Christmas Letter 2020

Well we all know 2020 didn’t go as planned. We’ve had some big losses and some beautiful times this year as well. January did start out “normal” and we got to have a perfect trip to Disneyworld before everything changed.  We were blessed with sunshine and 80 degree days in January! My typical December trips to Orlando have been in 50-60’s occasional 70’s so this caused us to have to repack our bags but was amazing! Dustin’s parents joined us for the parks and then we went over to where they stay in Venice Beach for a few days & also made it down to Naples one evening for a photoshoot with one of our amazing Dayton photographers who spends her winters there. 

A few weeks after we came home the kids had the flu, but they rebounded and February was pretty uneventful. Although all the news of what was happening with the cruise ship and over in China started to come out. Never would we have thought that situation would have turned into what it did. In March we did get to have a visit from friends that were transferred from Wright Patt AFB to San Antonio. Their daughter and princess K were very close at their school and she called K on the iPad from the front porch to surprise her! Not sure I can pull off anything better than that for awhile! They spent a few days here and we were able to still eat lunch out with friends and do some pottery painting before things shut down. We hope to be able to visit them next summer. 

The rest of March we celebrated birthdays via Zoom like the rest of the world. We decorated anyways, one day Unicorn and one day Paw Patrol and had a cake for each! Grandma and Grandpa Hartzler came as our only in-person party guests on their way home from Florida. In April and May, Dustin spent a lot of time working on our mudroom. We, like the rest of the country, were also challenged with how to work our jobs while schooling and caring for kids 24-7. Thankfully our nanny was still able to come 2 days a week because Dustin’s company’s business picked up with everyone converting to online sales and I still had patients to take care of at the office. We did telehealth mostly from March-June, and slowly eased back into seeing patients in person. Now we are able to offer a mix.   

I also had some big exciting changes with my business PharmToTable. In April/May we finished the development of a telehealth platform and started networking and contracting with functional medicine pharmacists across the country.  My goal is to have a pharmacist licensed in every state on our team. 🙂 Please check out our website and share with your friends or family that aren’t getting answers and need someone to help address the root causes of their chronic symptoms! 

In June we got concrete for our patio (Dustin says, “wasn’t that so much nicer than going to Italy”).. umm I don’t know how to respond to that.. I LOVE our new patio and swing under our deck but it was a bummer not to get across the ocean together this year.  His team was supposed to meet all the Happiness Engineers in Veinna, Austria the last week of May and I was going to meet up with him afterward and we had our hearts set on the Amalfi Coast.  Someday we will travel again abroad. 🙂 

June we did get to travel with my family to Myrtle Beach, there is nostalgia there since it was a location that the Hall Family frequently spent the same week in June for many years of our childhood.  We bought groceries and spent the rest of the time at the beach/pool. The kids had a blast, we had 2 condos right next door to each other and especially the 3 y/o boys spent a lot of time together! Great memories.

July was also mostly uneventful, but we soaked up the sun at the pool as much as possible. Princess K did swim team this summer which ended in July. They didn’t have meets, which was actually great for her first year of learning. They did have a meet with just our team at the end, which was fun for her to see how it goes! The kids also got to go to day camp at their school which was fun for them to be back in person. 

August brought some more normalcy as school headed back in session. Both kids are at Spanish immersion school 3 days a week and Princess K is also spending the other 2 days in an amazing homeschool hybrid school that allows her to do 1st grade in English while also doing it in Spanish! Sort of fun to see both schools use the same book but presented in the different languages. We are excited to see how this school may allow us to continue her at the immersion school a few days per week at least during elementary. Such a blessing! 

August also brought the loss of my grandmother, for those of you who know our family, my side is fairly small, and my grandparents (mom’s parents) were a big part of our life. She had suffered the last several years, especially over the last 12 months of her life, and while it is so hard to goodbye, thinking about her at the feet of Jesus and out of pain is comforting.

September and October got us back into a routine, the kids thrived back in school. Prince K loves it even though he whines a bit when he learns in the morning, he can’t stay home and play all day. 🙂 We enjoyed time with family and friends and lived up summer until the last minute of warm weather. We are thankful for friends with heated pools for September! We finally let summer pass and started to celebrate fall and enjoy this colorful fall season we were given! The colors this year were so bright and long lasting compared to the last several years. Such a beautiful time. 

November marked the 1 year anniversary of us starting FxMedCE a functional medicine education website for pharmacists, and we held our fourth online symposium. I always joke that were were doing virtual education before it was the cool thing to do! Also in November sadly we lost our last grandparent, Dustin’s Grandpa Bauman to COVID-19 would have been 98 this month. It definitely makes the pandemic all the more real. 

This year is a constant reminder that we aren’t promised tomorrow, which makes you want to spend every moment with the ones you love. I pray that 2021 brings more hugs, more smiles seen on faces as you pass by, and restoration for our country. And of course more travel! 🙂  Merry Christmas from the bottom of our hearts, may you and your family feel the peace that surpasses all understanding, as we worship our Savior this Christmas!