2018 Year in Review

Kayleigh at Christmas

Aidan at graduation

Abigail from an Open Sky photo shoot

At the Lindsey Sterling\Evanescence concert on our anniversary

T. Alex before heading to Japan

Kyrie in Tennessee

Kayleigh didn't feel left out this year!

Dear family and friends,

Another year has flown by, and it’s time for yet another New Year’s missive from the Colliers. 2018 was an eventful year; here are a few of the highlights:

In April, Tartan Alex moved to Mito, Japan to teach English at a couple of elementary schools in Ibaraki Prefecture. This was a huge step, but one that Tartan Alex embraced wholeheartedly. Between learning the area - and how to navigate on foot, bicycle, bus and train!, putting together lesson plans, and figuring out how to do all the basic things of life when everything is written in a different language, he’s certainly keeping busy.

Kyrie continues to enjoy a busy college life at UTD. She attended two conferences as the marketing director for UTD TV, one in Minneapolis and one in Seattle. She applied and was accepted as the assistant production manager for the second semester of animation lab which produced an animated short called “Drift”. She is looking forward to being the producer for the next two-semester animation lab. She has also become more active at her church, volunteering with middle school girls.

In May, Aidan officially became a high school graduate of the Class of 2018. Congratulations, Aidan! Since then, he has been working as a nearly-full-time lifeguard for the YMCA, and will be taking classes at Lone Star Community College starting in the spring of 2019. Aidan also attended the National Order of the Arrow Conference at Indiana University in the summer, and was called out for the OA’s “Vigil Honor” - a very prestigious accomplishment! - in October.

In July, Abigail went to Mongolia as part of Ballet Excelsior’s “Saviour” ballet tour. The company danced two shows in the capital city of Ulaan-Baataar and one show in Darkhan, accompanied by a full choir and the Mongolian Military Orchestra.  Like last year's trip to Bulgaria, Naomi went along as the photographer/videographer and Tartan provided tech support for lighting, sound, and prop construction.  In the fall, Abigail began dancing as an intern with Open Sky Arts Collective, and she is absolutely loving it! In the lead up to Christmas, they had several inspirational performances at churches, children’s hospitals, and senior living centers.

Kayleigh continues to dance with Excelsior in their trainee program, and had a number of performances as well, including a busy weekend of shows just before Christmas. She officially became a teenager in June and has grown a lot this year.  She’s taking two outside classes (writing and science) as part of our homeschool and doing very well in them.

Tartan continues work at ExxonMobil. He is also still the assistant children's supervisor at Bible Study Fellowship, where he is joined by Abigail in the senior level children's class and by Aidan, now in an adult discussion group. (Aidan also has the distinction of being the youngest "adult" in the entire BSF class!) This year, Tartan started playing with the music team at church, playing the cajon for a couple of months before shifting over to play bass keyboard. Both Naomi and Tartan have been trained as facilitators for GriefShare, a grief recovery program, and are helping to host a course being offered nearby. Naomi is still the treasurer for our homeschool association, Homewood, and every year she keeps adjusting to having older children.

Our big family trip this year was to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We stayed in a mountain cabin in Sevierville, and made a couple of day trips into Pigeon Forge and to Cades Cove (in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park). The rest of the time we spent watching movies, playing games, and generally enjoying each other’s company.

That's what the Colliers have been up to this past year. We hope that, just as we have seen God working in and through us, that you have been similarly blessed. Looking forward to what 2019 holds in store!

Love,
Tartan, Naomi and the Collier Crew