Category: Family

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The Best and Worst of 2025

By Jim Spiegel

It has been another exciting year for the Spiegel family—more transitions and making new friends. In August Jim commenced his work as Executive Director of the Center for Faith & Life at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He has rolled on to the Board of the Kalos Center and now hosts the Kalos Center Podcast on a part-time basis. Amy continued her work in Institutional Advancement at Hillsdale College but now working remotely in a role well-suited to her interests and skills. Maggie is a sophomore majoring in English at Wayne State University. Sam graduated from Taylor University last January. He is currently working for State Farm Insurance in Detroit and planning to attend graduate school next Fall. Bailey has been rooming with Sam in Detroit while working at Mad Nice Italian Restaurant, building on his art portfolio, and applying to MFA programs. And Andrew is a freshman at Hillsdale College, where he will likely major in Philosophy and Religion. We are excited about all of these developments, as our kids continue to grow into interesting and ambitious adults. Our family conversations about art, culture, philosophy, theology, and politics are more stimulating and enriching than ever. As usual, we are closing out the year with summary remarks about good and bad stuff related to film, music, books, sports, food, and family.

Film Experiences 

Jim: I’ll go from bad to best here, starting with Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) a somniferous waste of three hours, despite Leonardo DiCaprio’s lead role. Much better was Smile 2 (2024), which Maggie convinced me to see. I’m not into horror and generally avoid the genre, though my cousin Scott Spiegel (who, sadly, died this past year) made a Hollywood career out of directing horror films. My daughter seems to be the one in our family who inherited Scott’s love of horror. Anyway, Smile 2 scared me spitless. And Naomi Scott’s lead performance as a demonically tortured pop star was brilliant. I was enthralled by Anatomy of a Fall (2023), a carefully crafted French legal drama about the mysterious death of a husband and father. The acting was tremendous, and the film’s gradual plot revelations land hard. The film is also instructive regarding French criminal court procedure, which is fascinating. I’ve enjoyed the first season of Pluribus, the latest series from the mind of Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The thought-provoking science fiction premise of Pluribus alone makes it worth watching. My favorite film this year was Small Things Like These (2024), an historical drama set in Ireland in the 1980s. It is an exquisitely directed and acted film that reaches into your soul.

Amy: I find myself at a distinct disadvantage because Jim has already named several of my favorites from this year, Small Things Like These being at the top of the list by a mile. I also enjoyed Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was flawed, but creative and well-acted. I am happy to report that Wake Up Dead Man, the third in the Knives Out series, was a vast improvement over the second, which is like saying eating ice cream is a vast improvement over a root canal. We’ve been enjoying Ken Burns’ American Revolution series on PBS, though it has taken us twice as long to watch because I keep insisting that we pause, fact-check and discuss every five minutes. Another highlight on the doc scene was I Like Me, a documentary about the life and work of John Candy. Named for a line from one of our family’s holiday favorites (Planes, Trains and Automobiles), it was exactly like so many of his great performances: funny, tragic, and touchingly human. The highlight of my film-viewing this year was actually at the movie theater, a rare occurrence these days. Andrew and I saw an unintentional double-feature spanning two nights when Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning self-destructed with just ten minutes to go and we had to come back the next night. We came early and amused ourselves by “guessing” upcoming plot twists. While not the best movie in the series, the stunts are out of this world and Tom Cruise’s dedication to his craft is commendable.

Food and Music

Amy’s Best Food Experiences of the Year: This year saw a lot of meals with friends and family which become more meaningful to me as they become less frequent. My mom, Sam and I had the pleasure of eating at Bailey’s restaurant with him as our server, which was very fun. I also got the chance to eat at Pierpont’s at Union Station in Kansas City with work colleagues. The excellence of the food was only surpassed by the exceptional service. But my highlight would be the discovery of The Deck Down Under, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant located a few miles from our home in Jonesville where we shared a couple of meals first with the boys just prior to their moving to Detroit and then with Andrew and his girlfriend to celebrate his high school graduation. Again, great food and service (truffle fries so good you want to duck under the table and lick the plate), but it was the conversation and laughter I will treasure most. 

Jim’s Best Musical Experiences of the Year: I didn’t get out to see any concerts this year, but I did discover a lot of exciting new artists (well, new to me anyway), including Annika Kilkenny, Maya Hawke, Rob J Madin, Ray Lamontagne, Great Grandpa, Lily Allen, Birdtalker, Hurray for the Riff Raff and, my favorite: Geese. Their album 3D Country caught my attention at the suggestion of my son, Sam. Then came their current album, Getting Killed. Unlike their previous stuff, the band’s approach on this album feels entirely improvisational. Think Lift to Experience meets Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks with a dash of The Grateful Dead. Front man and lyricist Cameron Winter is a unique, compelling persona, confirmed by the fact that he was recently parodied on SNL. Sam and Bailey saw Geese live in Detroit a few months ago. And Sam was able to get a pic with the band after the concert, as you can see here.

Sports

Jim’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year: 2025 was another year of “almosts” for my teams. While that meant disappointment for all of them in the end, the playoff run by the Indiana Pacers was a thrilling surprise. Since at the time of writing this the Indiana Hoosiers are #1 in the country and have a good shot at winning the college football national championship, I’ll call that my favorite sports “moment” of the year. Here’s to hoping that they don’t become my most disappointing sports memory of 2026! 

Amy’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year: Over Thanksgiving, we had the joy of hosting my folks from Tennessee and the misery of watching every one of our teams lose. I’m not sure it counts as a sporting event, but cheering Sam and Andrew on during their first marathon this summer was a treat and seemed a rare instance in which the fans really do make a difference. Speaking of fandom, this year has seen a significant development for me as a sports fan. After years of existing in an NFL allegiance limbo, I have decided to become a Lions fan. I abandoned the Colts after a half-hearted effort to transfer my support from Peyton to Andrew Luck, only to be followed by a brief and lackluster commitment to the Carolina Panthers. Mainly, I want to have someone I can cheer on with Jim, and so the Lions it is.

Jim’s Most Disappointing Sports Moments of the Year: Amy’s notion that one can simply “decide” to become a fan of a team is interesting and worthy of analysis. But moving on . . .  My Detroit Lions getting bounced by the Washington Commanders in the first round of the NFL playoffs last January was probably the hardest loss of the year for me. The Indiana Pacers’ loss in game 7 of the NBA finals was disappointing, too, but like most people, I expected they’d lose, since Oklahoma City was so heavily favored and, okay, the better team. Still, it hurts to be that close and fall short.

Amy’s Most Painful Sports Moment of the Year: Hands down, it was my attendance of Andrew’s track meets this year. Who came up with this format?? One is expected to attend the entire 12-million-year-long meet, conveniently located seven hours from your house and bonus points for cold and rain while your child competes for approximately the wink of an eye, and the snacks are terrible. If any of my eventual grandchildren decide to run track, they will find me waiting in the car with an encouraging hug and a cup of hot chocolate.

Good Reads

Jim: Because of my work hosting the Kalos Center Podcast, I read more widely than usual this year. Oh, so many good books. I loved Anne Hendershott’s The Politics of Envy, which discusses the vice of envy as it manifests in many cultural contexts, from the academy to politics to social media. Robert Woodson’s Woodson Principles is an inspiring and practical summary of his proven approach to urban renewal, and Don Eberly and Ryan Streeter’s The Soul of Civil Society is a superb complement to this, providing many wise insights about civic engagement and democratic culture. I was deeply edified by John Perkins’ One Blood, perhaps the most biblically faithful work I’ve read dealing with race relations. And by “race”—following Perkins—I mean the human race). On the theological front, Michael Kruger’s Canon Revisited on the origin of the New Testament canon is the best volume I’ve read on the fascinating and sometimes bewildering topic of biblical canonicity. Dan Doriani’s Work: Its Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation is a superb introduction to a biblical theology of work. And I loved D. A. Carson’s Exegetical Fallacies, a book which I had never read in its entirety. Now I understand why so many scholars call this a “must read” for anyone interested in—and especially anyone who professionally does—biblical exegesis. My only real disappointment of the year was Christopher Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory. While this book made good fodder for group discussion with the group of Columbus pastors I led as part of the Center for Christian Virtue’s Minnery Fellowship, I found many aspects of Watkin’s methodology to be disappointing.

Amy: Like Jim, I read a wide range of books this year. One of these was Birding to Change the World by Trish O’Kane. I couldn’t agree with this woman’s politics less, but I couldn’t stop reading the book and pondered it for weeks afterwards. My family is likely to write her hate mail for my new obsession with a bird-watching app I can’t get enough of. I loved The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling. She’s a literary genius who creates characters I can’t get enough of. What else can I say? Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile is a very interesting look at Churchill leading up to and during the Battle of Britain. Allie Beth Stuckey’s Toxic Empathy is a succinct but powerful examination of virtue gone wrong. Lee Strobel’s Seeing the Supernatural is sobering and encouraging. And Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Garrett M. Graff’s The Only Plane in the Sky are my current reads in progress. Both of these are gripping portrayals of some of our country’s darkest days and the courageous efforts of many who lived through them.

Best 2025 Family Memories

Jim: Our annual Bell (Amy’s side of the family) summer reunion was a lot of fun again, this time spent at Donkey Town, an aptly named rental property in southern Indiana. Having the whole family together for Thanksgiving at our new home in Beaver Falls was a definite highlight, especially given the fact that our latest batch of eight Goldendoodle puppies were at peak cuteness and rambunctiousness at the time. By mid-December we delivered seven of them to their thrilled new owners, and we kept one—Pippet, named for the ill-fated dog in the film Jaws. Hopefully, our pup won’t meet such a gruesome end. We’ll be careful to avoid taking her to Amity Island during the summer months.

Amy: Empty-nesting with Jim as we settle into our new home in Pennsylvania has been a blast. While I was very sad to say good-bye to Michigan and a bit daunted by the prospect of starting over again, being reunited after a year of Jim splitting each week between his job in Ohio and our house in Michigan has been nothing but wonderful. Adjusting to the kids being gone has been hard, but I love seeing each of them forging their own paths in new settings and supporting them as adults rather than shepherding them as children. I also had the terrifyingly profound experience of delivering eight puppies by myself when our beloved Goldendoodle decided to give birth while Jim was out of town. And yes, Donkey Town was everything the name says and more.

New Year’s Resolutions

Amy: The upheaval of the last five years has served as an excuse for making less than stellar choices in the area of nutrition and exercise for me. Hoping to turn that around this year along with reading more and scrolling less.

Jim: I have committed to fasting (as a spiritual discipline) more consistently in 2026. It is amazing how much moral-spiritual power there is in this practice—sharpening the mind and improving self-control, which of course is a key fruit of the Spirit.

Happy 2026 everyone!

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Connecting the Dots

By Amy Spiegel

Several years ago, the Spiegel family spread out across multiple countries and continents in an unprecedented flurry of world travel. Jim was in Greece, Bailey in Israel, and Sam was in Bolivia while Maggie, Andrew and I kept the home fires burning back in Indiana. Multiple times a day, I would pull up our family chat and check the location of my family members. I got a rush of joy and a feeling of connecting to my far-flung husband and offspring as I watched them move jerkily across the screen like a technological version of the Marauders Map from Harry Potter. I am not sure that I could solemnly swear I was up to no good, but I did develop a terrible addiction. I became a “location dot” addict.

Something about seeing this tiny dot, so far away, made me feel closer to them. When everyone came home, I started checking to see if they had left soccer practice and were on their way home for dinner. Or if they were cutting it close for curfew. Now that we are quasi-empty nesters, I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and double-check that they have all made it home safe and sound. Ironically, my mom has started doing the same to me. I get texts from her saying, “Are you working from home today?” or “Traffic bad? Why are you stopped in the middle of the interstate?”

I recently learned this is a “thing.” When referring to my locations addiction at work, a male co-worker said, “What is it with women and dots?” Until he asked, I didn’t realize there was a thing with women and their dots. I thought it was just me.

If this is, in fact, a female phenomenon, I imagine there is more than one answer to that question. Typically, women are “running the show” when it comes to the family schedule, coordinating drop-offs and pick-ups, mealtimes and bedtimes, invites, and events. So it makes sense that they would look for a “leg up” in keeping all their family ducks in a row. I will confess to sending an innocently worded “Almost home?” which, given the location of the recipient, could also have read “Why haven’t you left yet?” Entirely a truthful reflection of my knowledge of their whereabouts? No. Highly effective way to both avoid an argument and get them to hightail it home? Heck yeah.

But beyond the convenience as a tool of the homemaker, I think there is something deeper, more visceral that calls to our maternal nature when we seek to “find my.” If you aren’t an Apple user, “Find My” is the app for Mac users to find their devices, items (e.g., air-tagged car keys, etc.) and people. Perhaps it is a stretch, but this app presents women with a temptation eerily similar to that first forbidden fruit of Eden. Tempted by Satan to disobey God, Eve was told that in doing so, “your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5) What Satan predicted came true, Eve’s eyes were opened and she did gain the knowledge of good and evil, but she, along with all the women that followed, sure paid the price. Her relationship with God, Adam, and all of nature, even her own body, was irrevocably altered for the worse. The blessing of womanhood, our beauty, frailty, and unique reproductive role was turned against us in God’s curse and its devastating consequences.

Now I am fairly certain that I do not fall under God’s judgment each time I reach out and check my family’s locations. And I seriously doubt they are struggling under the burden of His wrath because I like to know where they are. But I do think there is a clear connection between Eve’s failure and my own obsession, both are rooted in a lack of trust and a longing for control. Eve didn’t want to obey; she wanted to rule. I don’t just want to know; I want to control. Somehow, I have convinced myself, however subconsciously, that by knowing where they are, I am protecting those I love. As if by knowing where they are, I am watching over them as well. But I am not, because I am not God. Only He can protect. Only He is in control. He not only knows how to find us, He knows how to bring us home. I am just an observer of dots. He is the one connecting us all.

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Wanting is Needing

By Amy Spiegel

As the great philosopher Britney Spears once said, “Whoops, I did it again.” Or more precisely, we did it again. After two and a half wonderful years in Hillsdale County Michigan, I sit here writing while surrounded by the chaos of a house in flux. Some of the chaos is the kids’ preparing to move out on their own or head to college. While we are sad to have this, likely, final season of all the OG Spiegels under one roof coming to end, we are thrilled to see them moving on to new adventures.

But they aren’t the only ones heading for parts unknown. Jim and I too will be packing up and moving on and I must admit my heart is heavy with the thought of it. It isn’t just the dread of packing and unpacking a lifetime of possessions or choosing a new home, attending a new church, or deciding where to do our weekly grocery shopping. Don’t even get me started on figuring out what gas station carries my favorite beverages and how I can maximize their loyalty reward program. Nor is my grief isolated to the thought of saying goodbye to friends, some of whom it feels like I have waited a lifetime to know. It is all these things and so much more, something deeper that keeps crying out “This is not how it is supposed to be. Human lives aren’t meant for uprooting.”

I fully admit to being a creature of habit. I order the same favorites from my faithful favorite menus. I love to wear my favorite clothes into oblivion and re-watch my favorite films and re-read my favorite books. I value predictability over novelty, comfort over the unknown. If Forrest Gump is right and life is a box of chocolates, I prefer the box containing only one variety, please and thank you.

This afternoon, as I took a break from our pre-photo shoot house cleaning and decluttering session, I mustered up the energy for half-formed prayers of supplication, asking God “Why? Why is this necessary? Why can’t we stay?” And in that entirely predictable God-way, He answered by holding up a mirror to my heart and asking me to respond to my own question. What I saw there made clear the answer. I want things to be predictable because I want to be in control…which, needless to say, I am not. The very thing I want to cling to so badly, the illusion of control, is the thing I desperately need to let go, because it isn’t real. I may feel like I am clinging to reality, but really I’m grasping at thin air.

I’m like a passenger in a self-driving car whose destination has already been punched, but I insist on white-knuckling an imaginary steering wheel, pretending I’m the one driving and then banging my head against the dash when the car fails to respond to my commands. When life doesn’t go according to my plans, it isn’t because my GPS is malfunctioning. I am the problem, and God is gently but firmly reminding me that I’m not even the co-pilot in this scenario.

As I sat throwing an itty-bitty pity committee for myself today, a voice rose above the whining violin in my heart to sing a different song. This song says that loving anything above my Creator isn’t just wrong, it’s harmful. I can pretend it would be better for me to get what I want, but if what I want isn’t Him, then it’s not only not better, it’s the worst. By taking it away, God is revealing an idol, an area of wrongful worship and giving me the chance to lay it down and walk away.

But He isn’t asking me to walk away into the wilderness, into nothing. He isn’t calling me into a land of want, in the sense of deficiency. He is calling me to a land of wanting in the sense of desiring. Desiring the ultimate Good. He wants me to walk away from a place of want, of deficiency of Him in order to pursue wanting Him. And that is what I need even if it isn’t always what I want.

The Israelites walked away from Egypt, a place of great want in which they were slaves. They walked into what looked like a desert but in reality it was a path to the promised land, the land in which God dwelt, a land of plenty in which He would provide all they needed and more. Their short-sighted fallen hearts couldn’t help but look back, like Lot’s wife, longing for the familiar routine of enslavement.

I would love to laugh at them but I can’t. I’m too busy looking over my own shoulder with regret. As I sigh for what I want, I hear the voice of the One I need. And deep down I know, like David, He will turn “my wailing into dancing” and He will “clothe me with joy,” so my heart will sing His praises and not be silent even on the road to who knows where. Because that’s the road that will lead me to the thing I want and need, above all else. I just have to close my eyes, stop trying to navigate the way and tell myself “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”

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The Best and Worst of 2024

By Jim Spiegel

It has been another exciting year for the Spiegel family—more transitions and making new friends. In August Jim commenced his work as Executive Director at the Kalos Center in Columbus, Ohio. Amy continued her work in the office of Gifts and Estate Planning at Hillsdale College. Jim has been commuting to Columbus weekly, which we plan to do until Andrew graduates from Hillsdale Academy in the Spring. Maggie has been taking classes at Jackson Community College and plans to transfer to Wayne State University next Fall where she hopes to complete her degree. Sam will graduate from Taylor next month and is strongly considering a career as a commercial pilot. And Bailey has been working two jobs while working on his art portfolio. He just applied to several MFA programs around the country. So we are excited about all of these developments, as our kids continue to develop into interesting and ambitious young adults. Our family conversations about art, culture, philosophy, theology, and politics are more stimulating and enriching than ever. As usual, we are closing out the year with summary remarks about good and bad stuff related to film, music, books, sports, food, and family.

Film Experiences

Jim: Three films stood out for me this year, though only one of them was released in 2024. I loved Peanut Butter Falcon (2019), a unique drama about a young man with Down’s syndrome who, after escaping from an assisted-living facility, befriends a troubled fisherman. This film is both fun and profound with excellent performances all-around, including Shia LaBeouf. I also really liked Leave No Trace, a 2018 film that follows the relationship between a military vet with PTSD and his daughter as they live in a remote forest area and ultimately in a mobile home community. This one really sneaks up on you. And I thought one of the best of 2024 was Cabrini, a powerful historical drama about a 19th century Catholic missionary’s ministry to the poor of New York City. Inspiring and extremely well-directed.

Amy: I’m afraid I have no great works of art to recommend this year. I have spent the year revisiting old friends (rewatching all of Matlock, Columbo, and any period piece I can find). I’m always up for a good true crime series of documentary (The Man With a Thousand Kids, Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal, Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, to name a few). During the holidays, I enjoyed a couple Hallmark-esque movies (The Merry Gentlemen and Our Little Secret) and, before you sneer, I argue that balancing light-heartedness with good writing that doesn’t fall off the cliffs of absurdity is a rare jewel that should not be underrated. I did enjoy The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, Something to Stand For with Mike Rowe, and After Death, a documentary about near-death experiences. The “film” experience I have spoken of most often with people is Hillsdale College’s online course on Paradise Lost which was beautifully produced and my first experience of the poem.

Food and Music

Amy’s Best Food Experiences of the Year: Food these days is more about the company than the menu for me. Every meal we’ve eaten with all four kids feels like a cause for celebration these days, knowing that meals will become fewer and farther between as the years go by. Jim and I had a wonderful night at Cascarelli’s in nearby Homer, eating pizza and drinking excellent cocktails, along with a few meals sampling some of the ethnic food Columbus has to offer. We also had a memorable “game night” eating wild game harvested by the Hillsdale Shooting Club.

Jim’s Best Musical Experiences of the Year: My favorite musical experience of 2024 was going to see Weezer with my daughter in Columbus. This was part of their 30-year anniversary (!!) tour for their legendary debut “Blue” album. Maggie and I are both big fans and had a great time. Two of my new musical discoveries this year were LP and Declan McKenna. In addition to being a strong songwriter, LP’s unique vocal style is mesmerizing, as is her uncanny ability to whistle. Check out her most well-known song, “Lost on You.” Declan McKenna, on the other hand, is a self-produced alt-rock Brit singer-songwriter that I’ve found to be quite addictive. Another band I was introduced to this year was the Lemon Twigs, who master a retro 60s-style that may thrill you or annoy you. I’m still trying to decide which category they fall into for me. As for my pick for album of the year, it is hands-down Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter. I had never listened closely to Beyonce’s music before, but this one got my attention both because of the media buzz and the very concept of the album. Some slam it for reverse cultural appropriation. Whatever. As far as I’m concerned, genres are made to be broken, blended, invented, and reinvented. Beyonce achieves all of that on this fresh and somehow timeless concept album. A profound achievement. Finally, I have to mention T-Bone Burnett’s latest album, The Other Side, which is stunning in both its musical simplicity and lyrical wisdom. If ever there was an album to live by, this is it. At least check out the opening track, “He Came Down.” As I slowly build my “best songs of the 2020s” list, I’ve already reserved a spot for this one.

Sports

Jim’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year: Watching Andrew continue his prowess as a star soccer and basketball player on the Hillsdale Academy teams has been a lot of fun, as was watching Sam finish his college career as captain of the Taylor University soccer team. Sam had more spectacular moments in goal this year, culminating in his being selected for the All-Crossroads League team. It was also a fun year as a Detroit Lions sports fan. (Note: I’m not a bandwagon Lions fan but have rooted for them since I was 7-years-old kid, growing up in the Detroit area.) I feel like my half-century of loyal Lions fandom is finally being rewarded. Now, if they can just make it to the Super Bowl . . .. It was also a blast to watch the Tigers make a spectacular late-season run to make it to the playoffs and even win a playoff series. Looking forward to next season under the leadership of Hinch & Co. But the best moment of all was seeing my Michigan Wolverines win the NCAA football national championship. Go Blue!

Amy’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year: I have a terrible memory for specific games and details. I love sitting on the couch any given Sunday watching football with Jim and marveling at my predictive abilities. (Did I mention I am currently leading our family Pigskin Pick Em’s league?). I’ve tried to soak in Andrew’s and Sam’s last seasons of high school and college soccer respectively and am grateful for the way sports has shaped their character and mindset.

Jim’s Most Disappointing Sports Moments of the Year: My Detroit Lions getting knocked out of the NFL playoffs by the 49ers last January, after squandering a 24-7 halftime lead. Ouch. But it doesn’t take away the joy of watching the Lions win playoff games for the first time in over 30 years. It also hurt to see the Tigers bounced by the Cleveland Guardians in the second round of the MLB playoffs after leading the series. After such an improbable run to make the playoffs, we Tigers fans had dreams of running the table. But it was not to be. Maybe next Fall! Of course, these sports sorrows don’t compare to the more poignant endings of our sons’ high school and college soccer careers. See Amy’s thoughts below.

Amy’s Most Painful Sports Moment of the Year: Seeing Sam’s college soccer career end after a tough season was bittersweet. So proud of his dedication and talent but sad to see that chapter come to an end. Andrew’s high school soccer career ended with a brutal loss but it was wonderful to hear his coach reflect on Andrew’s leadership on and off the field.

Good Reads

Jim: This year I actually had time to read a few works of fiction. After a conversation with a former colleague who wrote her dissertation on Thomas Hardy, I decided to read The Mayor of Casterbridge, which is a powerful, if a bit dark, moral tale. It made me more happy than ever that I’ve never sold my wife and child in a spontaneous public auction. (Yep, that’s the book’s premise.) On the negative side (a definite “bad” read) was Cormac’ McCarthy’s The Road. Despite whatever undeserved awards the book may have won, it is a dreadful piece of fiction. See Amy’s blurb about it in a previous post. Blecch. As for non-fiction, I enjoyed Edward Klein’s The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America’s First Family for 150 Years. If you think you know the whole story when it comes to Kennedy family tragedies, check out this book. It runs far deeper than even most students of the topic realize. Other works I’ve enjoyed in the past year include Rizwan Virk’s The Simulation Hypothesis, The Works of Joseph Butler, and The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, a wide-ranging compendium of classic writings falling under the (somewhat loose) heading of mysticism.

Amy: I’ve had a lot of great reads this year. Most recently Shepherds for Sale by Megan Basham, Overruled by Neil Gorsuch, and Troubled by Rob Henderson were all interesting and eye-opening reads. I can’t remember how I stumbled into listening to I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, and I can’t say I “enjoyed” it but it was well-written, and McCurdy gives the reader a disturbing window into the world of child actors while displaying  an impressive amount of understanding for her parents (despite the title’s shocking title) and avoiding playing the victim. Hannah Coulter left me asking where Wendell Berry has been all my life, while The Road by Cormac McCarthy left me wishing I had taken a detour. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Marier and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro were both page turners worth the time.

Best 2023 Family Memories

Jim: Our annual Bell (Amy’s side of the family) summer reunion was great as usual, though this time we had a new addition—our great niece, Margot, who is a total joy. Another highlight was painting the exterior of our Jonesville house, which I did with some help from our boys and a hydraulic lift I rented for a week in July. This was made all the more rewarding by the daily compliments I would receive by passersby.  The house had been painted a hideous yellow with red trim before we transformed it into a stately overcast grey with white trim, far more befitting the classy exterior features with which it was endowed back in 1846.

Amy: Welcoming my great-niece Margot into the family, experiencing the solar eclipse with Andrew and Maggie, and welcoming Bailey home from Bolivia were definite highlights. I got the chance to spend time with my mom and sister in Ohio which is a rarity I greatly enjoyed. Our beloved (Jane) Austen made it through a tough bout of pancreatitis for which we are extremely grateful. We have had more than our fair share of car woes this year which ironically have been an opportunity to be blessed by the generosity of our friends and community.

New Year’s Resolutions

Amy: Continuing to see God’s grace and mercy in all circumstances will be a goal this year and every year after. I am still hoping to concentrate on being a better steward of my time and body, especially after turning the big 5-0 this year.

Jim:  Having nearly fulfilled my 2023 New Year’s resolution of completing our Jonesville house renovations (we still have two rooms to renovate), my 2024 resolution is to finish those two remaining rooms!

 Happy 2025 everyone!

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Women’s Work

By Amy Spiegel

For years, when our children were small, Jim and I would share a hurried kiss and a “Have a good day” as he left for campus and I began a day at home with the kids. We used to joke that as we went our separate ways, each of us would look at the other with wistful pity and mutter under our breath “Sucker!”

Sure, there were days when, with a heart full of envy, I imagined him gathered around the water cooler (this was truly imagining because they didn’t have a water cooler) with his colleagues, discussing current events, quoting Plato and basking in the luxury of adult time. I am less sure that there were days where he sighed with regret as he pulled out of the driveway, watching the kids and I head out for a walk to the library or a playdate with friends. But for the most part, we were quite comfortable in our roles. He was the main breadwinner, supporting our family financially, not to mention influencing the minds of countless students and readers through his lectures, books, and articles. I was a stay-at-home mom, supporting our family through the various little tasks of home life, planning meals and doing laundry, not to mention educating our kids through elementary and middle school. We were, and still are, a great team, sharing the responsibilities and burdens, as well as the joys and rewards, of raising a family and pursuing a life of purpose and accomplishment.

I have no doubt that Jim, were he left on his own, would not have accomplished as much professionally without my support. Were he to have been a single dad, most of his time and energy would have gone into raising his kids, with little surplus for research and writing. I consider his accomplishments, all the publications, awards, etc., to be shared accomplishments in which I played a vital, though not equal, role. Obviously, he could have been a non-dad and had many more hours for his intellectual pursuits, but without the depth of experience, not to mention the love and encouragement, a family brings which I think has shaped him into a greater man than he would be otherwise.

Similarly, had I been a single mom I’m not sure the kids and I would have made it out of their formative years alive. Putting aside the obvious financial support Jim provided, allowing me the privilege of focusing on raising our family, his emotional and spiritual support was instrumental in my development as a wife, mother, and more generally as a human being. He is quick to credit me with influencing our kids to a greater degree than he has and that is perhaps somewhat true given the sheer quantity of time I was able to spend with them. But that time was made possible through the hours he spent lecturing, grading, doing research, and so on, not to mention the profound impact he has had on me as the spiritual head of our family. Our roles have shifted over the years, with the kids off to school, though I am still more focused on the daily routines of our family while he is focused on providing for our family through a myriad of ways.

This division of labor has worked, with varying degrees of success, for thousands of years. Men and women working together to nurture the next generation. Of course there have been abuses and imbalances of power, but the modern tendency to sneer at “women’s work” in the home as oppressive or demeaning is yet another symptom of the overall mass misogyny of our times. Nowhere is this more apparent in the current petition calling for the dismissal of Kansas City Chief’s player Harrison Butker over comments he made as the commencement speaker for Benedictine College which you may read in full here.

Those supporting this effort have called his comments “sexist, homophobic, anti-trans, anti-abortion and racist.” Well, they at least they got the anti-abortion part right. I won’t go into all their claims but would like to address their accusation that Butker’s remarks were sexist. Many

National Catholic Register

have pointed to the hypocrisy of those leading the charge for Butker’s firing given the numerous instances of domestic abuse and unlawful and violent behavior on the part of countless NFL players which has garnered little attention from the press or fans. What’s most interesting to me about the outcry on the part of some regarding Butker’s comments, however, is hypocrisy in another form.

They believe that a man celebrating the sacrifices and achievements of his wife is sexist. They believe that a woman’s value is to be found in her paycheck and not in her eternal investments in the lives of those entrusted to her care. In other words, they believe that women should be judged by the historically male dominated standards of career and, for lack of a better word, “worldly” accomplishments. Do they think that Butker holds his wife hostage at home? Do they think so little of women’s intellect that we are incapable of deciding for ourselves how we will divide our time and energy? Do they see so little value in the great joys of motherhood and homemaking? This seems the epitome of sexism!

In a world where men have decided that they can simply declare themselves women, invade our private spaces, steal our opportunities in sports and demand our acceptance of them as our equal, can we not at least acknowledge that being a modern woman can take many forms? Can we not celebrate those who work inside the home alongside those who choose to do so outside the home? In a world which demands acceptance of all manner of lifestyle choices, can we not allow for the rights of the traditional alongside the pantheon of “alternatives”?

The petition demanding his firing calls for unity rather than divisiveness. I couldn’t agree more; as our founding fathers put it, “Out of the many, one.” One body with many parts, all working together to function as a whole. This to me is the unity of purpose Harrison Butker wished to celebrate by praising his wife and all she has done from the sidelines to support and enable him and their family. In my eyes, she is playing the better game and winning. There are of course other roles that women can play, roles which hold great value and purpose. But I say Isabelle Butker is the star quarterback for her team. Perhaps you disagree but as for me, I’m a big fan!

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The Best and Worst of 2023

By Jim Spiegel

It has been a very exciting year, full of transitions and making new friends. In January Jim commenced his work as a Templeton Fellow at Hillsdale College. Amy continued her role as an agent with State Farm Insurance until she changed roles in November, beginning her work in the office of Gifts and Estate Planning at Hillsdale College. So now we are officially a double-barreled Hillsdale couple! The kids continue to develop into interesting young adults, and our family conversations about art, culture, philosophy, theology, and politics are more stimulating and enriching than ever. As usual, we are closing out the year with summary remarks about good and bad stuff related to film, music, books, sports, food, and family.

Film Experiences

Jim: Continuing the trend of recent years, we have seen very few films at the theater and have focused mostly on watching films at home via Netflix and Amazon Prime. My favorite of the year was JFK: One Day in America, which has rekindled my life-long interest in the Kennedy assassination. The documentary focuses on JFK’s fateful trip to Dallas in November 1963 and features interviews with the last surviving eyewitnesses, including secret service agents Clint Hill and Paul Landis. (In his interview for the documentary, Landis’ revelation regarding the so-called “magic bullet” has enlivened the perpetual debate over whether Oswald acted alone in the assassination.) One film we did see at a theater, Napoleon, was a disappointment. Despite Ridley Scott’s spectacular cinematography and a typically strong performance by Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role, the film ultimately falls flat for lack of a compelling theme. The film recounts major events in the life of Napoleon, but a straight documentary can do this much. Probably our family favorite series of the year was Only Murders in the Building, starring Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez. The third season was every bit as clever, thrilling, and waggish as the first two. Kudos to the creators of this smartly crafted series.

Amy: I agree with Jim’s assessment of OMITB and Napoleon whole-heartedly. Please don’t expect any artsy, groundbreaking recommendations from me this year. Perhaps it was moving again and looking for some reassuring old friends via my viewing activity but whatever the reason, I delved deep into my anglophile ways, re-watching some familiar favorites and discovering some new ones. To The Manor Born and Keeping Up Appearances were recommended by a friend as witty, delightful escapism and lived up entirely to that recommendation. As Time Goes By was a favorite of Jim’s mom which I shamelessly binged watched and felt as if she was sitting beside me laughing along at the incomparable Madame Judi Dench. This helped to rinse the bad taste left in my mouth by the sixth, and blessed, final season of The Crown. Maggie and I love a good Hallmark genre holiday flicks and were pleasantly surprised by EXMas which departed from the hyper-stereotypical, shallow character development we have come to enjoy so much while still embracing all the characteristics of the genre (e.g., estranged boy and girl who are obviously meant for one another, quirky parents, tensions at work, an odd devotion to Christmas which is taken for granted by all, etc.). On the doc side of things, Convicting a Murderer and Who Killed Jill Dando? were shocking and well-executed. We ended the year by going to the movies with my dad to see The Boys in the Boat. As a lover of the book, I came in with low expectations which were quickly forgotten. Well-cast and well-written, this movie took me back to the good old days when movies just told a great story and left agendas to the politicians.

Food and Music

Amy’s Best Food Experiences of the Year: Without a doubt it was a meal experienced this week with all the kids. While vacationing in Florida, we went to Peg Leg Pete’s in Pensacola and were initially shocked at the 1½-2 hour wait time. Thanks to some cheerleading from Bailey and Andrew, we decided to stick it out and had a night to be remembered. We killed time playing games in the bar, ate some of the best seafood we have had in a while, and soaked up the joy of being together. We also had some truly wonderful meals with new friends in Michigan as well as spending time with “old” friends from Indiana.

Jim’s Best Musical Experiences of the Year: After doing a deep dive into the music of the Talking Heads, my respect for the musical genius of David Byrne has risen to new levels. Now in his 70s, Byrne’s innovative musical explorations continue unabated and have even taken him onto the Broadway stage with his award-winning American Utopia. Also, my son Bailey recently turned me on to the sparse, atmospheric music of the Icelander artist Soley, specifically her 2011 debut album We Sink. From there I dug into her other work, which is mesmerizing and, by turns, haunted and sweetly endearing. Oh, and my love for the music of Sia has grown even stronger. What I described as a “guilty pleasure” two years ago is now unashamed. So good! Check out her albums We are Born and 1000 Forms of Fear, and prepare to be addicted.

Sports 

Jim’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year: Watching Andrew emerge as a star soccer and basketball player on the Hillsdale Academy teams has been a lot of fun. He’s still deciding whether to play soccer or basketball at the college level, though he’s leaning toward soccer. And watching Sam play on the Lansing semi-pro soccer team last summer was a blast, as was watching his rise as captain and goalkeeper on the Taylor University soccer team. He had another season of spectacular moments in goal this year, culminating in his being selected as national NAIA defensive player of the week near the end of the season. He’s a human highlight reel! But it does make for tense viewing. It is hard to be the parent of a goalkeeper. You want to see your kid involved in significant game action, but for the keeper to get such action there must be a defensive breakdown or an otherwise serious scoring threat. Agonizing!

Amy’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year: Watching Andrew, newly arrived in Michigan via Bolivia, bonding with teammates on the basketball court was definitely a highlight as was cheering on Sam’s Lansing Robins this summer. I was quite proud of perfecting my “tailgate charcuterie” which I am sure contributed to much of their success.

Jim’s Most Disappointing Sports Moments of the Year: My Detroit Lions just missing the NFL playoffs last January was disappointing, but this year they are heading back to the postseason, hosting a playoff game for the first time in 30 years. The Atlanta Braves being bounced in the second round of the National League playoffs, again, by the Philadelphia Phillies who, again, were a decidedly inferior team throughout the six-month regular season, only to benefit from a playoff system that handicaps the top seeds by forcing a four-day layoff which serves to undermine the rhythm of hitters and pitchers. When will the MLB wake up and correct this? Given that it makes more money for the league, perhaps never.

Amy’s Most Painful Sports Moment of the Year: Taylor’s defeat in PK’s (following a couple of controversial calls by the refs, I might add) after tying through triple overtime against Spring Arbor in the Crossroads Conference tournament was almost more than I could bear. So proud of the team’s effort and love seeing Sam continue to grow and mature as a player. A close second would be suggesting to Jim that a great pre-Thanksgiving Lions game activity would be to “clean up” the “unneeded” cable lines cluttering up the outside of our house only to realize I forgot to mention that one was in fact our much needed WiFi line. Several agonizing hours and a panicked drive to first Wal-Mart and then Meijer later, WiFi was restored, only to have the Lions lose to the Packers.

Good Reads

Jim: Because of the transition into my new role at Hillsdale College, I have been consumed with philosophical research, especially work on the problem of evil and the metaphysical idealism of George Berkeley. My article “The Premortalist Free Will Defense” was recently published in the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. Also, I have completed two pieces on the problem of evil which I expect to appear in peer-reviewed scholarly journals in the next year or so. I am nearing completion of an article on Berkeley, public objects, and common sense, which I’ll be submitting somewhere soon. So as far as my “good reads” for the year, I would count most of the scholarly literature I consumed when working on these articles as “good reads,” including those featuring fallacious arguments and misbegotten philosophical claims that I have been more than happy to refute! ☺

Amy: Several books I read this year fall into the strange category of books I can’t say I enjoyed but also couldn’t stop thinking about after: I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart, The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf and The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell. I devoured The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling and was given plenty to chew on by The Rise of the New Puritans by Noah Rothman and Michael Shellenberger’s Apocalypse Never and San Fransicko. Honorable mentions are Settle for More by Megyn Kelly and The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz. I was also terribly proud of Jim for his piece on “Self-Governance and Self-Worship” in the American Reformer and this piece at the Federalist.

Best 2023 Family Memories

Jim: A highlight for me was doing house renovations with Bailey last summer. Our “new” house in Jonesville, Michigan was built in 1846—when Nietzsche was in diapers! It has great character and “bones,” as they say, but it needed a lot of work. Doing the renovations has been a family adventure, and the joy these improvements bring Amy and the kids is thrilling for me.

Amy: Jim’s seemingly magical transformation of our house has been a sight to behold. So proud of the herculean effort he and Bailey have put in. We’ve had several special times with all four kids: Christmas in July (to make up for Andrew’s and Bailey’s absence last Christmas), walks in the woods, kayaking with Sam and Bailey on Baw Beese Lake, so much laughing over rounds Jim’s ingenious new game Make ‘Em Laugh and our time in Florida.

New Year’s Resolutions

Amy: Taking my health more seriously, cultivating my Hillsdale College fun facts database and reawakening my love of reading (over watching).

Jim:  Completing renovations on our “new” (178-year-old) house in Jonesville.

Happy 2024 everyone!

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Risky Business

By Amy Spiegel

As Christmas approaches, this mother’s heart is humming with anticipation. All four of our kids, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, will be spending the holiday break with us this year. As they grow up and out (of the house that is), I am learning not to take being all together for granted. Gone are the days of me hiding in the kitchen pantry, eating chocolate and trying to get five minutes to myself. Most of the time I’m lucky to have more than one of them sitting at the dinner table and last Christmas we suffered an emigration mix up getting Andrew home from his semester in Bolivia and ended up with only half the crew celebrating with us.

Earlier this week, I was listening to Megyn Kelly discussing the case of Kate Cox. If you haven’t heard of the case, Cox is suing the state of Texas for the right to abort her baby. Texas’ recently enacted laws prohibit abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected with some exceptions. Despite the fact that Cox’s baby has been diagnosed with Trisomy-18 and is highly unlikely to survive to full-term or the birthing process, the lower Texas courts have denied Cox’s application for an exception to be made. Kelly expressed her belief that forcing a woman to carry a dying baby was a form of “torture” and condemned the Texas law as too extreme, a position I strongly disagree with but not, perhaps, for the reasons you might think.

Surely no one who hears this story can fail to sympathize with Cox, although extremists on the left would have a hard time selling their sympathy to me as genuine. Many, though not all, abortion advocates have moved well past the argument for “legal, safe, and rare” and into the space of gleeful celebration at the death of a helpless unborn child. Those on the opposite end of the spectrum should most definitely offer their condolences to Cox and her family; if you are pro-life, you certainly should seek to comfort those who face such a dreadful diagnosis. But for myself, I believe that in seeking an abortion Kate Cox is not escaping “torture,” as Kelly put it, but rather inflicting further wounds to her psyche. She is already the mother of a dying child and having an abortion will not erase that fact. Being the direct cause of her child’s death, rather than allowing her child’s life to unfold, in my opinion, will only add to her grief. The risk of heartbreak is an inherent part of motherhood and a medical procedure cannot remove this from the job description.

We, as mothers, are all the mothers of dying children and our journey through parenthood is a tortuous one. We bring them into this world knowing that one day, hopefully many decades from now, they will leave it. Not only do they face certain death, we also know there will be many pains and traumas along that path. We hold our breath from the moment we feel that first stirring deep inside our wombs, through their first tottering steps and watch with anxiousness as they are off to school and have their first disappointments and heartbreaks and failures. As their worlds widen, our fears only increase. As they grow, so too do the dangers they face.

But so too do their joys. And through them, our joys increase as well. As they say, with great risk comes great reward. There is no joy in mothering without the sorrow; to love is to venture heartbreak. There is no escaping the tortures of motherhood, whether it be carrying a baby you know is destined to die early or carrying a baby you know will face untold perils as he or she grows. Just as in the throes of labor there is no escaping the pain of birth; all you can do as a mother is grit your teeth and know you are giving birth to something worth the pain.

Years ago in my early days of parenthood, I was complaining about not getting a moment to myself, and a friend wisely shared an insight that pierced my heart. He looked down at one of my toddlers and said “If I had known the last time I held my son or daughter was the last time, I would have held them five minutes longer.” We never know when that last time will be so we should cherish each time as if it is the last.

From the news reports I have read, Kate Cox won’t get that last time, or a first. She has pursued an abortion in another state. For that loss, I grieve for her. I’m sure that this Christmas will be a challenging and sad time for her, to say the least. I will certainly pray for her to experience repentance, forgiveness and healing during the season which celebrates not only Jesus but also his mother Mary. Not only Mary in the stable but also Mary at the temple, dedicating her baby to God and being told by Simeon, according to Luke 2, that He would do great things but at the cost of a sword piercing, not just His side, but also her soul. I think of Michelangelo’s Pieta. Mary holding her son for just five minutes more; the pain of His death and her sorrow bring us who believe the greatest of joys.

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The Waiting Room

By Amy Spiegel

The past two years and counting have brought quite a few personal challenges for the Spiegels as a collective and for each of us individually. Jim’s termination, the loss of friends and pets, various health issues, moving, and new jobs and schools make up just the highlight reel. One of these circumstances is enough to inspire stress and anxiety, but experiencing them simultaneously is enough to bring you to your knees. While all living through the these major life events, it was fascinating to see how the same circumstances have acted as “opportunities for growth” for all us but in sometimes entirely different ways. Change brings previously undiscovered weaknesses (and strengths) to the surface the same way that traveling to a foreign country can highlight aspects of your own culture and personality that you weren’t aware of before.

I learned a lot about myself through all these changes. But I was also given the chance to change myself, or rather choose to allow the Holy Spirit to bring about change. And the end of 2022 brought a scenario which allowed me to put some of these changes to the test.

As many of you know, Bailey and Andrew, our oldest and youngest sons, traveled to Bolivia in July–Bailey to teach art at Highlands International School in La Paz and Andrew to spend the semester as a student at that school. This wasn’t our first time sending off kids to international destinations and I was so happy for the both of them that while I missed them, I was thrilled to send them on their way. With Sam and Maggie off at school, it gave Jim and I a taste of empty-nesting which we quite enjoyed. Of course, waiting was made easier because we knew the boys would be returning at Christmas, Andrew for good and Bailey for a visit. Or so we thought. In a hotel in Miami, with dreams of being reunited with the kids still dancing in my head, I got a phone call. I had driven down a week before to drop Maggie and Sam off at the airport. They flew down for a visit with their brothers and then I was to drive them home for the holidays. The phone call was Bailey saying that Maggie and Sam had made their flight but that Bolivian officials were refusing to allow Andrew to leave the country. He was missing an important piece of documentation and to make matters worse, it was the Friday before Christmas. Offices would soon be closing for the weekend and not re-opening until later the next week. After a frantic day of driving from one office to the next, I was able to get the necessary papers on a flight to Bolivia but had to leave the airport two kids short. The sadness of not having them with us for Christmas was compounded by the fact that Andrew was set to start a new school a few days after New Year’s. I won’t bore you with the details of the roller coaster ride that was the next two weeks but ultimately Andrew arrived back in Indiana, after what he says were the best two weeks of his trip (!!), though sadly Bailey didn’t have enough time left of his break to come home. This situation taught me many things, one of which was never to make complicated travel plans around the holidays. But it also clarified my thinking regarding stress and anxiety.

I would like to issue the disclaimer that I understand that anxiety takes many forms and comes from many places. The type of anxiety I wish to address is the type we volunteer for rather than the type that creeps unbidden into our minds without our giving permission. I have several family members who struggle with anxiety and I know this struggle is real. But there is a garden variety anxiety over which we have much more control.

I discovered this distinction before Andrew was “held hostage” over Christmas. As I mentioned, Andrew was starting a new school upon his return. That’s because we were moving…again. This time to Michigan in order for Jim to take a position as a Templeton Fellow at Hillsdale College. The timing of this move was tricky and with several months of Jim’s contract in Bloomington left, we agonized over when to put our house on the market, not wanting to sell it out from under ourselves. Instead of finding ourselves homeless, we found ourselves with too many houses, the one we owned in Indiana and the one we wanted to own in Michigan. When describing our situation to friends and family, I would find myself feeling obligated to say “I am really anxious about selling the house” or “It’s so stressful that it isn’t selling.” One day I realized that neither of those things was true. I wasn’t anxious or stressed. So why did I feel compelled to say I was? Even when our holidays were ambushed by a hurricane of bureaucratic mishaps, I wasn’t really stressed or anxious. Despite it all, there was this eye-of-the-storm calm at the center of my mind. I knew that this was not just a product of me being laid back, which I am decidedly not, nor was it a lack of concern. I very much wanted to sell our house and very much wanted the boys home. Instead, it was putting into practice the lessons I had learned through all the hardships that were now in the rear window.

Looking back I could see how God had provided and trust that He would do so moving forward. I realized that stress and anxiety are a choice. I can choose to pick them and pretend that by doing so I am actually accomplishing something. I could see all the misspent hours of worry and planning that did nothing but rob me of the joys of the present. So I chose to do the only things I can: trust. Okay, I will admit to obsessing over the tidiness of our house each morning with the confidence that today’s showing would bring someone who was on the fence about the house and then see how neatly the bed was made and declare “This is the one!” And I drove around Miami like a mad woman gathering official stamps and signatures. But then you just have to lay all that work down and wait and trust and wait some more. We are still waiting. Thank goodness not for Andrew who is thriving in his new school and still regaling us with stories of South America. But our house still hasn’t sold and I am still not stressed about it. I’m in the waiting room and any moment they are going to call our name and it’s going to be our turn. And who knows, maybe it will be our turn for more “bad” news, more challenges and “growth opportunities.” But if that’s the case, I hope I have the faith to look over my shoulder at all the mountains we have climbed and face the next one without the extra luggage of anxiety regarding the destination. I advise you to do the same; keep your eyes on the Guide and He will lead you safely home.

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Unplanned Parenthood

By Jim Spiegel

Seeing as yesterday was my mom’s birthday and today is the 50th anniversary of the notorious Roe v. Wade decision, I thought I would share a few stories that both affirm the sanctity of human life and honor my late mother, Phyllis Moore Spiegel.

When my mom became pregnant with me, she was already the busy mother of three boys and thirty-six years of age. Although my parents were not planning to have a fourth child, they didn’t exactly take a rigorous approach in trying to prevent this, as they later informed me that at the time they were using a rather unreliable spermicide contraceptive. When my mom discovered she was pregnant, she was somewhat apprehensive because, being in her late thirties, she thought of herself as too old to have another child. At some point she shared her concern with her dad who responded by offering to pay for an abortion. My mom obviously declined the offer, essentially telling my grandfather that just because she felt anxious about being an older new mother (at least relative to those days), she had no thoughts of terminating the pregnancy. In fact, she was disturbed by the very suggestion.

Still, my mom continued to struggle with anxiety about having another kid at her age. This continued even after I was born and wasn’t put to rest until she heard some wise words from our pediatrician, Dr. Stopman. One day when she took me in for a check-up, Dr. Stopman asked her how she was doing and my mom shared her concerns with him, saying “I was sitting there in the waiting room, looking around at all those young mothers, and I just feel like I’m too old to be doing this again.” Dr. Stopman looked at my mom and, pointing at me, he said, “he doesn’t think you’re too old.” My mom would later say that after this she never thought about it again. And Dr. Stopman was right. Never once did I think of my mother as “old,” even when she was in her 90s. She was always just my mom—my insightful, kind, good-humored, sometimes curiously enigmatic mom. She remains one of the two most interesting women I’ve ever known. (I’m married to the other one.)

One day when my grandfather was visiting our house a few years later, my mother noticed him pensively staring out the window at me as I was romping around in the backyard. My mom asked him what was on his mind, and he replied, “I look at Jimmy playing and I just feel horrible about the offer I made you to get an abortion.” With the frank honesty that was so typical of Phyllis Spiegel, my mom replied, “Well, Dad, you should feel horrible about it. And you know what? I should have taken your money and used it to pay for a good trip somewhere.” My grandfather smiled and said, “You’re right, honey. That would have served me right.”

As I have reflected on these stories over the years, I have been struck by the profound impact that a simple conversation can have, deciding the direction—or even the existence of—an entire life. I also contemplate the fact that although, from a human perspective, the fate of any one of us might seem uncertain at times, we are all securely in the hands of God—from the moment of our conception until the day we depart this world. As the Psalmist says, “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Ps. 139:15-16).

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The Best and Worst of 2022

By Jim Spiegel

It has been another eventful year. Jim continued his work as Head of School at Lighthouse Christian Academy in Bloomington, and Amy continued her role as an agent with State Farm Insurance. Now we are looking forward to the next chapter of our lives, as we will be moving to Hillsdale, Michigan where Jim starts work at Hillsdale College next week. As usual, we are closing out the year with summary remarks about good and bad stuff related to film, music, books, sports, food, and family.

Film Experiences

Jim: 2022 was not a particularly good year for me, as regards film. I didn’t have the time to take in as many movies as I normally do. And most of the films I watched were oldies, from the Silver Chalice (Paul Newman’s film debut) to several classic Dirty Harry and James Bond films. Among the new releases I did see, Amsterdam was noteworthy. Well-acted with a strong script and an interesting, if somewhat predictable, plotline. This year we watched the conclusion to Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel. While never matching the quality of Breaking Bad (what TV series possibly could?), Better Call Saul is nonetheless compelling, if only for the tremendous performances by Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn. I also enjoyed The Thief, His Wife, and the Canoe, a fascinating four-episode drama about a man who faked his own death in order for insurance money to avoid bankruptcy. Based on a true story, it is a powerful cautionary tale about the tragic outcome that may follow if you refuse to face the just consequences of your actions. If the series had a subtitle, it could be “How to Make a Bad Situation Far Worse.”

Amy: Like Jim, this wasn’t the year of the film for me, not because I didn’t have time but because I have lost patience with Hollywood’s agenda pushing. Most of my watching hours were spent with crime series, true and otherwise. You may call it dark voyeurism, but nothing thrills me more than watching the good guys and gals track down the bad ones. The Puppet Master, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Never Existed, Girl in the Picture, Bad Vegan, Heist and The Tinder Swindler were some of my favorites. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent with Nicholas Cage was a surprising gem, though somewhat profane. A few disappointments were An Enemy of the People (starring Steve McQueen, just in case we are tempted to think Hollywood went woke in this century), The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (a victim of poor casting despite the treasure trove of talented actors and lack of plot creativity, though the visuals were superb) and Persuasion (I have been anticipating this film version of my favorite Jane Austen novel in “half agony, half hope.” It wasn’t the anachronistic casting that bothered me but the complete reinvention of the characters, especially my beloved Anne Elliot, which lowered it’s worth in my eyes. If you want to make a film about a cynical, alcoholic spinster, fine; just refrain from hijacking the heroine of someone else’s creation and go make your own.)

Food and Music

Amy’s Best Food Experiences of the Year: This year I, along with my senses of taste and smell, fell victim to Covid . . . twice. Therefore, food became a lot more about the company I was sharing it with than the meal itself, which wasn’t such a bad thing. Meals shared with new friends in Bloomington and old friends passing through. A meal graciously brought to my dad’s hospital room and eaten with my sister and mom while we rejoiced in my dad’s recovery from life-threatening blood clots. And, of course, any meal we got to eat as a whole family since those are rare these days. I did conquer the art of croissant making this year, which I am quite proud of. There is nothing more heavenly than layer upon layer of flaky butteriness.

Jim’s Best Musical Experiences of the Year: In terms of listening experiences, my 2022 highlights were Weezer and Sinatra. Since the early 2000s I had not followed Weezer’s releases very closely. But last Spring their 2021 OK Human album caught my eye—a fully orchestrated collection of songs that is now my favorite Weezer album. The band immediately followed this with Van Weezer, which hails their metal heroes, and in 2022 a series of four 7-song EPs entitled SZNZ, each named for, and released on the first day of, one of the four seasons. That’s nearly 50 songs over the past two years from these guys. And it’s all wonderful stuff. In a completely different stylistic vein, I have greatly enjoyed Frank Sinatra’s Watertown, a concept album released in 1970. The only album in which Sinatra sang over pre-recorded instrumental tracks, it has a very different feel than all of his other material, and in a good way. There is a certain intimacy in the songs that you don’t hear in his other work. Upon its release, the album was met with tepid reviews. But a half century later, Watertown is now widely regarded as one of Sinatra’s best. If nothing else, I recommend you check out my favorite cut from the album, “I Would Be In Love Anyway.” Beautiful.

Sports

Jim’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year: Watching Sam emerge as starting goal keeper on the Taylor University soccer team. He had some spectacular moments in goal this year, and he was recently named as a captain on next year’s team. That’s my boy.

Amy’s Favorite Sports Moments of the Year:  Watching Sam play is almost equal parts thrill and terror for me, so I don’t know that I can say I enjoy it until it’s over. With Andrew away during most of the NFL season, I became Jim’s companion for Sunday football watching and thoroughly enjoyed it. We predicted winners and losers each week and I even managed to come out on top a few times. I also loved watching my Tennessee Volunteers return to their former glory. Go Vols!

Jim’s Most Disappointing Sports Moments of the Year: The Atlanta Braves getting bounced by the Phillies in the National League Division Series playoffs. I really don’t like how this new playoff system effectively punishes the best teams with long layoffs before their first playoff games. Unlike many other sports, in baseball such layoffs disrupt players’ rhythms, especially hitters, and therefore hurt rather than help teams. Oh well. Hopefully, MLB officials will recognize this and revise the playoff format.

Amy’s Most Painful Sports Moment of the Year:  Falling victim repeatedly to renewed hopes that the Colts really did deserve my allegiance as well as witnessing the demise of Tom Brady. I have never liked the guy, on or off the field, but it’s just sad. As one of the greats, you’ve gotta know when to walk away. 

Good Reads

Jim: I highly recommend Carl Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, an astute study of the historico-philosophical developments which led to the sexual revolution and ultimately our current confused cultural condition regarding sexuality. Rod Dreher was right in calling this one of the most important books of the decade. I also appreciated Pete Hegseth’s Battle for the American Mind, which I used for an LCA faculty book study this Fall. Hegseth traces the history of the progressivist takeover of American public education and issues a compelling call to the growing classical Christian education movement. But the best read of the year for me was a work of fiction: Alexander Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo. At 1250 pages, reading this book takes commitment, but it is well-worth the journey in terms of the moral and even theological insights that Dumas’s rich, multi-layered narrative provides.

Amy:  My reading slowed down quite a bit this year but I managed to read some great ones: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, A Kim Jong-II Production by Paul Fischer, Intellectuals by Paul Johnson, Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning, and Soundtracks by Jon Acuff. Some were heavier than others but all insightful and well worth the time.

Best 2022 Family Memories 

Jim: Although it wasn’t a family memory as such, the highlight of the year for me was when we sent Sam and Maggie down to Bolivia to spend six days with Bailey and Andrew the week before Christmas. A cross-cultural experience for all of our kids to remember, for sure. And they sent us some spectacular photos.

Amy: The birth of Austen’s puppies was definitely the highlight for me. Life truly is a miracle and our dogs are a focal point of love we all share. Car rides with the kids and walks with Jim and the dogs. Watching Bailey launch himself into the world after graduating from college.

New Year’s Resolutions

Amy: Getting off the couch and getting more active. Spend more time reading and less streaming.

Jim:  To post more consistently on Wisdom & Folly!

Happy 2023 everyone!