Christmas 2009
Greetings! Here’s wishing you the very holiest of
holiday seasons and the very happiest of New Years celebrations. We are so grateful for our friends, family
and community. It is wonderful to be
able to celebrate the love and friendships that we have in our lives and are
thankful for this time of year to reconnect with all we love throughout the
world. We hope the past year has been
good to you. Here’s what has been up with the Wilhelm family.
PEGGY
JO: MEDICAL WONDER WOMAN; ARTISTE; CLAN KEEPER
Peggy has endured another very
difficult and challenging year with courage and grace. From
January
through May, Peggy visited the Mayo Clinic on several occasions for
cryoablations on a vascular mass under her right scapula. These were the first
procedures of this kind ever performed on a vascular mass. This mass was thought to be causing her DIC
(a blood disorder that causes leaking of the blood vessels and eventually
death), and in fact, when removed, her condition markedly improved. She enjoyed
increasingly better health and blood counts through early September when her
DIC returned with a vengeance and she was found to have 18 rapidly previously
undiscovered and evolving vascular masses.
After two more Mayo trips and another surgery on her leg, she began
chemotherapy to help shrink these masses.
The good news is that this treatment seems to be working. Our experiences
with the Mayo Clinic have been so very gratifying-we are thankful for the
amazing team of doctors.
On the brighter
side, Peg was able to enjoy glasswork, some music and painting, friendship, and
our family trip to Australia in August.
A book she wrote with Jeff and friend Erika Boas came out in January
entitled INQUIRING MINDS LEARN TO READ
AND WRITE.
JASMINE: EXCHANGE STUDENT, COLLEGE
APPLICANT, ARTIST AND ATHLETE
Jazzy’s
big news is her 7 months abroad as an exchange student in Tasman
ia. She lived with our friend Erika Boas , Maria
(fantastic care giver) and Lory Boas, in Hobart
and attended the Tasmanian Academy, the former Hobart College. Jasmine
played Netball (her team made the state semi-finals and Jazz was infamous
for her long range shots and ball hawking skills- as well as fouling since no
physical contact is allowed in Netball! ) She
also played on the state championship Badminton team! Jazzy enjoyed outdoor education and did many
hiking trips around Tassie as well as trips to the Big Island. She made great
friends and continued to pursue her passions of visual art and photography. We are grateful to the entire Boas family for
such a life changing adventure. She is
now a senior at Boise High School and “enjoys” having her dad as a co-teacher
in her AP English class. She played
soccer this fall and is gearing up for marathon nordic skiing and
softball. She is looking at colleges, mostly in the Pacific Northwest and making her
applications for next fall.
FIONA: COLLEGE GIRL, ATHLETE, WRITER, MUSICIAN, ECO-FEMINIST
Fiona
continues to enjoy the University of
Redlands, and particularly her courses on religion, gender studies, and the
environment. She had a great May Term
learning to be an Outdoor Educator and is now a trip leader in UR’s outdoor programming. She sings in the college
choir and has continued to run competitively.
She worked again this summer for the Boise Parks department and joined
the family in Tasmania for lots of hiking during the month of August. During the summer she picked up the guitar, played hours each day, and became very
proficient. She is interested in sustainable living and is planning for her junior
year abroad. Rubicon publishers is
working on a book she wrote with Jeff and Erika Boas, entitled YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT AND THAT’S BIG BAD
NEWS.
JEFF:
“PERFESSER”, AUTHOR, TREKKER, MASTER MARATHON SKIIER
Jeff’s father, Jack, passed away this past January. As the
weather was bad in Ohio at that time, a memorial dinner and service took place
in April. Jeff continues to enjoy his
work at Boise State University as the
director of the National Writing Project site there. His duties include running an experimental
student teaching project and running studies on the NWP’s Analystical Writing
Continuum and on engaged readers of texts typically marginalized by school
(e.g. manga, fantasy, etc.). He works
often in schools and is currently helping
to teach Jazzy’s AP English class.
This past year he published two books, including the just released FRESH TAKES ON THE LITERARY ELEMENTS. He
ran an Advanced Reading Institute, and a summer reading clinic for students
grades 3-9, who helped him to make five DVDs for Scholastic on various methods
of teaching reading to older students.
Jeff’s big event of the year was traveling
to Patagonia for two weeks with friend Mike Lanza and hiking the Torres del
Paine circuit and another rarely hiked circuit on the Isla de Navarino,
southernmost island of Chile. He also
skied several races, including his 16th
Birkebeiner ski marathon. He
continues to enjoy whitewater kayaking and other outdoor pursuits.
THE FAMILY
As the girls get older and more independent, we are
increasingly in different places going different directions. Both girls are tremendously good-hearted, fun
and very interesting people and we love to spending time with them! We enjoyed a fabulous two and a half weeks
together in Tasmania, hiking at Freycinet and at Cradle Mountain, spending time
with our Tasmanian friends. We were
grateful to be together this Thanksgiving and will spend from mid-December
through New Years together, which we consider be great blessings. Jeff and Jazzy did take a backpacking trip
together with friends in the White Clouds and hiked out over 20 miles with no
food after a very bear-bag savvy bear dismantled two ingeniously hung bear bags
and ate all their food!
At this time of year, we are reminded of our good fortunes:
incredible family, loving friends, giving community, fulfilling purposes, love
and laughter.