Whew, what a year. As you look back, how did things change or stay the same for you? When was the first time you went somewhere you had stayed away from in the lockdown? Are you still wearing masks? I have 7 masks in my car, just in case! Despite COVID-19 and the Delta variant, and now Omicron, Andy and I were able to continue our work with Cru. Your prayers have kept us afloat, and your financial gifts have kept us focused on our jobs.
In January, Andy and I continued working in our “home offices” as Cru’s headquarters was not yet open from COVID-19 (with an added wait as the buildings were being updated.) February began with a WHAM when Rachel called at 4:30 a.m. to say her stomach hurt and by 9:30 p.m. no longer had an appendix. I spent two weeks with her, precious time. We watched Rachel’s last lacrosse season, celebrated her accomplishments (a career total of 200+ draw controls and 200+ goals, etc.) and attended her graduation (Cum Laude). We guardedly went back to public places, masks on, sanitizer in our pockets. Khloe turned 5, Rylie turned 4 and Andy and I celebrated our last birthday in our 50’s.
Summer saw Rachel in Maryland with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the rest of us in Florida. Cady and Kevin decided to homeschool Khloe and Rylie. At Murphy’s second birthday party we learned that we would be grandparents again, 4th time! Yahoo!
Colleges were reopened to students across the country, and Catherine’s work picked up steam. Rachel moved back home and waited to have the ligaments in her ankle repaired (5 years of lacrosse stress). The surgery was October 7th. Andy and I were still working from our home offices. I began helping Khloe and Rylie learn basic science – we have made walking rainbows of food coloring, tried to make a brain out of Jell-o, and have talked about everything from weather to reptiles to arctic animals. The first week of December we learned that Becca and Zach will be having a baby boy. (Andy shouted, “it’s our first boy!!”)
The year in ministry saw Andy and his teams at the forefront of Zoom and Google contract negotiations, working against hacking attempts, and helping bring all our global ministries into our corporate systems. I edited our new staff member allocation plan and many newsletters going out to our campus staff. My summer boss and I began answering questions about Cru22, our national staff conference which will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July 2022. A new part of my daily responsibilities is answering questions to Campus.info@cru.org. These can range from, “Is there a Cru ministry presence at the University of Connecticut?” to our own staff asking, “How do I find this resource?” It has helped me learn a ton about our ministries to students and faculty.
As the year ends, Andy and I are soaking up every minute of our girls being in the same city, knowing Rachel hopes to move to South Carolina in the early New Year. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your lives and to continue the work to which God has called us. We love what we do, and we love doing it with you!!
The Kelloggs 