Hello Family and Friends,
For the past few days I can’t seem to get the line, “the weary world rejoices” from the song, O Holy Night, out of my head. Probably because 2020 has been such a challenging year for many. But as we enter the Advent season, we see the thrill of hope from the greatest gift ever given, as well as look back to see the joy and blessings from the past year.
This year has definitely brought our family a lot of change – the greatest being our relocation to Fort Bragg, North Carolina in August. There were many hurdles involved (a 2-month notice, military travel ban, required exception to policy documents, lack of moving companies available, a challenging housing market and more) but we were finally able to safely make the journey east and have settled nicely into Fayetteville.
Roland is currently serving as the Chaplain Resource Manager for Fort Bragg (think Chief Financial Officer for the Chaplains here) and has been neck deep in budget analysis, financial meetings and program certifications. He is gaining a whole new understanding of how the Army works, which will be helpful as we just learned that he was selected for promotion to Major – a huge milestone in his military career.
The other big change was our transition to homeschool and the creation of the Geyrozaga Academy. We had been contemplating homeschooling for awhile but when COVID hit, forcing the kids to finish out the school year virtually, we decided to make the transition right away. In May, Elana made her debut as teacher/principal/headmistress, Nathan (age 12) started 7th grade and Alison (age 10) began 5th grade. If asked, both would agree that history and vocabulary are their favorite subjects (also the quickest lessons to complete) but we’ve seen tremendous advancement in their writing and math skills. Homeschool has been a huge undertaking, with a steep learning curve and requiring continual readjustments along the way, but we seem to have found a good rhythm and are appreciating the flexibility and time together it affords us.
We’ve spent a lot of time cooking together as a family (in the kitchen and on our new Traeger grill) and the kids are perfecting certain culinary creations – spaghetti anyone? We also joined a local co-op where the kids have been taking fun classes like theatre, PE and Greek Mythology. We can often be found at the driving range or playing a round of nine (the advantage of living in a golf community). I’m pretty sure the kids have asked Santa for a golf cart, though I doubt he’ll deliver.
While we haven’t been able to travel as much as we would like, we’re excited to explore more of North Carolina and the east coast. Our location provides easy access to the beach – we’ve already spent some time down in Myrtle Beach, and the mountains, where we have an upcoming camping trip planned. Hoping some of our travels will allow us to reunite with some of you. Despite our proximity, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! As well as a safe and healthy New Year, filled with many blessings ahead in 2021.
With Love & Aloha, Roland, Elana, Nathan & Alison