2022 Year in Review Letter

What better way to start the Year of the Rabbit than with our 2022 year in review letter!

Happy Lunar New Year, Everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Happy New Year to you! Our 2022 year in review letter is coming atcha a bit late… a testament to our new life with two kiddos. We started the year pretty rocky: a hand infection for Merrick, COVID for the family, and as a result, a delayed US trip where we spent quality time with family and friends, including our first time seeing the entire 909 in a few years.

Prior to our return to the Philippines, international COVID restrictions started to ease in February. Two full years of lockdown finally ended for the country. This enabled so many great memories in the first half of the year including our first dinner out together in PH after 8 months, spectating the Subic Bay Half Ironman, Merrick playing at DreamPlay with friends, purchasing a golf cart to cruise around the village, and our friends throwing us a surprise “baby sprinkle” in April. The early months were also filled with local travel to the cool mountains of Tagaytay, the azure waters of Coron, Palawan, and the beautiful beaches of Cebu for Merrick’s second birthday.

The year also brought some significant life changes. To create better living conditions for our family, we decided to move to a different house in the village during the hottest time of the year and while Samantha was 8-months pregnant. We love the solitude of our new place and hope to share it with you very soon. We tried to get as settled as possible before our joyful, Arden Grey, joined us 12 days early on 10 July after Mama had cholestasis of pregnancy. Born 7 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring 19 ¼ inches long, he spent two days in the NICU while his respiration rate properly developed. Two weeks later, we all (except Samantha) had COVID… again. A scary time with a newborn but thankfully all were okay. Everyone was healthy just in time for Grandma Sherry’s visit to the Philippines! Our first visitor! Sharing those early moments of Arden’s life were incredibly special and we’re thankful for that time together.

After experiencing the biggest Typhoon of our PH tenure at end of rainy season, and getting our feet under us a bit, we hosted cookouts with friends, Mama had a solo night away at The Peninsula, and we took our first trip as a family of four to Subic Bay to watch Daddy compete in his first triathlon since 2018. We had a wonderful time beaching it up too! The village we live in has been phenomenal and we’ve created a stellar friend group. All of our third-culture kids are growing up together and like any transplant family, we spend holidays together including birthday parties, egg hunts for Easter, trick-or-treating for Halloween, turkey trotting followed by eating our hearts out for Friendsgiving, decorating gingerbread panels for Christmas, and after a 5-year-hiatus, Team Jansen’s Ugly Christmas Sweater Party complete with the dress-up game. Carlos for the win!

Everyone had a pretty eventful year. Merrick became a “kuya” (big brother in Tagalog), and started his first year of school in August. He also learned how to use the potty like a champ. For fun, he spent his days in countless play dates with his friends, advancing his swimming skills, painting, building Legos, and challenging us daily by flexing his independence in all aspects of life. He’s the perfect mix of sweet and silly and his imagination is growing exponentially.Arden has been a bundle of joy his entire 6 months of life, constantly smiling and giggling, even after his tongue tie snip. He took his first flight in November to glorious Boracay to celebrate a handful of household birthdays and his first international flight to the U.S. in December. He’s a little screecher who is itching to move and has started exploring solid foods. Look out 2023, Arden is ready to shake things up! Mama had a hard year, including a difficult pregnancy followed by a tough and isolating postpartum recovery. She feels stronger after completing her 12-week core and pelvic floor restoration program and looks forward to building strength physically and focusing on her career goals in 2023. She added to her tattoo collection by completing her right arm sleeve in early 2023.Daddy had some great moments at work including the first raising of a Pride Flag at their site, a massive 10-year anniversary work celebration complete with a choreographed dance, and a trip to Seattle, Ireland, and NYC. We also hosted his leadership team for holiday dinners. Charity has loved being back home. She’s surrounded by her culture and language daily and frequently travels north to see her family. We also added Margie to the team this year. She fits in perfectly and is probably the nicest person we know. Lola Luna (Grandma Luna in Tagalog), now 10.5, is getting crotchety in her old age but like clockwork, at 4:30PM daily, she’s a rambunctious puppy again starting shit with her brother. AndBoo Boo (Vince) is still the biggest goofy sweetheart at 9 years old. He has more people to “protect” now and always lets visitors know it by barking just enough to make them pee a little.

After our recent trip home for the holidays, our first since 2018, we’re feeling reconnected with home and ready to make countless memories in another year abroad. Possibly our last full year in Philippines. Cheers to 2023, everyone! Wishing you love, good health, prosperity, and peace.

All our love,

xo Team Jansen (Samantha, Travis, Merrick, Arden, Luna, & Vince)

2022 Year In Review Letter