Goodbye ‘25!
I’m full of gratitude as I write this final newsletter of 2025, perched by the wood stove in my parents home in the woods of northern Idaho.
We’ve been having a wonderful time together as a family - all of us siblings gathered with our parents, grandparents, and our own families (except for my oldest brother, who’s in Argentina).
Lucas has been loving life with a dozen cozens, making and throwing miniature snowballs, and sneaking way too much chocolate. Ezra turned one on Christmas Eve and is a little butterball of joy. Helen and I are savoring a slower pace for the first time in a long time, and soaking up these memories with family we don’t get to see often.
This year was full of community events, drawing, learning film, and site and architectural design for friends and clients - along with travel for business, mission work, and family.
Spoke at 12 events
Travelled to 18 states and 3 countries
Produced 8 short documentary-style videos on projects we’ve done (and one special one for Helen)
Met TONS of wonderful new friends along the way
There were 2,500 of you when I began writing this exactly two years ago. There were 17,000 of you a year ago. And there are well over 44,000 of you reading today!
Thank you so much for supporting the work, and for sharing it with your family, friends, and colleagues. The numbers are gratifying, it’s each and every thoughtful reply, visit in person, and real connection made along the way that means so much to me.
I invite all of you to come visit us and our community in person. If I’m around, I’d be happy to show you The Nook. And if not, there’s still plenty to see and do.
In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful, restful holiday - and an auspicious start to the new year. See you in ‘26!
— Isaac
P.S. Below are some of my favorite letters from the year, in case you’re new and want more to read. These tell the story of the year in five-minute bites: