2020 in a Nutshell

2020 has been quite the year for everyone.  Learning how to protect yourself and others in the best, non-political, Christ-like way has been a roller-coaster of thoughts and feelings.  If you're reading this, I hope you're doing well. 

I'm going to treat this particular blog post as an update on all of us so that anyone who hasn't kept up over the years can get a glimpse of where we all are now.  I considered changing the name of the blog, but the 5 Ingrams moved to Germany before Facebook and Instagram were a thing, and creating a blog was the natural thing to do for my family to be able to hear about our traveling tales and see the most current pictures.  So, 5Ingrams it is and will always be.  Well, maybe not always.  I'm not good at infinitive definites.

Joe is a federal background investigator and although the initials are the same, he is not a part of the FBI.  We do call him our "secret asian," and our "special asian," and, no, we aren't racist so just stop it. He enjoys the job because he works from home, sets his own schedule, and gets to see lots of people (pre-Covid) and it makes his extroverted self quite happy.

I am still a piano teacher.  I teach from my home either in person or on Skype/Facetime.  I retired from homeschooling when Joshua graduated high school in May 2019, and I am happy to report that my son has surpassed me in everything except spelling.  He's an enjanear, so he can't spell good.  (Trisha/Rob, I hope you laughed at that!)  I love teaching people of all ages how to enjoy playing the piano.  Retirement from that is on the horizon, so if you've ever considered learning, speak now or forever hold your peace!  Or just find a different teacher.  That works too.  ;)  

Joe built an upper pond and a creek this spring/summer and it turned out beautifully.  I helped a little, but I mainly just brought him water because I'm broken in too many ways to be super useful.  That's for another blog, but please enjoy the picture of our creek.  It's so beautiful to sit and listen to it!  Joe did have help from friends and, of course, Josh, or go-to guy for everything!

Speaking of Josh, he's finishing his sophomore year at Liberty University.  He is an electrical engineering major with a math minor.  He LOVES it!  He came home in March (Covid) and LU called him back to work at CERE, where he has made significant connections with huge engineering companies.  He developed a face shield for LU's nursing program, 3D printed close to 1,000 of them, and made a pretty funny video to demonstrate their use.  If he gives me permission to share that video, I will update this later. He lived with Chloe in her off-campus apartment over the summer, then moved back in to the dorms for his fall semester.  His roommate is Caylea's husband's brother, Joshua Hering.  They used to play together when they were 8-10 in Germany, so God brought that full-circle and they get along really well.  We call them "Josh squared."  Josh often walks our dog, Buddy, with me.  He talks about things that are so deep, so complicated, that I often have to say, "You can explain it to me, but you can't understand it for me."  He just laughs.  Also, in the Christmas 2020 picture, there are no angles. He's 5' 10 1/2" tall and towers over my 5' 4 3/4" frame.  He gets compliments on his eyes quite frequently, but any time I tell him he's handsome, he makes the most ridiculous face and I tell him he'll never get married with that face.  haha  Speaking of that, no, he doesn't have a girlfriend.  He said he doesn't have time and doesn't want the drama (he's watched his friends go through plenty!)  He did tell me that he wants to leave LU with a degree and a wife.  I just keep praying.  Only God knows the timing.

Chloe graduated college 2 years early with her Bachelor's in Interdisciplinary studies in Art and Music.  She and Kyle did NOT get married and are no longer together, so she began her Master's in Worship Leadership and will complete her Master's in May of 2021.  She works at a private Christian co-op as their performing arts teacher/teacher's aide/substitute for K-5th English, Writing, and a few other subjects.  She loves working with kids and hopes to one day open her own academy like we ran together a few years ago.  She's young and has the energy to do it exceedingly better than I did and we are super proud of her for working so hard and keeping her "As are for Asians" GPA. (Okay, she did get a C, but it was in hermaneutics and since none of us even know what in the world that is, we will forgive that C!) She's also a part-time photgrapher for a company that does school sports photos.  She plays 3 instruments well enough to be in a church band, she sings, she writes songs, and she is literally a "Jack-of-all-trades."  I know what you're thinking, "Master of none," but you don't have to be a master to do something well, have fun with it, and use it to encourage others along your way.  Chloe has a boyfriend who is a super nice guy, but they are taking things slowly and just enjoying being goofy, and they both really are two goof-balls. It's wonderful to see someone bring out the best in your children, and Judah has done a great job of that. Chloe has severe allergies and wants to rescue all of the weird animals all of the time.  A tiny box turtle magically showed up on Judah's doorstep, so they adopted it and Chloe keeps it in a terarium in her apartment.  The turtle's name is Capri and she's super cute and hypo-allergenic.  :D

Caylea married her childhood sweetheart, Noah Hering, in April of 2018, which was a banner of a year for us.  I'll detail that year in a separate blog.  They moved several times in their first 2 years because Noah went to OTS (officer training school) in Montgomery, AL; to UPT (undergraduate pilot training) in DelRio, TX (which happens to be where I was born, so when we went to his graduation, that was really cool!); to Altus, OK for his C-17 flight training (the C-17 is the Globemaster and it's HUGE!  The fact that Noah is flying those things amazes me every single day.); and finally to Pittsburgh, PA, where Noah settled in at his reserve unit, got a full time job as an ART (Air Reserve Technician) and where Caylea teaches guitar, voice, ukelele, and piano from home.  She is also a founding member of a start-up company (thanks, Covid) called Writing Rounds (follow them on Instagram!) where she helps other people write, record, and produce music.  They adopted a German Shepherd named Jerusalem (Rusal) and he is just over a year old and already close to 100 pounds.  He is amazingly smart, a little bit ornery, and we love him.  They hope to adopt a Red Golden Retriever this spring.  Caylea's dream was to have 4 huge dogs and 4 children.  Children are another 3+ years away for them, according to their plan, so they've started with dogs first.  They also have a cat name Maisy who is very large and in charge.  lol  Noah and Caylea bring out the best in each other and we are so grateful for him and his extended family that we love so much!

I'll do my best to move backwards in this blog and update the years.  Feel free to follow or not, to keep up with us or not.  We love seeing old friends from our military days as they travel.  We are at a perfect stopping point at the junction of I-75 and I-40 in TN, so if you're anywhere near us, look us up!  We have clean bathrooms, a fantastic coffee machine, and plenty of space if you need a B&B for the night.  Our close friends call us Ingram B&B.  Joe makes some pretty fantastic biscuits, and you can always count on me for a laugh.

Happy New Year, many blessings to you if you're reading this, and please stay in touch even though we are done with social media.  :)

Much Love!