Christmas 2020

Merry Christmas! And thanks for stopping in to get an update on the Garland family!

It’s safe to say that 2020 was a year of new developments and change in our family. We will let the pictures do most of the talking this year, but here are a few highlights and updates about our family.

ZOEY: 

The youngest of the bunch has really taken to school. She enjoyed pre-COVID Kindergarten and now loves being in 1st Grade as the only Garland girl at Madison. The girl lost 5 teeth. She still has trouble saying her “r’s”, but Dad still thinks it’s cute. “Let’s do that fohst.” 

One of the cool developments with Zoey is that she learned how to ride a bike. She has a hard time being away from Eliana, and with Ana zipping around, Zoey had to make a choice: either learn how to ride or be lonely. She learned how to ride.

Zoey played soccer again and enjoyed it so much she’ll do it again next year. She was the one to put both arms up in celebration when she or a teammate scored no matter what the score was. 

ELIANA:

Ana started a new school this fall. She is now a 4th grader at Jefferson, in the same building as older sis Cayla. Ana continues to show maturity and takes on more responsibility each passing month. 

Eliana loved soccer this year, and we saw competitiveness come out for the first time in her. Her team was the Crunchy Cheetos. Leah didn’t let Jerod bring actual Cheetos to toss up in the air when the team scored. Buzzkill.

For her birthday, we found a last-minute used bike in Des Moines. And by last minute, I mean the day before. COVID made finding bikes very difficult, so it was a huge blessing to find the perfect purple bike just in time. Turns out we were letting her ride a bike that was about 2 sizes too small. 

CAYLA:

Cayla loves school. Flat out loves it. She delights in telling stories to any teachers or van drivers about a whole bunch of pretty dramatic stuff. Her imagination is really pretty remarkable. 

Speaking of bikes, a bike was temporarily donated to us for Cayla to use. It has 3 wheels on the back so it doesn’t tip over, but still requires some skill to steer. She has made incredible progress on that thing. Of course, with all things, motivation is key. Cayla went a few weeks without touching it, and then suddenly was on the front street by herself with us frantically trying to get out there with her. 

These spurts of being independent are so great in some ways, but not in others. Like when she ran off inside the Great Wolf Lodge water park without telling us. After running around the place for 10 minutes, there she was, at the top of a water slide, getting ready to go down by herself. We didn’t know whether to be angry or proud.

The girls are not perfect. Neither are we, so it works out okay. But they are a blast to get to raise, and we count our blessings every day.

In other big news, Leah took a new job as a Bereavement Specialist at the Comfort House after leaving Bethany after 15 years. It was a tough decision, but she has enjoyed her time there so far and is loving her new pace of life. She sees this as an incredible blessing to work with people who are nearing the end of their lives!

Like a lot of teachers, Jerod is excited to be at school in the classroom again this fall. He also is enjoying getting to play his season of basketball so far, and he also had fun coaching 7th grade football.

What a year 2020 has been, and although we had a month-long quarantine after coming down with COVID and so many other challenges/changes, we were able to find God through it all! We hope you have also been able to find the light in the darkness throughout this year! Blessings from our family to yours!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, and may you have a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR in 2021!

The Garlands:)