2023 in Review
Let's warmly welcome 2024, a year filled with endless possibilities and fresh starts. Our journey together in 2023 was astonishing, and we are thankful for your continued support.
2024 holds many new things for our family (which will come in future updates) but for now, here is a recap of 2023.
January
January was low-key, but did invovled Caroline’s parents visiting us on the Big Island for good food, great fellowship, and good times.
February
Greg and Ben traveled to Costa Rica to meet with YWAM leaders who run the School of Sustainable Development (SSD) in Heredia. Caroline and Ellis used this time to explore the wonderful island that we call home.
March
March is the month of Spring Break for Ellis. Caroline took the week off spend time with Ellis, while Greg continued to work at the Farm and prepare for the upcoming School of Sustainable Deveopment starting in April.
April
The School of Sustainable Development officially started. Nine students were enrolled. Ben and Greg were now in full swing running the school. Caroline was able to be involved by being a one-on-one leader with some of the female students. One-on-ones are desigend to facilitate learning, pray with one another, and continue discipleship outside of the classroom setting. We celebrated Easter together with our large YWAM family, which was a real treat.
May
The major highlight here is that Ellis finished first grade! He was recognized for his ingenuity and reading skills by the school staff. Greg began preperations for the Schools outreach to Panama.
June
The students of the School of Sustainable Deveopment graduated. Five of the students went to YWAM Panama Outpost for 2 months. They worked on community deveopment projects in local villages, agriculutral projects at the YWAM base and spent the rest of the time serving the local Ngabe people with Bible Studies, hang out times, etc. They ended their time in Heredia, Costa Rica for their field debrief.
July
As a family we traveled to Ohio and saw Caroline’s parents, brother & sister-in-law, niece & nephews and visited with many friends (most of which we hadn’t seen in two years!) We enjoyed long summer days, meals with friends, church gatherings, house church meetings, and visiting favorite a few of our favorite spots. When we left Ohio two years ago, we knew that we were going to take a quarter off to re-evaluate our next steps.
August
We had the pleasure of spending a week in the Adirondacks with the Weiss family. Our time was spent hiking, swimming, kayaking, kids running around beng kids. The unplugged time spent in the mountains with good friends was just the healing our hearts needed.
September
We spent a week with Greg’s parents, sister & brother-in-law, nieces and nephew in North Carolina. Ellis learned to shoot a rifle under the tutelage of Grandfather Shepler. Caroline fractured her ankle on a trampoline mere days before returning to Kona.
October
Greg particpated in a school that hadn't been run on our campus in nearly a decade; the Community Development School. He was enrolled into the school with our family friend Jesse (of the Landis family, whome we met during Carolines DTS). This course was the start of a new season that is now unfolding into 2024.
November
Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM) passes away. As a campus we celebrated his and worshiped together with YWAMers from all over the globe who came to Kona to honor him and his wife, Darlene. We enjoyed Thanksgiving on campus with Greg’s classmates, and reflected on the many blessings we’ve experienced this year.
December
Greg finished the Community Development School and got to join Ellis on Christmas break (aka The Forever Weekend). We closed out the year by baking cookies, spending a quiet Christmas Day at home together, attending our neighbors’ annual Christmas party and catching a few fireworks before midnight on the 31st.
