no longer satisfied being carried around by Mom and Dad all day at work. She went from crawling to walking to talking. Lately our family spends time playing the guess-what-Carrie-is-saying game. We have learned that "ca-cas" means "crackers" and "cocks" are "socks". Her favorite word seems to be "more" although we are left to guess what she wants more of (usually it's Mommy). Carrie is stubborn and willful. She loves her brother and sister dearly, although she does get nervous when they fight over her.
Zac finished his first tour of Kindergarten at the public school, and is now repeating Kindergarten at his sister's school, St. Paul's. The first week he was convinced he already knew everything they had to teach him, but he has found a few challenges there since then. Zac is turning into a strong reader like his sister. He is helpful and responsible in the classroom. He is still in the children's choir at church and has started piano lessons, which he really enjoys (although he really wants to learn how to play the drums).
Jeri had her First Communion in April, and we finally got around to Carrie's baptism at the same service. Jeri is in third grade now. She lives in a world populated by friends, dolls, fairies and craft projects. She has developed quite a sense of personal style and manages to look polished and put together wearing things purchased from garage sales. Jeri is very capable of looking after her sister and can often be found with a baby perched on her hip having taken pity on Carrie when Mom and Dad are busy. She is still in tumbling in addition to piano lessons, but mostly she spends her time reading book after book after book.
Jeri got tired of hearing her Dad talk about building a tree house, and asked when he was finally get around to doing it. So in May with a flurry activity the tree house was completed. It is a custom built house about 8 feet off the ground which spans two trees, equipped with a trap door and a rope ladder (as seen in the background of our Christmas photo). Jeri and Zac love to play on it, but have a hard time convincing their friends to join them.
Brian has his sabbatical this year. The big project was a summer workshop at the University of Iowa with undergraduates from around the state. Starting in early June, the University put him up in a house near campus and paid him fairly well. Of course, the plans to have Mariah and the kids visit him frequently in Iowa City fell through after the flood. During the Fall, Brian was busy with preparing from another May term travel course to Germany, dealing with flood reconstruction, and passing the first of the actuary exams. He is also glad that the building project at St. Mary Catholic Church is finally completed (the first phase at least). After eight years of working with architects, city administrators, and design committees, the parish is finally moved into the new building, and he is free, free, free.
Mariah is still running her Honors program at Wartburg College. She was "forced" to accompany a class of 29 students for a week in London and Paris again. Next year, she is planning the same sort of trip to San Francisco, so she has been busy making arrangements for that (including a train trip across country at the end). The focus of that trip is the organic food movement, including locally grown food, although there will be many opportunities for other sight-seeing.
It was sad in September, when our cat Athena died of old age. Mom and Dad were both impressed with how mature Jeri and Zac were in dealing with her death. They both helped bury her under the pine tree and pile stones on her grave.
We would like to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends. We feel especially well taken care of this year. While we know there are many hurting through this economic downturn, we are grateful to have good friends who support us in times of need and a community that pulls together when it has to. We are grateful for a warm, dry and mold-free house, healthy children, and jobs that we enjoy. May the coming year find you in the company of those you love.