Merry Christmas from the Angola Sauers!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014 to all of our family and friends.

Christmas brings the end of the year. And the end of the year brings the desire to look back. Here's what the Angola Sauers–––Avrie, Morgan, MacKenzie and Lee–––have been up to in the past year.

TWO-HEADS, ONE HEART__Avrie

LOVES her kitties. In this photo, she

strangles a stray at the Steuben County

Humane Shelter, where she volunteers. 

AVRIE, who turned 15 on August 26, is well along her path to becoming a crazy, old cat lady. When asked what she wanted to share about HER life in 2014, Avrie asked to pass along that she has a new cat, Ginger, at her mother's house, and that the two cats that live at our house, Lulu and Noel, have been in our family for, respectively, four and six years.

Despite her feline fixation, Avrie enjoyed normal teenage girl activities in 2014. She marched with her trumpet in the Angola High School band, and helped the Hornets place 8th in the state competition, held at Lucas Oil Field Stadium in Indianapolis. She ran on the high school's varsity cross country team in the fall and is seriously considering joining the track team in the spring.

Avrie surfed for the first time this past summer when the girls visited their Aunt Jill in California.

But that's enough normality. Perhaps because she is pigmentally challenged, Avrie seems to revel in being different. She recently took up knitting and crocheting. Yes, she does the little-old-lady thing where she works on her projects at every opportunity, oftentimes with a cat in her lap. But she also puts a unique, teenage spin on the string arts. She does what can only be described as "extreme knitting." She hunches over, hands three inches from her face, in a trance of concentration. Her fingers fly, the needles click with excitement, and no nuclear attack or Ninja Turtle movie can break the fog of determined intensity.

Since we've broached the topic of passions, we move onto . . . .

MORGAN, who turned 18 on December 10, is beset with passions. Name a topic. Go on . . .

Food? Yes. Exercise? Yes. Health? History? Travel? Yes. Yes. Yes. Culture? Decorating? Running? Swimming? Yes. Yes. Yes, and yes.

Morgan jumps into life with both feet, and her enthusiasm pulls others along. Most of her projects pertain to the art of living. She has virtually taken over the running of our household. She plans our meals, conducts our grocery shopping, directs all kitchen activities, and encourages us to clean after ourselves. Her part-time job is at (and I'm not making this up) The Sechler Pickle Factory. (It's really a retail store.)

NATURAL__Morgan likes her chickens

free range and her veggies organic. She

chose this setting for her photo because

the sunflowers behind her are free range

AND organic.

Not surprisingly, Morgan hopes to make cooking and nutrition a career. She would like to attend Johnson and Wales University in Denver next fall to study culinary nutrition. She believes she'll pursue being a chef, and would like to write cookbooks.

Yet if Morgan is passionate about food, she is equally consumed with burning calories off. She runs up to seven miles a day and plans to run distance races for the high school track team this spring. Speaking of jumping in with both feet, Morgan is currently competing for the swim team. The most amazing swimming factoid is that being on the team requires 5 AM practices on bitterly cold winter mornings. But her resolution has paid off: Morgan has twice been awarded the swim team's Most Improved trophy.

Morgan completed four years as a saxophone player with the Angola band at the aforementioned state finals. She says she is sad her band career is coming to a close . . . . but now she wants to take up the violin.

Morgan's many interests affect both young and old: she mentors a group of high school freshmen and visits a senior citizens home to talk to the residents. Over her 2014 spring break, she flew to Arizona to visit her Grandma and Grandpa Sauer.

Speaking of old, we now move onto . . .

MACKENZIE will turn 20 on January 2. That's right. The Big Two-O.

MacKenzie reflected recently on how many changes one year can bring. That is certainly true in her case.

CITY FOLK__Reed and MacKenzie

have grown to appreciate Indianapolis.

Here they pose with an artist's conception
of their future family.

A year ago, MacKenzie was a scared, homesick freshman at the University of Indianapolis. Every class seemed to speak her doom, and she was convinced she was not college material.

A year later, MacKenzie is the proud owner of a 3.72 GPA and a more confident attitude. She is spreading her wings, so to speak: giving speeches in public, learning the guitar, chairing the UIndy environmental organization, doing yoga and running.

Yes, running. A reluctant convert, MacKenzie finally tried jogging as regular exercise and found it was something she could enjoy. Around Thanksgiving, she took part in her first 5K event and finished second among women runners.

MacKenzie's open wings will soon take her to Central America. She and her 3 1/2-year boyfriend, Reed, will take part in a UIndy program held in Costa Rica. They will, among other things, visit a rain forest, zip line over a stream, and hike up to a lake on top of an inactive volcano.

Flying is becoming a habit with MacKenzie. Along with her sisters' trip to California in July, MacKenzie flew on her own to California over her spring break.

What a difference a year makes! Now we only hope that by this time next year, MacKenzie will have learned not to challenge her father to a slap match. (That's because SHE always starts them, and she ALWAYS loses.)

Speaking of slaphappy, we arrive at . . .

BAND BOOSTED__MacKenzie, center,

got to see her sisters, Morgan and Avrie,

perform for the Hornet marching band

several times this past season.

LEE P. is still doing many of the same things he's been doing. He makes his living from handyman work, illustration and writing. He is a mentor to a 12-year-old middle school student and a 43-year-old, single father. He fixes up the family home: this summer he FINALLY got the old girl painted.

Something new: for the next two years, he will serve as president of the Angola Area Art Guild.

AS A FAMILY, the Angola Sauers had two fun 2014 visits. In October, Aunt Jane visited from Alaska. She got the see the girls in action–––literally. In one busy day, she went to Nappannee, IN, to see Avrie run cross country, then she continued on to LaFayette to see both Morgan and Avrie play in the band.

And, for Thanksgiving, our family traveled to Tennessee to partake of Aunt Sue's amazing cooking and to play with Ava and Rebecca. (Sue's grandbabies.)

IN SUMMARY, we're well-fed, busy and happy. We hope 2015 is as good as the year past. And we wish that all our family and friends are as happy and healthy as we are.

Happy Holidays!

FAMILY PORTRAIT––The Angola Sauers,

from center left: MacKenzie, Morgan, Avrie

and Lee pose for an official portrait . . .

. . . of course, once the photographer left, things got
back to normal.