2020 has been a very strange year. Here are some highlights from the Engel family.
Lockdowns, Shutdowns, and the Constitution, Oh My!
Like all of you, we have weathered the mandates that have been so ubiquitous in 2020. For the most part, they haven’t really impacted the way we live here in Tennessee. Our county did not enact the lock show, shut down, and mask orders that were so much in the news. With the exception of some bare shelves and a time of limited access to Walmart, life remained the same.
One area where we were greatly impacted by the orders was the Constitution Study. My business plan for 2020 involved several conferences and events to help me expand exposure and sell my book. After the first conference in February, everything else shut down or went virtual, thus killing my anticipated sales. On the positive side, with all of these illegal mandates and orders, I have been interviewed by several organizations and recently contributed to some news articles that have increased my exposure.
To add another twist on business in 2020, Facebook has decided that The Constitution Study, and anything related to it, violate their “Community Standards”. I have no idea what standard I have supposedly violated since Facebook won’t explain (or even look) at my challenge to the banning.
North Dakota
February
Before all of the insanity of COVID started, I was able to go to Bismark, North Dakota, to teach a Constitution Class. I had between 150-200 middle school and high school student, plus their parents, attend this all day event.
Back in August
They must have liked me in North Dakota, because I was invited back in August to speak at Mid West Freedom Fest. It wasn’t a huge crowd, but they were pretty enthusiastic.
Windy May
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in May we were in the living room listening to the wind blow outside, when a rather large “BOOM” shook the house.
The wind had blown in one of our overhead doors. No one was hurt, and the only damage was the door and some cardboard boxes that were behind it. In over 20 years of home ownership, this was the first time we had to put in an insurance claim.
We also lost several trees in the cow pastures, but no cows were injured the making (or remaking) of our surroundings!
Unwelcome Visitor
We had lived in Tennessee for almost five years, and other than a lot of spiders, bugs, and a couple of rat snakes, we’d seen no worrisome creepy critters. That is until one Sunday morning in a July rain storm when Joelle couldn’t avoid hitting a snake in the driveway. When I saw the body later, I knew it was a diamondback rattler. It was disconcerting because we’d all thought we didn’t have any around and this was proof that we did. Fortunately, we have never seen anymore since then.
Saying Goodbye
We had to put Molasses down this July; she was fourteen on May 7th. Even though we knew it was bound to happen, it still hurt. It was hard to watch as she slowly declined, but when she stopped eating, we knew it was time.
Angeleather Goods
This is Joelle taking over for the next few sections. Whilst driving Dad to the airport in February for his North Dakota conference, a few GPS shenanigans led me to an unexpected discovery: Nashville’s leather store! Having taken three quarters (nine months) of leatherworking classes during my time at Meredith Manor, I quickly dove across traffic to take a look around. When I came back to pick up Dad’s return flight, I stopped in again and left with my wallet a few hundred dollars lighter as I prepared to set up my own leather shop. I officially embarked on the endeavor of starting Angeleather Goods, making handmade horse equipment and small accessories like wallets and belts.
Joelle’s Move to West Virginia
In July I made the familiar 8 hour drive back to the Parkersburg, WV area to visit my friend Caitlyn from Meredith Manor. While I was there, we tossed around the idea of me coming to stay, and in September I moved into the spare bedroom of her log cabin. Since then I have been focusing on my leatherwork and helping care for the many animals here (5 horses, 2 miniature donkeys, 6 dogs, 9 cats, and many rabbits, ducks, and chickens!). Caitlyn and I also enrolled in a nearby Tae Kwon Do class and will be taking our tests to become orange belts at the end of January.
2020 IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
All in all it’s been a year of changes, some welcome and some not, but isn’t that life anyhow? Paul and Pamela became empty-nesters, Joelle began life on her own somewhere else, and we all got a year older!
We are blessed to attend a very small church (usually around 10 people with a maximum of 20) that didn’t close down for even one weekend, no one got sick in that house or in ours, and we continue to appreciate the many benefits of a congregation that is known by its love for one another. Similarly, we don’t have a large amount of family or friends down here, but the ones we do have are very close. If there is anything we all trust God for in the days ahead, it is that this would remain true for our future, too.