The Andreasen's

Left to Right:  Joe, Josh, Jon, Ben, Jakob, Ellie Mattie, Willa, Millie, Esther, Janel, Tim
June 27, 2020

I'm not sure if we are truly the top of the alphabet in our Corneliusen clan, but since I have no current takers to introduce your own family, I will introduce our current family.  2020 may have been a little upside down but we made the most of it in some very big ways.  In March when everyone came home for "a week", it was fun and exciting and we treated it like a stay-cation of sorts.  Our college sophomore was home on break and we welcomed the opportunity for his extended stay.  It was sort of a welcomed time for some additional planning for our upcoming graduations,  baseball games, track meets and of course a June wedding!  Invitations had just arrived and were being addressed and despite the looming obscurity of a theoretical pandemic, the midwest just seemed to be taking a short pause, almost as if just to catch up on the world wide news.  

The scramble began to prepare for a city-wide quarantine should something crazy like that happen in the next week.  At that point it was all still a little bit fictional.  Fast forward and our home transformed to several school work stations, a home office and we had to reevaluate the pantry and the fridge because we returned to having ten bodies living and sleeping and eating at home 24/7.  Daily routines morphed to allow staggered computer times.  We became pretty well-versed in Zoom calls and classes, and our menu board was once again current, we had assembled THOUSANDS of puzzle pieces, resurrected board games and brushed up on all the card games we could think of, not to mention knocked out several seasons of a few different TV shows.  Our fire pit got more use in 3 months than in 3 years, we built some outdoor furniture, went on lots of bike rides and walks, and while we continually commented on how much this whole thing really stunk, we also regularly recognized how welcome the slowed pace and increased family time was.  (When the cap on gatherings was placed at 6, we made a lot of heads turn when all of us were playing spike ball in the front yard and we had to keep the volume down around the backyard fire pit so as not to cause a call to be put in for violating the mandate!)  Things can get a little busy when there are 10-12 different colored categories on a calendar.  At one point, I remember feeling anxious because my calendar spaces were empty when usually I didn't have room to fit another scratch of ink in a box!  I forgot how to not be busy.  We worked on sucking everything out of our newfound silver lining that we could, and in the end, even the things that could have really created stress--like cancelled sports seasons, graduations, and suspended wedding plans--just were shrugged off until there was anything that we could really do about it.  

The wedding invitations sat in a pile, ready to be mailed at the point when we knew there would be a wedding that could be attended by guests.  The bride and groom modified everything but the date-probably more times than they tracked. Just as soon as they announced that the wedding would be immediate family only (which was still challenging because that was still a pretty big number), our city's restrictions loosened and in 10 days, the whole thing was put back together as well as could be.  It was exciting but there was still some disappointment as long distance travel plans of family members and friends couldn't be put back together that quickly.  The day was perfect in every way.  After over three months of social isolation, everyone was eager to experience the joy that came with being together and celebrating.  We prayed that all would be well and held our breath for the two weeks following and in the end created lasting memories and a new union!!

With that prelude, let me introduce our family:

Tim and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary the week of the wedding.  Tim has been working from home since March and his home office has moved throughout the house to its semi-peramanent location in our bedroom.  I'm managing the chaos and relearning how to have more than one thing inked in a box on our calendar.  

Jakob is in his final year of school for Civil Engineering and married Ellie who is in her first year of PA school.  They're both Pius grads, went to Nebraska Weslyan University and now are at UNL and Union College, both still in Lincoln.  

Joshua is a junior at UNL after spending his first two years in Wyoming and near Grandma and Grandpa Stricker.  He is studying ag business and still working on deciding what direction it will take him.  He's a boots and jeans and cowboy hat kind of guy so he's leaning away from the idea of suit and tie gigs.  

Jonathan is a freshman at Morningside University.  He is playing football and discerning what his official subject of study will be.  Business and Education seem to be vying for the top choices.  A broken arm at practice a week before the opening game offered us the opportunity to navigate out-of-state pandemic style surgery and health care first hand. 

Mathilda (Mattie) is a junior at Pius X Highschool.  The college mail is starting to pile up on her desk at home and she's working on narrowing down a few choices of schools to visit as soon as in person visits return.  She's got her sights set on studying criminal justice.  

Benjamin is a sophomore at Pius and is figuring out the best fit in terms of which athletic uniforms.  I think football will remain his constant, but he swapped out basketball for wrestling and a baseball for a discus--and then traded the discus for a pair of crutches and a brace so we will have to wait until next year to see about that discus!  The newest version of excitement is seeing who wins the argument between him and Mattie of who gets to drive as he recently turned 16.

Joseph is wrapping up his 8th grade year at St. Teresa's and I think he's pretty excited about heading to highschool.  He spent the summer on the farm with Grandma and Grandpa and as a result of lots of good lessons has a few more tools in his tool belt.  (I hope Grandpa isn't missing too many of them).  :)  It seems strange that Joe was a newborn at the first reunion our entire family got to be at!

Amelia (Millie) just turned 12 and despite her appearance is only a 6th grader.  She's a play director, budding musician, potential athlete, could beat her brothers in an eating contest and is my right hand when it comes to her little sisters.

Willa is in Kindergarten, and has no issues keeping up with any of her siblings.  She's a natural gymnast and climber and can't quite understand why we won't just leave her home to watch her little sister when everyone else is unavailable.  She's probably capable, but I'm not quite sure it would look responsible to leave a 6 year old in charge!  She's sure it couldn't be as troublesome as the boy on "Home Alone"!  

Esther (Eshie) is 4 and is the resident "on-your-toes-keeper".  She knows how to navigate all things electronic and doesn't seem to think it unusual to go visit the neighbors at any time of day unannounced.  Everyone has me on speed-dial I think.  She's got the vocabulary of a child with 8 older siblings and it is most often comical to hear such big things come from a small mouth.  She keeps us all amused.

Life in Nebraska is Nice.  (That's our slogan you know...insert eye roll emoji here)  But it is actually...nice.  We are eager to welcome you to western Nebraska in July of 2022--and more than happy to welcome you to Eastern Nebraska anytime you may have any reason to land here.  We have gotten really good over the last few years of hopping bedrooms, so we'll be sure to have an open one for you!