Reflections and resolutions

New Years is the time to reflect on the year past, and to look on to the future and the new year ahead. 2007 in the Slagman house was pretty interesting. Near the end of 2006 we had our suspicions that things were not as they should be with Ilianna, and in 2007 we heard that she has characteristics of autism. Since the beginning of the year we have been concentrating on helping her development, mentally, socially and physically, and she has, especially in the latter part of the year, really flourished. In a week she'll be starting at a "special daycare/school", that specializes in children with developmental disabilities. She'll be going 3 days a week, which will be an adjustment for all of us!

The beginning of 2007 started out with a big trip, as Ilianna and I flew across the ocean to visit my parents.
We were able to see a lot of family, including my brother, Dave, who was there for the same purpose as us, my Dad's 65th birthday. A few weeks after we were home in Friesland, Dave and his friend, Paul, came and spent a weekend with us.


March was a big milestone for Ilianna, when she went to pre-school for the first time. It became very quickly clear that Ilianna really liked it there.

We had a quiet spring, with some really nice weather, and we took our first visit to the zoo with Ilianna. It was a great day, and Ilianna really responded well to all of the animals, a real success!


At the end of May we had a really rainy day. That day just happened to be the day of the fietsen-elfstedentocht, or the bike-11 city tour, a 240 kilometer bike tour, through Friesland. Jan biked it with 7 other members of the brassband he plays in. The 8 bikers started at 5:30 AM and when at 9:30 PM they came into the finish, 6 of them were left. Jan says that out of the 4 times he's now biked the tour, this was the worst, and the hardest, mainly because of the constant rain, and he says that he'll never bike it again.
The beautiful weather that we had up until the beginning of July was followed by a very cool, wet and depressing summer and fall. It did however give us a chance to really work on Ilianna's new room. She moved in in August, and adjusted well. Boy she looked small in that great big bed!
August 27 was a great day, because my Mom arrived in Holland. She stayed for 4 weeks and during that time we celebrated two birthdays, mine and Ilianna's, saw a Canadian choir perform, took a trip to the petting zoo/playground with Ilianna's class, visited and spent time with family, went to an indoor playground, babysat, and just had lots of fun with each other.

In November Jan turned 29, and at the end of the month we welcomed Sinterklaas back into town.
Ilianna enjoyed everything that went along with Sinterklaas; the songs, the presents and setting up her shoe in the evenings and then finding something in it in the morning. We had a very quiet Christmas and Ilianna liked all of the presents she got from us, oops, I mean Santa!


Now that 2008 has begun, and we've reflected on 2007, traditions call on us to make resolutions. I know that in the new year, as in 2007, we will be concentrating on helping Ilianna in her development. I'll be starting a new challenge as part-time leader of the gospelchoir I sing in, and will be working on getting better is shape, something I've been working on since this summer, and doing quite well in. I don't know what Jan's resolutions are, but they are probably close to mine. He'll be starting with a new sales region for work, and I think he'll be working pretty hard again this year. This vacation he's been working on insulating and fixing up our attic, so he'll have a private place to work from home.

We hope it'll be a good year, for us, and for all of you!