The Makus 2024 Year in Review Letter

 Hello, family and friends!  Welcome to the inaugural version of The Makus Year in Review letter,  otherwise known as Life Was Too Busy Before Christmas to get the Letter Out. 🫣(Besides, the year wasn’t over! 🤷) 

Our sunroom, aka. Blood Money Build (built with funds from my Critical Illness Insurance payout), was completed in January and has become the most used room in the house. When we planned the sunroom, we thought building it as a private addition to the master bedroom was a good idea and still do, though the need for guests to traipse through our bedroom is slightly awkward. 🤨(Yes, I always usually make my bed…now.) The bird feeders outside the windows host diverse bird species including Pileated, Hairy, and Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, and the usual passirines.(And yes, they all have names, such as Robert Junior, the Downy Woodpecker. 🤭) Combined with the antics of Freddy the squirrel, and Joey and Zoey the Mule Deer, we are well entertained! Ken appreciates having an office with a view and I’m enjoying blooming geraniums year round. 

Our stay-cation in February was spent touring various local greenhouses as I’ve managed to interest Ken in gardening by gifting him a hydroponics grow tower for Christmas in 2023. (Smart, eh?) Now I’m not the only one with a grow-op! 😜

March 19th was 2024 Match Day for Canadian medical students. My prayer life grew exponentially in the weeks prior and we were all relieved when Donovan matched to his first choice of Internal Medicine (specialists in complex non-surgical sick adults and the gateway to most subspecialties like Infectious Diseases or Cardiology but not Neurology which is separate) residency in Calgary. (No, I did not write that sentence; how he managed to get where he is with run-on sentences like that, I’ll never know! 🤔) He will be training at various hospitals over the next 4-5 years, depending on his future plans. We are just happy to have him within driving distance. As Ken and I have spent more time in Calgary we have grown to appreciate the city more, though we will need to dress more judiciously as Ken accidentally wore an Oilers shirt, which was certainly noticed! 🥸

In April we began planning a makeover of the side yard due to the “cultivating” habits of past dogs. The ground has become both harder and farther away as I age, so we invested in metal raised beds. I do not recommend building them with your husband. 😩 (It’s fine; we’ve recovered and are friends once again.) 

May brought not only flowers (2 truck beds full of homegrown seedlings!) but another Dr. Makus. (It’s seriously weird.) The first time Ken signed onto Connect Care and saw Donovan’s name with the Dr prefix, he was quite taken aback…and may have popped a few buttons. Ken and I took our usual trip to Victoria, BC, where we stayed at a B&B overlooking the ocean. When I booked it, I imagined Ken watching the ships pass by, but I was the one glued to the window with the binoculars! Donovan moved to Calgary at the end of the month, after staying with us for a few weeks, just in time to return to Ottawa for his convocation in June. 🧑‍🎓

Ken and I flew out a week earlier, and upon Donovan’s recommendation, stayed in Wakefield, one of the most English-speaking areas in Quebec. (Oui sprechen no Francais.) We enjoyed leisurely strolls through the various small towns, over a covered bridge, and around Meech Lake having a lovely, relaxing time…until Donovan arrived. Then it was time to hit the ground running. Literally. The first evening I logged so many steps my watch thought it had been stolen, and I discovered that the family competitive streak runs much, much deeper than the Rideau Canal, even when kayaking upstream against the wind! However, nothing compared to the torture that awaited us when he took us biking. You have to realize that Donovan is a serious cyclist; he’s been known to don Spandex gear with strategically placed padding and ride his bicycle from home to distant locales, sometimes over 200 km. On purpose. (His photo was taken before such a trip, successfully taking the fastest time on a local segment.) But I digress. Champlain Lookout is absolutely breathtaking. Literally. Marigan discovered she has Quebec- induced asthma while cycling an almost 7 km trail with a gain of 1000 feet. Yes, you read that right. 1000 feet. The Stantec Building  in downtown Edmonton (66 floors; the tallest building in the city) is ~823 feet tall. Um, so yeah. Mind you, hitting speeds of almost 55 km/h on the way down almost made it worth it. (Pretty sure I had bugs on my teeth ‘cause I couldn’t stop smiling! 😁) Stefan wisely avoided this horror by arriving the next day. Smart! We throughly enjoyed our time in Ottawa and will treasure the memories made while driving through the Glebe where the Ambassadors reside, identifying each flag, tramping the hallways of Roger Guindon Hall/Ottawa Hospital, and watching Donovan cross the stage while hearing “Dr. Donovan Makus.”🧑‍⚕️(My photo was taken in the Cancer Survivor’s Park, which is, ironically, right behind where Donovan lived.)

July always means a trip to Cold Lake with our RV where we usually spend time doing as little as possible. This year was extra special, as the Air Force base was celebrating the RCAF centennial. Watching a female pilot put an F-35 II Lightning through its paces was exhilarating; there may have been some serious squealing and fierce fangirling. ✈️ Thankfully, Stefan is a reliable, if reluctant gardener, and I don’t need to worry about the state of the garden while I’m gone. (Meanwhile, Marigan just shrugs and says, “I keep people alive!”) He continues to enjoy his career in IT and his 3 step commute. We’d be lost without his handyman, mechanical, and organizational skills; he has spreadsheets and lists for everything! We’ve also benefited from his hobbies. Did you know that cows don’t like being buzzed and will run away from a drone? Herding was never easier! Well, until they got used to it, that is. (Stefan’s photo was taken with his drone.) Stefan's other hobby, target shooting, came in handy one morning when we spotted 2 coyotes in the pasture. Despite shooting through the (open) kitchen window from over 300 feet away, only one coyote ran away. They are a serious menace, having killed our calves and a beloved dog, so there was no funeral. 🎉🎊

Ken and I had a wonderful stay with my sister, Heidi, and her family when we flew to Manitoba in mid-August. I enjoyed seeing extended family members I hadn’t seen in decades — funny, they all seem to have aged!🧑‍🦳I was reminded of the source of my zany sense of humour. Imagine ~8 Friesen women (past and present) in a kitchen amid Manitoba heat, discussing “life changes”; oh, how we laughed! 

Autumn ushered in major changes as my parents moved into Independent Living at Chartwell Emerald Hills. The place is simply amazing! When Marigan heard they had a Red Seal Chef, she wanted to move in, too. (She’s a foodie, but a busy foodie.) Thankfully, this was not allowed and she remains with us, working in the Grey Nuns ER where she's known as the “tiny but feisty nurse.” (No she doesn’t have a halo, her photo was taken under weird lighting.) Albert Einstein once said, “coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous.” I discovered a lump and just happened to get the last appointment at the cancer clinic with the oncologist who only works 1 day a month. Ken just happened to be free the morning of my scans, due to a booking error, and my appointment just happened to be at a clinic in Sherwood Park. Ken just happened to suggest checking out a few care homes (I wanted to go to the Italian Centre…😋) and we just happened to spot a sign offering walk-in tours. The manager just happened to be free and the rest is history. (And I’m fine, false alarm.💗)

November was a rather interesting month; one we’re not keen to repeat. Ken wasn’t feeling well while on call in late October, but rather than inconveniencing his colleagues, he pushed through…until he couldn’t. After a painful, sleepless night, he finally admitted he needed to go to the hospital where they discovered he not only had a ruptured appendix, but an abscess.🙄 He spent a couple nights in the hospital where he received IV antibiotics, and then was sent him home with a drain. (His photo is taken upon arriving at home.) The risk of infection was too high to operate, so they’ve deferred the removal of his appendix until the new year. Then on November 23rd, in an exhausted stupor, I set my alarm 20 minutes earlier than necessary. The reason why was evident the next morning when my bleary eyes beheld flames at the base of our garage.🔥PSA: Do NOT use extension cords with any appliances that heat or cool! (Like a freezer…) There are so many examples of God’s protection that day: my early waking probably saved the garage as 20 minutes later it would have been engulfed in flames and while it’s not attached, it’s only 16 feet away from the house; Marigan was working the early shift and had taken the van, usually parked right next to the freezer; the fire was at the only place visible from the kitchen window; Ken had 3 fire extinguishers handy; the firefighters had clear roads and made it in record time, 🚒 arriving just as the fire flared; we had just received a dump of snow which Stefan threw on the flames, dampening down the flames considerably, an action my BIL, a fire chief in Manitoba, told us made the biggest difference. Yes, the garage still has a hole burned through the wall and the content loss is considerable due to soot and smoke damage, but I’ve stopped questioning God’s ways; they are always better than mine. I recently printed out the following quotation from Charles H Spurgeon, “I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.” We’ve certainly had our share of waves! 🌊I am grateful to be doing well, though asking me, “So, back to normal?” may incite an irritated look and provoke a pithy response as side effects of my cancer-suppressing medications are a constant reminder that normal will only ever be a setting on my dryer. 🙃 However, God offers peace when we remember to “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) When Ken and I relax in the sunroom before bed, we like to turn off the lamps and allow the stars and reflection of the Christmas lights remind us of the beautiful peace found only in stillness. We have no idea what 2025 will bring, but God knows, and He’s promised us in Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Yes, easier said than done, but that’s our goal. 🙏 We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you peace and joy in 2025!