Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Farewell, 2007

We interrupt this Christmas Past series to bring you happy New Year wishes from the Wilcox family. We pray that--whatever joys and sorrows this year may bring--you will know the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ more by the end of it.

As the old year waned last night, Dave and I sat on our couch and dug through our sack of 2007 memories. We recollected the ups and downs of the year just completed--it's sweetness, it's bitterness, and those things in between. And so, we now gratefully bring you a list of highlights. Not all of these events were "high" as in happy or exciting. Some were painful, grieving, or challenging. And some, though happy, were not major milestones, but simply fun or funny times that we shared as a family. In other words, what you will find here is a big mish-mash of memories both great and small. And here it is:


The Wilcox Family 2007 Highlights List

January
-The new Castro care group begins meeting regularly.
-Meg learns to walk.
-Dave and I go to D.C. to see The Light In The Piazza at the Kennedy Center.
-We learn that we are pregnant with our second child!

February-April
-Dave's work schedule is insane--probably at its all time high. We spend hours discussing how the push is affecting Dave and our family... and praying for wisdom about our future.

February
-Dave travels with some of our pastors and church staff to Grapevine, Texas, for the C3 Conference. This marks the start of a process that will affect his work significantly.

March
Dave and Mariana Spitzberg get married and move in with us--along with Mariana's mama, from Argentina--for a month or so.

April
-My Margie and Cubby move from Pennsylvania to live with my parents in Gaithersburg. Almost immediately, Margie's health takes a severe turn for the worse. Cubby, my parents and Lena are almost entirely consumed with her care.
-Dave, Meg and I go to D.C. to enjoy the cherry blossoms.
-Jack Marcantonio is born... and his mommy stops working full time, thus allowing us to get together regularly for the first time in about 3 years!
-Grant Layman becomes Dave's new boss at the church and Sundays become an increased priority for the staff as a whole.

May
-Meg utters her first word: "uh-oh!"
-Sweet Ari James Spruill is born; my sister becomes a mommy, and I am an aunt! We travel to Virginia to meet our newest family member.
-Dave, Meg and I travel to Louisville for the New Attitude conference, time with Dave's folks--and especially Grandma Wilcox. Meg also gets her first taste of the zoo.

June
-We go strawberry picking as a family.
-We take a West Virginia vacation with the Marcantonios!
-My Margie goes home to be with the Lord.

July
-We hold Margie's memorial service at church.
-Little Micah Davis leaves this world for a Place where he will know no more pain or sorrow.
-Lena introduces Dave and me to the Muppets' version of "Danny Boy". We laugh so hard that we cry. Then we watch it so often that it becomes less funny to us. We take a break, and it becomes funny again.

August
-the Vaseline incident
-Dave and I go to Annapolis for our babymoon.
-We go to the Outer Banks for an idyllic week with the Nalle family. Meg's talking really picks up while we are there.

September
-We buy a minivan!
-Matthew Ian Wilcox is born.

October-November
-Various family members visit us in order to meet Matthew.

October
-We pay a family visit to the Pumpkin Festival.
-Meg takes her first trip to the National Museum of Natural History while Dave's folks are here.
-We start doing monthly dinners with the Marcantonios.
-Dave hires two full-time support staff (Latricia and Ben) in one month!!

November
-We start hanging out with Brandon and Annie Averill more!
-Dave takes me on a special date night to the used bookstore.
-Dave's Uncle Ron dies and Dave heads to Chicago to attend the funeral and support his aunt and cousins.

December
-We enjoy our family's first Advent celebration.
-Dave works a ton of hours in preparation for our Christmas Eve production.
-My dear friend Elsbeth announces her engagement!
-My dear friend Christy announces her engagement!
-I spend way too much time baking cookies but am able to prepare platters for two sets of our neighbors. I am fully rewarded when Big Jack (next door) tells me in his own peculiar language, "Thankyouverymuchforthecookies."

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