It's three hundred fifty-eight days until then, Shawn.
"Heh, I'm WAY ahead of schedule with this whole Christmas letter writing business!"
It appears you missed 2017's letter.
"Oh, well no need to mention THAT."
It also appears that you will be turning 30 next year. My research indicates that is a stressful milestone for human males.
"Okay, Siri, that's enough!"
Based on my accelerometer recordings and the sounds of your labored breathing, it appears you've gained weight.
*aggressively mashes power-off button*
Smart phones.
The Graber household wishes you a very Merry Christmas, regardless of the fact that we're a whole week late in saying it. We had an amazing holiday jam-packed with family reunions. When I was single, there was the Maust family reunion and the Graber family reunion to keep an eye on. My assumption was that marriage would bring two more family reunions to the table BUT WE ALL KNOW ABOUT ASSUMING and somehow there's about 15 reunions now. Heidi loves to say that she's related to half of Kalona and I'm related to the other half. Not only is she right, I dare say she's underestimating the length and breadth of our relations.
Heidi and I are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our son in mid February, and his name is Mr. George José Duncan Walter Zinfandel Ronald Graber, if the guessers are to be believed. We have our name picked out (along with the names of our next three children) and the curiosity arising from our families is growing at an exponential rate. If I could somehow capitalize on this explosive growth...hmm mumble mumble BirthCoins...
Photos by Lynda Halteman
Heidi and I celebrated our first anniversary in June, where we took a sweet little getaway to Chicago. "Why not just fly to Afghanistan, it's less violent!" I hear you say. We had some fascinating experiences in Chicago, and most of them were amazing. We stayed in a fancy hotel in Schaumburg and traveled to the heart (gizzard? liver?) of the city each day to explore. We toured Willis Tower and stepped out into a tiny glass box suspended 108 floors above the ground. We moseyed through the Museum of Science and Industry, where we did all sorts of interactive things that were too fun to be considered 'learning experiences', even though that's exactly what they were. We visited the Shedd aquarium and a sweet staff member let me not only pet stingrays, but keep a section of their teeth. Maybe you don't know how cool that is, but it is way cool. Stingrays lose their teeth sections (which look like tiny, flat combs) about as often as a shark will lose its teeth. They regrow constantly, so it's no big deal for them to just drop chunks of their teeth. I am the only person that left the aquarium that day with a section of stingray teeth. What's that? You say it's because that's kinda gross and nobody else would want them? Pish posh! I had fun stumping my brother Shaylon with the small comb of teeth, giving him clues as to its origin and seeing if he'd guess which animal they belonged to. He guessed it eventually, because he's a genius.
Willis Tower, Chicago
View from the Willis Tower glass boxes. We were in one box, photographing
across the open expanse to the other box. The floor, walls, and ceiling are all glass.
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Shedd Aquarium, Chicago. Heidi is petting various stingrays.
Stingrays in the Shedd Aquarium. They felt smooth and slippery.
Heidi's brother Christopher has been in Costa Rica for the past 18 months with Pura Vida ministries. Christopher had a short break for the holidays; it was so lovely to spend time with him, his girlfriend Rosetta, and the whole Zook family this Christmas. Chris has returned to Central America and we miss him already.
Heidi and I bought a minivan...we couldn't be more excited. I do mean WE, because I've been wanting a minivan since I was in high school. It's superior to an SUV in every way. Sliding doors rather than traditional doors that swing wayyyy out and ding nearby vehicles, a low center of gravity that keeps the vehicle on its four wheels where it belongs, and most of all: the blessings that other drivers give. Just think about it; when you see a humble little minivan making its way through traffic with a cute young lady at the wheel, you say things like "Aww look at that little momma just doing her best, day in and day out!" but if you see an SUV on your way to the grocery store, your thoughts are more "Who does that IDIOT think they are? What a pretentious oaf!" You can't tell it's a cute young lady driving because of the tinted windows and the fact that it's upside-down in a ditch.
Our sweet new-to-us minivan, a 2006 Nissan Quest
2017 was a busy year for Heidi. She's been cleaning houses and finished painting the rooms in our trailer. Colors with the names "Midnight Sonata", "Mill Run Blue", Summer Shower Green", "Quiet Rain" and others have transformed drab wallpaper into beautiful vistas. Her latest project has been setting up a delightful baby room. Decorating, organizing, painting, rearranging furniture...all the things that would drain my energy seems to replenish hers. Heidi is transitioning out of her house-cleaning jobs and plans to stay home with our baby when he finally decides to arrive.
One of our 2017 goals was to take swing dance lessons, and we just finished our beginner lessons this past month. Initially we didn't plan to take up dancing while Heidi was pregnant, but she was a champ. We took 12 weeks of lessons with the University of Iowa Swing Dance Club and we had a marvelous time. We learned East Coast, Lindy, and a little bit of Charleston. We took a single class of Balboa and that was ultra saucy. For those of you ne'er-do-wells that have no idea what swing dance is, it's that fun, old-timey dancing that you see in all the old classic movies, like It's a Wonderful Life (George Bailey is dancing the Charleston when he ends up falling into the swimming pool) or Singin' in the Rain.
We experienced the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse. It was everything we had hoped to see and much, much more. Heidi and I got up in the wee hours of August 21st and traveled to Jefferson City, Missouri, which was located in the totality band of the eclipse. NASA set up their eclipse coverage in Jefferson City, so that tells you how prime of a spot it was. We took Heidi's brother Austin and my brother Shaylon along for the ride. I had initially planned to take a 10-passenger van and fill it with friends, but then I discovered that most of my friends weren't that eager to go. I didn't blame them; there were news reports stating that it would be the worst traffic jam Armageddon in the history of the United States. "Take extra water!" the reports shouted "You'll probably be stuck in your vehicle for a day!" The drive down to Missouri was swift and smooth with hardly a hint of traffic. We arrived with hours to spare, and met up with my dear friend Brian Shirk, who invited us to camp out in his front yard. This is totally an instance of "It's not what you know, it's who you know." I had known Brian lived in Missouri but I didn't know where, so when I found out that my planned eclipse watching spot was 10 minutes from his house...it was mind-blowing. After setting up chairs and a telescope and setting out sheets of paper for temperature testing, we saw such a beautiful eclipse...I'm still having a hard time describing it. Photographs of the eclipse do not do any justice of any kind to the event, and no, you can't say "I saw it" if you only saw pictures. That would be akin to me saying that I've been in Europe, when I've only been in the Amsterdam airport. (That's true, by the way. My friends won't let me say I've been to Europe because I didn't step outside of the airport. What's that all about? Do airports exist outside of the physical realm?)
The eclipse was beautiful and well worth the trip. As the moon fully concealed the sun, we were able to take off our glasses and view the event with the bare eye. We could even see the sun's corona, the white-hot ring of burning gases around the surface of the sun. It appeared as a white wreath around the black of the moon. The return home took two hours longer than the trip there, and I got all fidgety and fussy but that horrifying snarl of traffic is now just a dim, foggy memory. The eclipse still stands bright and clear in my mind. Worth it, no doubt.
It was a chore to find pairs of solar eclipse glasses,
but we had enough to go around by the time we left.
My packing list for the solar eclipse.
The welding helmets were added just in case
we needed additional solar protection.
One of Brian's friends brought a sweet telescope to view the eclipse. We were able to observe sunspots on the surface of the sun with it, as well as track the progress of the moon as it traversed across the sun. It was absolutely incredible. Note the duct-taped solar shield on top of both the telescope and the spotting scope; this was to keep our eyes safe. Ain't nobody got time to eyeball the sun directly through a telescope!
View through the spotting scope, not quite halfway to the eclipse
View through the main telescope, taken nearer to the time of total eclipse.
We have three cats that run around outside and bring us freshly-killed moles and birds as gifts. Clutch and Chester are brothers and nearly full-grown. Shane's cat Ferris is their mother, and appears to be waddling around with another litter of kittens inside her. Even though Clutch and Chester are beautiful, they're a touch on the wild side and are difficult to snuggle with. I know a lot of people that view their dogs and cats as more than pets...they're members of the family! Fur babies! Bah humbug to that, I don't even think our cats are pets. They're just cats. If I had to call something my pets, it would be my ever-growing collection of guns, of which I now have ***REDACTED***
I've been busy working with my dad at Graber Heating & Air. Dad made the last payment on the business this year and he now fully owns the business. I'm in my last year of apprenticeship and plan to take my Journeyman's exam this year. And what a journey it's been; many of my fellow classmates are gone. What started as a class of over 30 in 1st Year was down to 15 or so in 3rd Year. With 4th Year classes beginning next week, I expect to see even less of my classmates. Several have accepted other job offers or dropped out of the HVAC industry. The U.S. is desperate for more plumbers and HVAC technicians (very high job security, BTW) and there doesn't seem to be enough applicants.
Barry (my father) giving Lynn (my grandfather) the last payment for Graber Heating.
Brother Shelby loiters in the background.
Some trips Heidi and I made this year:
-Three weeks in South Carolina helping with Strait Paths ministries in February
-Anniversary trip to Chicago in June
-July 4th trip to the Maquoketa Caves with the Barry Graber family
-A weekend in Storm Lake, IA in July for Shane's wedding
-Camping trip to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin with the Alan Zook family
-A day in Missouri for the eclipse in August
-Two separate trips to Ohio for weddings, one for Dawnita (Martin) Stoltzfus and one for Jeanette (Falb) Stoltzfus. I probably should have caught this, but those two girls married boys with the same last name. Huh.
-A quick weekend trip to Minnesota to visit dear friends Doyle and Teresa Byler in November
-Field trip to Des Moines, IA to visit Shane & Fern and tour the Iowa Capitol building in November
Capitol building, Des Moines, IA
Maquoketa Caves, IA
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
That one time we went dumpster diving and found questionable meat; undisclosed location.
Downtown Chicago, IL
Speaking of the new year, I ALSO encourage you to pronounce it "Twenty-eighteen". Saying "Two-thousand-eighteen" is SO last decade. I hold this gleam of hope in my heart that by 2020, everyone will be on board with saying "twenty" rather than "two thousand", but who knows; we're a stubborn culture. If you won't change, then at least be consistent. Pronounce ALL the years in long-hand. For instance, I was born in One-Thousand-Nine-Hundred-and-Eighty-Nine.
I realize that my blog has been abandoned and neglected and otherwise completely unused since last year's Christmas letter. That surprised me a little; where has time gone? If I keep with this schedule, I'll have a little 10-month old to talk about the next time I write. :)
Heidi and I love each and every one of you, and we're grateful for your influence in our lives. We pray God's abundance in finances, health, wisdom, and joy for you and your families this new year.
P.S. I'm totally looking forward to 30 next year. Take that, Siri!
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