2013 - Year in Review

Easter 2013 - Emily, Anne, Glenn, Jacob and Sarah

2013 has been another eventful year for the Mohler family...

Emily's Messiah Graduation

In the late spring, Emily graduated from Messiah College with her degree in Public Relations. She didn't have a job lined up when she graduated, but soon found one working for Tierney, a public relations firm, in their Harrisburg office. She is enjoying the work she does there on some contracts with the State, and is also enjoying (?) the "grown-up world" of purchasing a car, securing car insurance, health insurance, etc.!

The other big news is that Emily is now engaged to Nick Hemming, a fellow Messiah '13 graduate! Their wedding is scheduled for next August in Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia.  The venue is part of the Philadelphia public park system, and was the farm of John Bartram, a 18th century Quaker, and most influential botanist in the early years of our country.





Sarah completed her freshman year at Eastern University this spring.  Her first year at College required a few adjustments, but she loves the school and has quickly made friends, usually bringing one or more of them home with her on breaks. This Fall she took on the new challenge of being a Resident Assistant on her floor in Doane Hall, where she also lived her freshman year. She has been actively involved in a number of activities, including a prison ministry.  She has applied for the Social Work program.

In late May, Sarah traveled to the Dominican Republic with a group from Eastern, partnering with Handfuls of Hope.  They helped in orphanages and with some construction needs in Catalina, among other things. Although it was difficult for her to see so many people in tough circumstances, Sarah was thankful for how she was able to help them during her time there, and would love to go back some day.

Jacob completed his Junior year by running track during the spring season.  He started off his Senior year this Fall running cross country and playing trombone in the marching band; his first season! It made for a busy schedule, but he enjoyed his involvement in both. This year he also celebrated the rites of passage of obtaining his driver's license (Anne officially retired as main chauffeur--there was much rejoicing!) and getting his braces off, revealing an unencumbered smile and a corrected bite!

Over the summer, Jacob traveled with our church's youth group to Carrefour,  Haiti, to work with Hearts United with Haiti..The group helped with Vacation Bible Schools, some construction, and spent time with some of the Haitians, playing soccer and teaching them games.  He celebrated his 17th birthday "in style" while there, being adorned with a crown-leaf-thing while the group sang to him!

Beach Vacation at Delaware Beaches

The Ephrata Firecracker Run on the 4th of July is our annual family endurance event, which we have done every year that we have lived in the area.  This year Glenn, Emily and Sarah took part.  Jacob was away at camp, and Anne took her (very important, maybe even imperative) role as family cheerleader/photographer at the event.  

We vacationed in the Rehoboth, Delaware area in July.  We stayed in Cottages at Indian River Inlet Marina.
 They look no more than 10-15 years old and are very well kept and accommodated our family well.  Unfortunately, due to the girls' work schedules, we were not able to all be there at the same time, but we made the most of it.

Firecracker 5 Mile Finishers

Glenn started out the year by completing two of the three Frozen Foot 5 K series races at Elizabethtown College.  During the winter he was training on foot and roller ski, and maybe four or five days on actual snow skis.  In March he completed the Winona Forest Tourathon, a 50 K cross country ski race, which is exclusively a classic technique race.  During the summer he spent more time training on the bike, and completed a ride with his brother Dale from Pittsburgh to Washington DC on the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal trails.   You can read an account of that adventure at "Passage to Washington"

Anne keeps busy in various roles with all the family activities.  She continues to be an experimental, non-main stream cook, and uses the word "melange" when she's not quite sure what to call the dishes she concocts.  The rest of the family are pretty good sports in trying what appears on the table; sometimes they even enjoy it.  The ladies' investment club Anne's involved with just celebrated their 18th anniversary...when the club started, three of the founding members, including Anne were pregnant, and now our "babies" are getting ready to graduate from High School!  Anne is also involved at church as a member of the Counting Team, with Small Group/Ladies Bible Study ministries and drama.  Anne also continues part-time sales support work for Sunrise Logistics, a division of Four Seasons Produce.  She LOVES visiting the Employee Produce Market at work pretty regularly, and trying all sorts of produce from around the world (see melange comment above), along with the good 'ole standbys.

New Yawk City

The Beiber bus got us to Gotham safe and sound.  On the drive up there was Bingo and a raffle to entertain us.  As we were making the final approach on 95, we saw all the  containers stacked, waiting to be loaded to trains-for shipping.  We import a lot odd stuff.  Was able to see the newly crowned tallest building on the skyline, as we made our way into the city on the Holland tunnel approach.

The bus dropped us off at Bryant Park.   We first went to Times   Square to see about tickets for a show.  Some of the tickets were discounted 50%.  But The line was long, so we decided to head toward the high line trail.

We took the metro to the 14th st Station and then walked west toward Gansevort St. We were getting a little hungry, so we stopped at a little deli for an early lunch  We were both looking forward to having a New York bagel.  According to the menu, they had "jumbo bagels".  However, these bagels were just average sized, a bit of a let-down for these hungry travelers.

Now that we were properly fueled, we were ready to tackle the highline.  I had read about it 3 years ago, and since heard from people who had walked on it since.

Walked full length of the highline, heading north.
Performance art, heating oil
Benches on rails
Most trees still had their leaves
Lots of new construction and redevelopment going on along the trail
Parking garages
Rooms with a view

walked by Post office, sat on steps in the sun for a few minutes.

Back through Times Square, and then to 5th avenue to find Macy's Christmas window displays.  We walked through Macy's their displays were not ready.  We then went to Lord and Taylor, and their displays were up. took a photo there.

Walked to St Patricks Cathedral, in the middle of a major rennovation.

Next went to Grand Central Station, big!

Ended up getting dinner at a Pizza on Times Square

Went back to Bryant Park ice skating, small shops, and Google Winter Wonderland
Belgian hot chocolate, ginger honey tea

Boarded bus at 6:20, beautiful view of nighttime skyline while leaving the Holland tunnel.  Drive home went well arrived at Four Seasons around 9:25.

Great trip.