Each year our family takes some time over the Christmas break to reflect over the past year, to remember what has happened, to celebrate the wins, and to mourn the losses. As we took the time this year, we quickly realized that this is one of the best years that we have had as a family. God gave us some incredible opportunities and each of us had the chance to follow Him in a deeper way. Here is a summary of our top 10 for 2022.
Zach – Zach had a great basketball season, kept a great attitude even amidst some challenging circumstances and ended the season with his last shot being a three pointer and his last pass being a lob to one of his friends for a dunk. Zach developed a great friend group that made the end of his senior year amazing and made the summer eventful. Zach graduated in May, went to summer camp in June, and moved to Grand Canyon University in August where he started the Barnabas program where he will get an undergraduate and Masters of Divinity in 5 years. He is active on campus, in a local church, and serves at a homeless shelter each Monday morning. He is thriving in becoming who God has called him to be and is excited about learning more about the Bible and ministry as well as getting involved in a local church.
Hailey – Hailey student taught the first 5 months of 2022 and had a great experience and was offered an incredible job as an English teacher at Lincoln Southwest High School. She graduated from college in May (debt free) and spent the summer getting ready for being a teacher. She is surrounded by a great group of teachers and loves teaching. We have joked with her that she has won every teacher award possible within the first semester of teaching. She is getting involved in a small group and discovering more of who God has made her to be. She got her first apartment in September and is looking forward to what is next in 2023
Hannah (and Jack) – Jan 1, 2022, Hannah got engaged to Jack and they spent the first part of the year teaching and planning a wedding. Jack and Hannah got married in June and moved into their first rental house in August and started teaching again in July. Hannah had the opportunity to join a new school in July and has loved the kindergartners that are always full of energy and questions. Jack had a busy fall getting to be a a part of a high school play, musical, and a theater conference. They are settlng in to being married and working in great school systems.
Lily – Lily survived another northern winter and in a last minute decision was brought back to her homeland, Arizona, when Zach moved into GCU. She now enjoys spending the days by the pool, barking with the neighborhood dogs, and snuggling into her new home with Jack and Hannah.
Brad and Kris – Trusting God has been the theme for us this year. Kris started a great full time job in February and has found a work environment where the employees work well with and support each other. Work has been busy but manageable and God has redeemed some of the tough environments she has worked at before. She has continued to be a great leader with the youth ministry and served in an important role at summer camp. We had a very eventful year. Zach and Hailey graduated in May, Summer camp was in June, Jack and Hannah got married in June. Brad resigned from LBC in July. We sold our house in July. We helped Brad’s parents with a farm sale in August. We moved Zach to college in August, We moved into an apartment (with Hailey) in September. We visited the Arizona family in October for birthdays. We have been actively visiting churches as we discern our next move through this fall and winter. It has truly been a full and great year and we feel God has blessed us with some incredible moments. As we have learned to trust God in a deeper way through this year, He has consistently reminded us that life is better when we let Him make the decisions. We stepped out of LBC because we felt God telling us to trust Him. We thought that it would be a quick transition, God has wanted to teach us more about our relationship with Him. It has been really great as we have healed, strengthened, and become more reliant on Him. We have found new rhythms and ways of living that we will make a part of our lives going forward. We have gotten to be in the right place at the right time for our kids, for friends, and for strangers. We have been frustrated at times, but it has only highlighted our preferences and desire for comfort and opened us up to being more available to what God is doing in our lives.
When we look back over this past year, there are things that we wish we wouldn’t have had to experience but in reflecting over the whole experience it is easy to see that we have had a great year of turning the page, closing chapters of our lives, and beginning new ones. We are looking forward with anticipation on what 2023 will bring and are fully expectant that it will be even better than 2022.
THE OFFICIAL 2022 VG/Pieza Top 10 Highlights
- Jack and Hannah Wedding
- Zach moving to GCU
- Family visit to AZ
- LBC Youth Summer camp
- Brad transitioning out of LBC
- Hailey graduation
- Florida spring break trip
- Zach developing a great friend group
- Hailey being a teacher at Lincoln Southwest
- ?? TBA – (not a wedding or pregnancy)