This is our update for December 25th 2020, although using "pandemic time" that would be March 287th. The Drury family took their masks off for a moment to offer you this update on what they had planned for 2020, the things that actually happened, or didn't happen this year:
Lauren Drury (15)
Although this year wasn’t exactly how I planned, I still did a lot of fun things that made 2020 a little more enjoyable. In January, I found out I got the role of "Mayzie La Bird" in Seussical the Musical at my middle school. I worked on it in January and February and our performance was in the first week of March. Luckily, we got to perform it, because a week after we were all sent home because of the coronavirus. At first I didn’t really realize how crazy it was because it didn’t impact me.
But as time went on in quarantine, I realized this is a huge deal and affects a lot of people. In June and July, I had two online classes. One was personal finance and the other one was physical education/gym. Gym class was very easy but personal finance was very hard and made me very sad a lot of the time. When I wasn’t doing school, I was still hanging out with my best friends and going shopping.
Late in the summer, I decided to do an online school for my freshman year of high school. It was one of the best decisions of my life and I don’t regret it at all, even if I miss some of the fun high school activities. I now have a vocal coach, performing for her recitals online, and I also released two albums I recorded right here in my room which are on all the major music platforms now. This year went by so fast but I am more than excited for the next one! -Lauren
Karina Drury (17)
In 2020, I began as a junior in high school, living the usual high school life, however with the sudden change in lifestyle because of Covid-19, finishing junior year and the first semester of senior year was completely different. I school I studied ACP Government, ACP Speech, ACP Composition, AP Research, painting, etc. Of course, I did this all from the comfort of my home.
My hobbies mostly consisted of working on social media and building up my platforms on TikTok, Youtube and Instagram. This year my favorite things have been making matcha lattes, playing acoustic and electric guitar, interior design & style, watercolor, and fashion. It has been year 4 with my boyfriend Luke, and my best friends are Grace, Kate, Natalie, Jordan, Anna, Danielle, and Tea.
This year has been a rollercoaster of testing and episodes, as well as finally a diagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Much of my time has spent applying for college, writing for scholarships, and choosing my roommate for Indiana Wesleyan University in Fall 2021! - Karina
Maxim Drury (20)
In the midst of missing trips and changing plans, this year was one of both new challenges and new aspirations for me and those I worked with.
To begin the year with aspiration, on January 1st 2020, a group of my friends and I shared chapters we wrote at the end of 2019, serving as a sort of milestone to the all projects we would be undertaking together and individually throughout the year. However, by the Spring, after I finished my second semester at Indiana Wesleyan behind a screen at home, I began to realize that meeting goals for personal projects would be much harder to do with other people.
Despite this, a group of us got together to begin designing and coding a video game about zoology. As I began my first summer online course (while applying and working my first job at the Culver's restaurant near our neighborhood) we continued work on our game throughout the summer. By the time Fall semester of my sophomore year came and cases in the area went on the rise, I found myself away from family, coworkers, and my fellow game designers for the duration of the semester.
Confined on campus more and more towards the end of the year, I took time to work on solo projects involving writing and comic drawing / paneling in between my classes and studying. When the semester finally entered its final stages, I went home and did my very last final online. Having just completed one last project milestone before the year closes, I know I will look back on this year with the contentment of the progress that was made, instead of looking back with regret on such an unexpected change of plans. - Max
Kathy Drury
January and February brought normal year end tax work, amid lots of running around for Lauren’s Seussical play. We were a bit shocked with the last minute decision that the last day of school would be March 13. The girls haven’t been back in school since that day. I was so thankful Lauren was able to get in all her performances the weekend before. My 48th Birthday was the next day. We began our lockdown and just ordered pizza in to mark the day. We took turns in these early lockdown months doing family activity nights where each person would decide the activity we would all do together.
I continued my volunteer work with the ENL (English as a New Language) program at the local library the whole year, however we did move it online with great success. It’s an hour a week that brings me great joy and wonderful relationships with people all over the world.
The summer brought new life, I planted dahlias from seed and enjoyed watching them grow, and was able to put in all the landscaping around our new patio via curbside pick up from our local nursery and found a free patio table and chairs from someone in our neighborhood which brought some nice meals outside. In early July we took a 2 night away trip as a family to southern Indiana, at Clifty Falls State Park. Nice to get away, but some of the hardest hiking we had ever done. We celebrated our 24th anniversary there too. We made a trip up to visit my family in Holland in late July to celebrate my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary (a few months late). We had a nice dinner and took several pictures on the beach on a perfectly lovely summer evening.
We sent Max back to IWU in August and the girls started school as well. We transferred Lauren out of HSE to a new online school which she prefers as she begins high school. Karina really enjoyed and did well with her school learning moved online despite it being her senior year.
The year was full of lots and lots of medical issues. I joined Karina as she spent 2 nights in the hospital, one in January and one in February for overnight testing for her continued fainting. We are so grateful for finding a diagnosis and a "POTS Doctor" in Fort Wayne this summer. And Max ended up spending the night of his 20th birthday overnight in the hospital too due to a very high heart rate (but, thankfully no ongoing issues).
The girls, Dave and I took a week long trip to Pigeon Forge, TN, for fall break. Donning our masks we enjoyed lots of fun activities including Dollywood, Anakeesta, and the Titanic museum. We had perfect weather and were grateful for the getaway.
Thanksgiving was spent at home just the five of us and was a nice treat to have Max end his semester then as well. Christmas will be just the five of us too as we are laying low and minimizing contact with others. I was able to be part of several classes, starting in the summer I was part of the 6Q cohort that Dave created. I enjoyed the people I met in that cohort while discovering more of my calling.
I took part in an immigration cohort this fall in which I learned a lot. Then this fall and winter I am part of a "pioneering" cohort. Each group seems to be refining me to something more in life! In December, I enrolled in "i to i," an online program to be certified to teach english as a foreign language. I also continued serving on the Crossroads District Board (year three).
Our church met online every Sunday since March with a couple months of some partial in-person gatherings. We are part of a house church so we weren’t affected quite as much as others from large churches.
Overall, like most, it was a hard year. But I do find some good that came from it too. We had so much more time as a family than we ever would have otherwise. -Kathy
David Drury
I've mentioned it several times this year--if 2020 didn't cause a bit of an existential crisis for you perhaps you're not paying attention. Things have changed. Perhaps not entirely permanently, but significantly and pervasively in most every sector of our cultures. A great deal of my time has been providing coaching and counsel to all kinds of leaders who are managing in a season of crisis, and in some cases, are in crisis themselves. By now you're heard it all in terms of how things shifted in the way we live our lives in 2020, and for me it was much the same. So beyond videoconferencing, working from home, wearing a mask, socially distancing and all that other stuff... here's what might be unique to me in 2020:
I continued to work multivocationally with the majority of my time going to The Wesleyan Church as chief of staff. Of course much of that work shifted with almost all events cancelled from March-December and even into 2021. Beyond all the video meetings I rediscovered a tool to connect that had all but been lost: the telephone. I found that with more and more people weary of seeing themselves on camera (and having co-workers judge their bedroom decor) that people were more welcoming of a brief phone call than before. Even millennials (who previously were the "text, don't call" crowd) seemed to enjoy just being able to pop in their earbuds and take a walk or do their laundry while having a more informal meeting where our voices were they key, not our faces and homes. With that I ended up taking walks way more frequently than ever before in my life--in all months of the year regardless of the weather.
Some of the rest of my time went into continuing to build the One Multichurch Network of microchurches, working as partner of Multipliciter, life coaching with SixQ, and writing a new book this year that comes out in February 2021. The book features more than a dozen people making disciples and influencing their workplace and is called "Marketplace Multipliers." The whole book is in their voice and I just interviewed these great people and helped them find their voice in sharing their stories.
I put a good deal of energy into mobilizing people now. My hope is that every person might consider how God is launching them into their next, and to feel the pleasure of being useful, faithful, and effective in making disciples and multiplying the kingdom of God.
I suppose I should include here the picture from the photo book I gave Kathy for Christmas, which sort of sums up by view of 2020:
Beyond that I still connect with my hobbies as usual and have enjoyed seeing my kids and Kathy a little more than normal in 2020. -David
Merry Christmas from the Drury Family--see you back here in a year!
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