Merry Christmas, one and all! Here’s what’s happening in the Gould household:
Levi, 15, is the quintessential super-scheduled
high-achieving sophomore. His activities have expanded to include piano
lessons, youth group, karate (plus working at the studio), math league, jazz
band (new this month!), and volunteering at a local nursing home. He
participates in worship team (singing or piano) about once a month, faithfully
cleans the kitchen every night, and casually deflects all hero-worship from his
younger siblings. Though NASA has been his end game for years, this summer’s
accidental introduction to particle physics has him rethinking his life goals.
Favorite 2024 memory: an excursion to Century City in Los
Angeles for the “best soft pretzel ever”
Favorite 2024 books: Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn
series
Owen, 14, is now within half an inch of his mother’s
height. This year he joined Levi at math league, besides continuing art lessons
and robotics. He’s our fidgeter, always with something in hand: a Rubix cube
(he can solve them in under two minutes), a Perplexus ball, a friendship
bracelet in progress, his 3D pen. Owen’s current interests and goals have me
googling things like “what does a naturalist do?” and “what jobs are available
at the DNR?”
Favorite 2024 memory: making a new friend at robotics at the
local middle school
Favorite 2024 books: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales
Silas, 12, is a delightful combination of first-child
responsibility and middle-child fun. He’s the first to get his schoolwork done
every day and can always be counted on to play with Tessa when she needs
attention. Silas is a three-year member of the intermediate group of Central
Minnesota Youth Orchestra, often sitting first-chair violin, and plans to start
volunteering at the karate studio after Christmas. Silas is particularly
excited this year that being 12/in 7th grade means he can attend
both church youth group and homeschool teen night!
Favorite 2024 memory: playing laser tag with cousin Ezra
Favorite 2024 books: Amari and the Night Brothers
(which he reads at least once a year) and Jennifer Nielsen’s historical fiction
novels
Toby, turning 11 next month, is bringing a first to
this generation of our family: band! He started baritone at the local
intermediate school this fall and absolutely loves it. He’s doing another year
of art lessons, and when he’s not reading (which he almost always is), he’s
probably drawing scenes from his imagination. Toby also does karate, with a
particular fondness for sparring. He is chomping at the bit to turn 12, for the
reasons stated above.
Favorite 2024 memory: our family road trip to Boston in
April
Favorite 2024 books: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales
Calvin, 8,
and Tessa, 5, are two peas in a pod. They both do
karate, they both started art (same class) this year, they both go to my
parents’ house for “Grandma School” once a week. He does cello, she does viola
(but only he got to start pre-orchestra with CMYO this
fall!). They’re both interested in everything and love to read and create and
experiment and draw. As everyone else moves into the more complicated middle-
and high-school years, I’m so grateful for their simple zest for life. (And
their hugs. Tween/teen boys don’t hug, apparently. At least not often.)
Favorite 2024
memory, Calvin: exploring Rafe’s Chasm (on the coast north of Boston)
Favorite 2024 book,
Calvin: Searching for Super (sequel to Almost Super)
Favorite 2024
memory, Tessa: Rafe’s Chasm
Favorite 2024 book,
Tessa: Betsy-Tacy (Mom and Dad agree: it was a great read-aloud!)
Christy, who doesn’t care how old she is but sees no
reason to draw attention to it, now has “chauffeur” as her most time-consuming
activity. The trips afford much audiobook-listening time and the occasional
one-on-one tutoring time in the car while we wait, though, so it’s okay. She’s
on her thirteenth year of homeschooling, eighth year of leading worship at
Riverside, fourth year accompanying the Suzuki strings studio that the kids
attend, third year of being president of the local homeschool organization’s
board, second year as the de facto staff accompanist for a local high school
choir, and first year at a homeschool co-op with the youngest three children.
In all the other minutes of the day, she reads voraciously, always trying to
stay one step ahead of the younger voracious readers in her household. How does
she do it all, you ask? She doesn’t. Her house is not very clean.
Favorite 2024
memory: Tessa’s excitement at seeing THE pond from Make Way for Ducklings
in Boston, and memorizing longer passages of Scripture as a family as we drove.
Favorite 2024 books:
I only gave two five-star ratings on Goodreads this year: The Ogress and the
Orphans, which was a re-read for me as we listened to it on our road trip,
and Race to the Bottom of the Earth, a non-fiction account of exploring
the South Pole. (Please, friend me on Goodreads!) *Note: since I wrote this originally at the end of November, I have added one more five-star review: Enemies in the Orchard, a WWII novel-in-verse.
Isaac has reached the age of whipping off his
glasses to see things up close. He just finished his ninth year at Riverside
and looks forward to many more years of fruitful ministry in Central Minnesota.
As always, Isaac spends his days giving of himself: to our county’s police
chaplaincy program, to the local refugee ministry, to the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church (including serving on the presbytery’s ministerial
committee), to his kids (including weekly one-on-one donut dates, bedtime
routines, reading aloud, swimming at the YMCA), to his house (because the yard
work and the shoveling never end).
Favorite 2024
memory: installing two pastors in southern Minnesota whose churches came into
the EPC following a presentation he made on the denomination two years ago, and
our New England road trip
Favorite 2024 books:
Moby Dick (for the 4th time), The Anxious Generation and Rejoicing
in Christ
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