2025 MacIver Family Newsletter

Where to begin on such a hard, wonderful, memorable year? Of all of our years, it seems this year might be the hardest to put on paper. And of course its the year that I (Kami) choose to attempt a long-form family newsletter. It seems, to me, this is a year that I am compelled to have a written account of God's faithfulness to our family.

I could start chronologically, beginning with January and walking you through all of our ups and downs. I could attempt to forgo all efforts to seriously convey the multitudes this year holds and dish out a highlight reel of all of the beautiful moments this year held for our family.

Time is short, and attention spans are even shorter, so I shall begin with a small account of our year. At the end, I'll include that highlight reel for you of family photos and adventures, of which there were many.

God has been so faithful to our family. This has been the hardest year of our lives, with moments that we just had to laugh at through tears at the absurdity of the things that continued to happen to us. Hard, hard, hard things - some of which you likely know, many of which you likely don't, and many of which are not ours to share.

The cliff notes version includes - I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in February and had to check my blood sugars multiple times a day and be on medication. My grandpa passed away very unexpectedly at the end of May. The day after his funeral, we went in for a scheduled induction to meet sweet Lindy. Praise the Lord for Lindy's incredibly calm, peaceful, beautiful birth experience!! After we were sent home, Lindy developed jaundice and she and I traveled to town and back every day or every other day... for two weeks. In the meantime, there was a wildfire blocking the highway and we temporarily got stuck in Fairbanks. Our car had to be taken into the shop on one of those jaundice trips to town. Dakota officiated my cousins wedding, in place of my grandpa, the week Lindy was born. Because of her jaundice, baby and I couldn't attend - but it was still a beautiful day and Dakota did a great job! I unexpectedly needed my gallbladder removed in August after several trips to the ER. I had it removed the week of another cousin's wedding and thankfully was on the mend enough to photograph that wedding three days later! Our family went to the ER four or five times over the summer. One of the kids got a random infection that had doctors saying, "wait, how did she get THAT?" All this and even more....

And under all that heartache and hard, the heartbeat of our conversations was this:

I'm so grateful...

I'm so grateful that the gestational diabetes is responding well to medication.

I'm so grateful he went quickly and wasn't in any pain.

I'm so grateful his death didn't induce early labor.

I'm so grateful I didn't give birth and miss the funeral.

I'm so grateful Lindy's induction was so easy and peaceful.

I'm so grateful she's here.

I'm so grateful the car didn't break down on the way home.

I'm so grateful we got the car in the shop on a day we are already in Fairbanks.

I'm so grateful it wasn't as costly of a fix as we imagined.

I'm so grateful she just had jaundice and nothing worse.

I'm so grateful Dakota could officiate the wedding, even if the baby and I couldn't attend.

I'm so grateful we were stuck on the other side of the wildfire and not hurt driving through.

I'm so grateful they could schedule me for gallbladder surgery.

I'm so grateful my recovery was fast enough to photograph my cousins wedding.

I'm so grateful my family has gotten the medical care they needed.

I'm so grateful she's such a sweet baby.

I'm so grateful.....

Every single situation we were launched into in May & June and beyond.. the heart the Lord had prepared in us for that season was to declare gratitude and to look for silver linings.

On one particularly hard day, I remember calling my mom and saying "I don't want to be grateful!! I just want things to be going smoothly enough that I don't have to FIND things to be grateful for." And while that was true in that exasperated moment, the truer desire of our hearts was/is this:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4

Friends, we can confidently tell you from the hardest year of our lives that there is pure joy even when - perhaps especially when - things are at their hardest. God's peace and kindness are so tangible. This year, more than any other, I find myself grateful (there's that word again!) for the people in our lives who love us so well and have been the hands and feet of Jesus to our family this year. We have felt so prayed for, so taken care of, so reminded of the joy around us.

Linda JOY Josephine joining our family will forever cement in us God's faithfulness to us in this year, and always.

And now, for all the MacIver family memories you're here for!

January - Dakota's last home hockey game as the high school hockey coach! We spent many a night cheering him on at the rink. Northern lights are a family favorite and we always try to get out to see them if it's not too late!

February - We found out our family was having another GIRL! We traveled to Florida with Karla, Wade and Janet and spent time at the pool, the beach and Disney!

March - We were generously gifted a trip for two to Vegas from the hockey community! Dakota and I had a great long weekend in Vegas seeing a Vegas Knights game and a Cirque show. BONUS - This was such a special time to get away before baby's arrival! In March, we also added a sweet bunny, Bun Bun, to our family.

April - The snow began to melt and there was lots of hustle and bustle! Our girls had a school trip and learning expedition to the Sea Life Center in Seward, and Mom went along! I was 33 weeks pregnant sleeping on an air mattress in the gym. But we did it! There were many Easter celebrations and end of school year happenings this month too.

May - A flurry of fun. Last days of school, graduation parties, a bridal shower (one of 5 showers I hosted this year!) a garden that we planted, having no idea four days later our lives would change forever. We took an incredibly special family trip with my grandparents to Seward and made some really special memories there together. Did I mention it was special? May 30, my grandfather "Papa" passed away. The chalk image was written by one of my girls on our front sidewalk: "Papa passed away. Our family is sad."

June - The ciiiiiiiircle of liiiiiiife. What a rollercoaster. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I pray we never have that emotional whiplash again in our lifetimes. In the span of three weeks, our extended family had celebrated: a high school graduation, a death, a bridal shower, a funeral, a birth, and a wedding. The pictures below include a shower, the cross at our cemetary & my baby bump on that day. I was SO grateful and had so many friends praying that baby would either come early enough I could still attend the funeral or come after so I could be there. I am so grateful the Lord saw fit for that to happen that way! Pictures from just a few hours before Lindy was born. My medical team was aware of the full situation and were so tender with us. MacIver, party of SIX! Plus Lindy with her Aunt Linda, whom she is named after. Photo of Dakota and the girls from the wedding he officiated. And one of Lindy being wrapped while we were cleaning our Airbnb. It feels like we lived 100 lifetimes this month.

July - Adventure baby is on the move! At just a few weeks old, Lindy had been on multiple hikes, a ride out into the mountains, to her first parade, to our favorite creek every day it was hot, and so much more. We also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this month, but because of everything... we didn't really mark it. Year 11, we are coming for you with a celebration! I will also take a moment to say what a special year this has been because SO many of our friends have had babies this year!! We had a friend have a baby in March, April, May, June, July, August, October, November and December! SO MANY BABIES. Dakota's sister was due in August so we celebrated her this month!

August - Kami got her gallbladder out this month, and we did all of the last minute summer adventure things! A weekend with a friend, a trip to Hatcher Pass, photographing sweet families at Horseshoe Lake! My cousin Serafiina got married this month and I got to photograph her wedding too!

September - Hunting season! Dakota typically has a lot of time off this month and is off in the mountains! Lots of time together as a family this month.

October - In the full swing of things back to school! Kami is the troop leader for Lucy and Leah's girl scout troops! It's also our annual ladies retreat weekend in October which is a refreshing weekend.

November - Kami and Lindy traveled with Mum to Iowa to see our Iowa family! Northern lights are back. The girls are in hockey. We got to see Santa! We have so much to be thankful for, including the cutest homemade Lindy rolls.

December - many Christmas adventures ahead, but here's a few snaps of our crew thus far!

My parting thoughts are this. I am so proud of us this year. We made it through some really hard things and still fought for joy and gratitude and made memories and adventures with our kiddos. We made it.

With gratitude and love in our hearts,

Kami & the rest of the MacIver family