Kathy, Dave, and Lauren enjoyed trying living and working in Brooksville, Florida for the month of January down the road from Dave’s parents which was a nice change of pace. That month began in Orlando with The Gathering event of The Wesleyan Church. Dave and Kathy both had to work booths for our jobs with Global Partners (GP) and Immigrant Connection (IC).
Lauren and Kathy enjoyed a day at EPCOT (while Dave was reading). We also took a weekend cruise the 3 of us with Dave’s mom, Sharon, in mid January to Mexico which was a very nice time.
In May, Max and Kathy went to visit her family in Holland, MI and were able to be there as Tulip Time began. We enjoyed watching Kathy's niece Dutch dance a few times.
Dave and Kathy then went to Athens, Greece for an event in June for GP and then from there made our first trip of three to Istanbul, Türkiye. In late August Dave and Kathy made a quick trip to FL to see Dave’s parents. However our trip was extended due to hurricane Idalia that hit north of Brooksville, FL. Dave then moved to Istanbul, Turkey, for his work with Global Marketplace Multipliers (staying nearly 3 months).
Kathy joined Dave in Istanbul from Oct 26- Nov 26. We had a lovely time reuniting after 5 weeks apart. (we decided we won’t be apart like that again!) The weather was perfect those first two weeks and we did sightseeing on the weekends and ate lunch out most days as we explored our neighborhood and got used to working from another country together. It was the 100 year celebration of Turkey's founding while we were there (see pic above).
The kids flew over together and we enjoyed seeing Istanbul together on thanksgiving week. It had been many years since the 5 of us traveled anywhere together and this was a huge one. We are very thankful for that experience together and glad that Dave was able to come back in December and the whole family is planning to be together for Christmas 2023!
Some Updates From Each of Us
Max:
Began the year finding a job as an English as a New Language (ENL) Instructional Assistant in an elementary school and started to adjust to life after college. Gradually learned to keep in contact with friends I knew from college who are no longer in the next dorm over. Continued with great enthusiasm on creative projects as much as possible.
Lauren:
The first half of the year I continued my work in child care at the YMCA. However, in June I began a new job at a local apartment complex in the office. I have been pushed by using my language skills to communicate with residents and customers who often speak Spanish or Arabic. I dated Jackson all year. We met at our jobs at the YMCA. I continued my online school as a senior in high school this year and have been able to travel and do other things like voice lessons with my flexible schedule. I continue to have 2 recitals a year and this coming June 23, 2024 I will have my first full concert at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, IN! (I’d love you to come!) I have applied to colleges for next year and plan to go to Indiana Wesleyan being part of their online early childhood education program.
Karina:
Big update from Karina here as there's a LOT of big things for her to report
2023 has been filled with friendship, love and memories. I started off the year in my second semester of junior year at Indiana Wesleyan University studying Design for Social Impact. I love my classwork and professors and have not only experience in interior design but all aspects of design with this degree. I worked at Indiana Wesleyan’s Chapel office as Marketing and Designer during that semester. I started to get into photography and collage work and building my website aside from my class projects. In March, I took spring break with my roommate, Ella, and we went to Florida together. We went to Disney, Clearwater beach, and University of Tampa, etc. Once final projects wrapped up for the semester, Luke and I took a trip to Florida in May. Luke and I went to the zoo, St. Pete beach, out to eat, and to Disney springs. On the fourth day, Luke proposed to me on the beach and I said yes!!!
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We celebrated the rest of the week in Florida and came back home a few days later to celebrate with our families. Upon returning home, I started a job at High Frequency Arts in Fishers, IN at Hub&Spoke design center. This job was fulfilling to my passions and aligned with my career goals. I would go onsite to install interior design projects, work both residential and commercial projects, and make creative decisions in the gallery. Near the end of summer, I signed with social media management Jake Rosen Entertainment in New York City. They have taken my work load down tremendously in my social media work I have been doing the last several years and they have the connections to land me great brand deals. In August, I picked my wedding dress with my mom, sister, and soon-to-be mother in law. I asked my best friends to be my bridesmaids and did as much wedding planning as possible before my senior year started. I helped Luke move into school at Indiana University and I moved back to Indiana Wesleyan University the day after. I love going to the gym, hanging out with my friends, and making collages in my free time. In November, my siblings and I flew out to Istanbul, Turkey to visit my parents who had been living there. We spent over a week there sightseeing, playing games, eating out, and shopping, and it was the best family vacation I have ever had. I am finishing off December cranking out my final projects for my classes and ready to be home for Christmas break.
Dave:
I had one of the more unique years of my life of late. I wrote about some of the transitions in my life this past summer, calling it my "mid-life crisis" of sorts. If you want more of those updates go here. As I discussed at length there--I decided to live and work for part of the year in Istanbul, Turkey, and so that transition was one of the more major updates for me. I work with Global Marketplace Multipliers which helps serve and network those who move to another country for their work, so it only seemed right I should do the same kind of thing for a bit. On a personal level, I still enjoy keeping up with the NBA and especially the Pacers as my home team might be the most fun basketball team in the league to watch this year. I enjoy board and video games with family and friends and I'm still attempting to not kill my bonsai trees (thanks to Max for watering my trees when I moved away for 3 months!) I am reading and writing a good bit as is usually the case for me in my free time. I look forward to this Christmas more than any in recent years as I'm going to be back with family after time away all of the Autumn season.
Kathy:
I continued with my immigration law training and currently I am waiting for my approval to become a Department of Justice (DOJ) representative through Immigrant Connection (IC). I enjoyed my part time work with the national office IC as well. The annual conference in late September is my biggest work week but very fulfilling and a highlight of my year. After four years of volunteering with the library English as a New Language (ENL) class, I decided to leave that role. It was something I loved, but it was time to move on and I stay connected with many of the people I met through those great years. I then co-led a citizenship class for 7 weeks and now some of the students are applying and ready to have their interviews! Immigrants are a big part of my personal and work life; some of my greatest friends and opportunities to serve as well.Update added Dec 22: KATHY GOT APPROVED!
She is now an official Department of Justice Representative (DOJ rep) and while her primary work is with the National Immigrant Connection staff she is also now able to do legal paperwork for immigrants on behalf of the USA! She'll be able to begin after the new year on citizenship applications and since she did a citizenship class for the public this fall—it's a good place to start.
We don't normally put this many pics on this blog but here's a bunch of shots from significant events or travel from this year together:
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