camera roll 2025

I just scrolled through my pictures from the past year (thankfully I didn’t take many, so it didn’t take long). Here are some highlights:

There's a photo of Stella resting on Greg’s pillow.

A photographed note from Greg’s Grandma Walcott, who died in March at the full age of 96. We received this note from her in the mail a good month after she’d died—which was briefly alarming—until we realized how it happened (with the help of an aunt). We kept it on our fridge most of the year.

The quote graphic: Behind every great man is the drawer I need to get into. Why are you even in the kitchen right now. (Because it’s true.)

Elia’s last MIFA show (she was student director; they won 1st place at State!), her senior prom, her last spring play: The Play That Goes Wrong (which went oh so right), her last choir concert, and her last day of high school.

The quote graphic: May is just December in a tank top. Events, chaos, and emotional instability.

Stella in a hat.

Greg’s yearbook dedication page, and kids climbing on him in South Africa (where he spent 10 days with a group from Holland Christian last Spring).

The cover page of a study finding that “Raising a daughter is twice as stressful as raising a son,” to share with Greg. (Ironically, I previously read that fathers who have daughters live an average of 1.5 years longer per daughter. There is no equal effect for mothers.)

My re-decorated counseling office for the launch of www.schempercounseling.com.

Greg and me in Tucson, AZ, in August, where we traveled after he received a creative grant to do a little first nation folklore/cactus research for a writing project he's working on—and ate some wonderful Mexican food!

My house in disarray—Greg’s repair of rotting beams, digging holes to make way for our new fiber optic line, and delightful signs of life strewn throughout my house. (My documentation has helped me notice an inverse relationship between my quarterly meltdowns and aesthetic compromise.)

Kate’s tonsil surgery, and subsequent drugs.

Stella after Kate’s surgery.

Greg teaching Kate how to change a tire seconds before going back to college (she's in her Junior year at Calvin).

Various hair styles and colors, as Elia began Palette Cosmetology in May.

Greg, Kate, and Jenna Fischer (after Jenna's play in Chicago—our SIL, BodyFit by Amy, connected them with a private meeting!)

Greg and Elia’s crashed car—they were hit by a drunk driver on their way home from her weekly Saturday improv session at Second City. (This has frustratingly stalled Elia’s return to school for the past three months.)

Copper haired Elia in the ER the night of the crash.

Kate’s Latin and hip-hop dances at Calvin’s Fall Dance Guild.

A really good Greek salad recipe.

Greg in a mustache for no-shave November (he decided too late to host a mustache-growing contest for staff and students; he’ll start earlier next year).

The quote graphic: Nothing screams “midlife” more than sending a text the day after ladies’ night that says… “Here is the link to the magnesium I was telling you about.”

Elia in Chicago after another improv class. (She has gotten rave reviews from her instructors!)

Kate and friends at the airport, leaving to spend Christmas in London, England!

And finally, Elia’s viral TikTok featuring Greg building a 1:24 scale model of our house out of card stock and hot glue over Christmas Break. (If this surprises you, you don't know Greg well.)

**NOT pictured here are our delightful times with family and friends (we're making this exclusively about us, you see), or of our international sophomore student, Lydia (for privacy issues), or of Molly the cat (for legal reasons).

Click here for the actual pictures (if my descriptions aren't enough for you!)

May your 2026 camera roll be filled with many meaningful and delightful images!

The Schempers

Postscript from 2026: The first photo of the new year is of yet another car crash Elia was in yesterday. She and her cousin were rear-ended at full speed and sent spiraling into a ditch—another ER visit, another concussion (the extent of which we don’t yet know), just twelve days before her expected return to Palette Cosmetology. She’s sore and discouraged, but also deeply loved and covered in prayer as she steps into a year that doesn’t feel very clear yet.