Thursday, December 26, 2013

A Year in Review--Merry Christmas from Andy and Marie!

Dear Family and Friends,

2013 has been a very full year for us. New jobs, fun road trips, and a new house! God has been so good to us. Here is a look back on the year.
Our Wedding, November
Tulip Festival, April
Mt. Rainier, July
Our House, October 

Marie
It started out for Marie with a new job as a Montessori Assistant in an Early Childhood Classroom (2-6 year olds). Marie absolutely loved working with the little ones, and fell in love with the Montessori Method. She decided to turn down a full-time position for the following year, however, because she wanted to be able to focus on a new venture—training to become a FertilityCare Practitioner.

She attended the first part of her educational training in Omaha in October, where she was taught by Dr. Hilgers and the other founders of the Creighton Model FertilityCare System. Now she is in the practicum phase of her training, and starting to grow her client base. She is able to help couples who are struggling with infertility or are seeking natural and ethical ways to avoid pregnancy, and also aid women throughout their reproductive years monitor and maintain their reproductive and gynecologic health.

In her spare time, Marie is involved with a variety of ministries at their parish. She takes part in pro-life outreach and helps teach a Montessori-based religious education class. She is also becoming trained to provide Pastoral Care through the Church. From time to time, she writes at merrydreamer.blogspot.com.
Andy
Andy started the year doing contract work for Microsoft.  After getting his certificate in Data Science, he was promoted to another position, a contract with Juniper Networks, while maintaining a supervisory position on his previous work at Microsoft.  He is now working mainly as a database administrator and data analyst for Juniper.

Besides work, Andy keeps busy by playing trumpet in a community Wind Ensemble every Thursday evening.  He is also an active contributor at philosophynews.com where he mainly writes blogs and articles on PhD placement trends in philosophy (thus, combining his interests in philosophy and data analysis).  Andy is actively involved in church activities at their parish in Kirkland, in particular, the Men's Ministry, Youth Confirmation, and the Knights of Columbus.

Andy and Marie
At the beginning of October, we bought a house! It is a split-level, with 4 bedrooms, a spacious backyard, and a covered deck. Andy has enjoyed working on the many upgrades and repairs that come with being a homeowner.  He has installed cabinets, shelves, light switches, air circulating fans, and stairway railings.  He has also added many holes to the walls. Marie has enjoyed (with the help and expertise of her mother-in-law Merrie) planting flowers and vegetables to make the house more beautiful. With all the space, we both have our own “office” and one of the bedrooms is being used as our music room—with a baby grand piano given to us by Grandma Sue.

We took lots of little trips throughout the year, including a trip to Montana in May for a friend’s wedding and an excursion to Mount Rainier. This summer, we spent a few days at the Carsons’ cabin on an island in the Puget Sound.

In November, we celebrated our first anniversary with a trip to Gig Harbor, Washington. It’s a quaint little fishing village in the Puget Sound. Neither of us had been there before, and we enjoyed learning about the local history and eating lots of fish! We stayed at an inn that was situated right on the water. It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the blessings of our first year of marriage, and look forward to many more years together.

What does the next year look like so far? For Marie: more FertilityCare Training, writing, playing the piano, and ministry. For Andy: more data analysis, philosophy blogs, trumpet concerts, crab feeds, fish fries, bathroom remodels, and a Superbowl victory for the Seahawks!  We hope ;)

You are all in our thoughts and prayers this Christmas Season. May you have a very happy 2014!


Love and Blessings,

Andy and Marie

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