A Christmas Update for the Drury Family (2017)

2017 was our first full year in our new home in Fishers, Indiana. We are getting used to the "one street" lifestyle, since the High School (two kids there now), our church, Dave's work, and most of the stores we shop at are all on the same street (Olio Road) here. We are far more "local" than we have ever been as a family, not having to drive more than 5 minutes to most of the things we engage in routinely. This has created more margin for other more important things than driving.

The year was full of visiting all kinds of musical engagements with our daughters, from Pep and Marching Band for Karina, and school Choir with Lauren. The marching band brought us to many competitions and football games under the Friday night lights.

However local we might have been this year we still travelled out of town for a variety of things. In 

January we made what is usually an annual trek to Orlando for meetings with Wesleyan leaders across North America. We also took a special vacation Cruise with the kids (their first cruise) where they loved the waves and visiting Cozumel and Grand Cayman, and most of all the great fine dining.

As a change of pace this year we are having each person of our 5 member family write their own update. So here below is what each of us had to tell you about 2017:

Lauren Elizabeth Drury

Lauren (12)

In January I went to the "Sound of Music." In April we went on a cruise to Cozumel Mexico and Grand Cayman. In June, I did Lion King Kids play and also Springhill Camp in southern Indiana. In July, we went to my grandparent's cottage and also to Crystal Mountain in Michigan. In September I had my fall Choir concert and it was super fun. In November, I am practicing for my winter choir concert. I am super excited for this Christmas coming up in December! That was my year.

Karina Lydia Drury

Karina (14)

I loved the second semester of 8th grade and I made many new friends. I participated in the school pep band in January and I was in an ISSMA ensemble and received a perfect score. To celebrate the performing arts department at the end of 8th grade I went with my band and choir friends to Kings Island and had a blast. I decided to join my high school’s marching band and after a week of parade camp in June I was in the last Fisher’s Freedom Festival parade and marching my high school’s first bucket line. I led a group of kindergarten kids at my church's Kid’s Camp. I enjoyed the transition between junior high and high school. In August I started high school and despite my nervousness, I actually really love it. The first 3 months of school I had marching band after school 3 nights a week and all day every Saturday. I played the vibraphone and I marching the bass drum occasionally. I performed my marching band show at halftime for all 4 of my high school’s home Varsity football games. We started competition season in September through late October and I performed at many large high schools and eventually at Lucas Oil Stadium to end the marching band season. I enjoy shopping, hanging out with my friends, reorganizing my room, and taking pictures.

Maxim Keith Philip Drury

Max (17)

When Sophomore year ended, I began to spend part of my summer working as a volunteer for the design suite at the Wesleyan Headquarters, applying the skills I learned from previous graphic design classes. Also during the summer, I went to Examen, a two week long summer program at IWU, where I took the New Testament class. Since then, I've been keeping in contact with many friends there, along with visiting IWU whenever I can. I also joined a discipleship group with a few High School boys. Once school started again, I noticed that my schoolwork has been increasingly difficult, but so has my motivation to get it done! (If only I had the same motivation to get my driver's license....)

Kathy

2017 has been a good year for me. I’ve been enjoying our new surroundings after moving in 2016. I have been part of a Moms in Prayer group this year, and this fall started as Mothers of Preschoolers teacher for 4 and 5 year olds. I have volunteered in various places including greeting at church and being a Kids Camp teacher, a volunteer chaperone for the marching band, the PTO, the Pastor's Spouse Connection Breakaway Retreat, and even for a national tournament for USA Archery. My biggest news of the year is I began a mobile salon business called "SalOn the Way." I am licensed to be able to go into clients homes to do their hair. I still consider myself a stay-home-mom, but this is just a little something to add back into my life after many years of “retirement” and hopefully grow into more as the kids start leaving the nest. As far as some fun travels, we took our first family cruise for spring break to Cozumel and Grand Cayman after a visit in Brooksville, FL to see Dave’s parents. My friend Shelly and I went to Disney together in April to celebrate the completion of her degree which was so fun! We also went up to my parents cottage and a run up to Crystal Mountain for a few days in July. 2017 was also the year I started running. My favorite thing of all is being a mom to Max, Karina and Lauren and being married to David and getting to share life with them.

Dave

Each year I pick a "word for the year" and this year's word was more significant than any year I can recall. I chose "Discipline" as my word for the year (Rev 3v19). I don't find that I'm a naturally disciplined person, so it was good to experience a bunch of new practices in my life. I'll only give a few of the more than a dozen new ones that might give a glimpse into my year. One new discipline which provided some new rhythm in life and has been good for my health and physical well-being is running, which I do consistently now. I also wanted to find an "extreme hobby" and chose growing and caring for Bonsai trees. I'm a part of the Indianapolis Bonsai Club now which meets at the conservatory downtown each month. I've learned a lot from this very demanding but fascinating tradition. At work I've been more intentional about investing in people, rather than just systems and projects, starting with the WHY behind things, but quickly moving to ask myself the WHO question, which I often find almost as important as the WHY. Just as I've learned to be a novice at the discipline of bonsai trees, I've gone back to the drawing board in evangelism and discipleship, realizing I was not prioritizing my life to actually spend time with non-believers, and with those I am intentionally discipling. So now I do both routinely each week if at all possible. I also engaged in the discipline of growing a beard, but most people have already noticed this. These are just a sample of some important practices I learned in this "year of discipline." On nights and weekends, and more than a few vacation days, I also wrote a book this year with Todd Burpo, called "God is For Real" which came out in September.