Dear Friends and Family,
This year has been a wonderful time of growth and hope in almost every aspect of our lives. We love to take this season to recount our blessings.
With Steve at the helm, guided by an excellent board of directors, Insitu has continued to grow. It has become one of the largest businesses in our ‘metropolitan area’ of 15,000.
In fact, Insitu has spread into space in seven other buildings throughout Bingen and White Salmon. As part of White Salmon’s Centennial Celebration, Insitu renovated the Park Center (the former high school) at its own expense, saving the local school district several hundred thousand dollars and providing its software group with top-quality workspace.
Insitu was recognized in INC Magazine’s top 500 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S. and in several other lists. Insitu’s ScanEagle craft passed the 25,000-hour mark of operational service. However, the Insitu team feels best about the feedback from the hundreds of people who feel their lives were saved as a result of ScanEagle being on duty overhead. This year the team also demonstrated capabilities tracking forest fires and has a new contract to monitor marine mammals. Obviously, all this keeps Steve very busy.
Nancy has continued with her activities of last year. Her goal is to finish the second draft of her novel by the end of this year. She has discovered the retreat house of the Oregon Writer’s Colony at Rockaway Beach, and in addition to a poetry workshop, has spent two separate weeks there this fall working undisturbed, making great progress on her manuscript. The comments from her critique groups are helping to improve the final product. Nancy has also continued with her church activities, having been chosen chair of the elders and the local service committee for the second year. She is deeply interested in the work of Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiracy) and plans to teach an adult class of that material in her church in the new year.
Remodeling projects on the house also occupy her time. A new deck, designed last year, is nearing completion. Several landscape terracing walls are also underway to help control the massive amounts of water flowing over the property due to all the rain we’ve been getting. Having completed the shell of the new master bathroom last
year, we’re progressing on the interior at a leisurely pace as the other projects allow.
It is wonderful to have Tabitha nearby, something we haven’t enjoyed since she left for college. Working as Insitu’s Communications Manager, she also has time to participate in several local sports, including skiing, mountain biking, and taking windsurfing lessons.
Extended family has played a larger-than-normal role in our lives this year. Besides Tabitha, we continue to enjoy Steve’s brother Dave and his family, who live nearby. We also hosted both a niece (Ashley) and a nephew (Christopher) as Insitu interns this year, with a visit from Christopher’s mother Gilda and some of her family. We were able to visit niece Jennifer and her fiancé in Las Vegas, who plan to be married next year. Nancy, in conjunction with her sister and one brother, visited her mother in Tennessee for an early Thanksgiving. And the first week in December we had a mini-family reunion of the Sliwa’s for niece Aleah’s wedding in Camas (just outside Vancouver, WA).
In addition to work-related trips, Steve has enjoyed some opportunities to visit family and friends. One special trip allowed us to visit Steve’s mother in February in Daytona Beach, where Steve was presented with an honorary doctorate from Embry-Riddle. The entire Sliwa family was honored by the dedication of the Sliwa Stadium, Embry-Riddle’s new baseball facility.
Nancy also had a chance to visit some friends in Bend, Santa Fe, and Phoenix, and she and Tabitha had a major trip together this past spring. As a gift from Nancy’s mother, they were both able to join an eclipse expedition to Turkey along with other friends of Nancy’s, including Marcie and her husband. From Istanbul to Ankara, to Cappadocia, Side, Pamukkale, and Ephesus, the trip was phenomenal.
Our pets continue to bring us much pleasure. Pixie has healed nicely from her car accident last year, and loves to run and chase. Angel is our sweetheart; all the little girls at Insitu love her and want to play dress-up with her, which she endures with good grace. Casper is now at least 12 years old, and has become cuddlier with age, although still very vocal when he wants to be fed.
We still keep a guest room always ready, and love to have visitors. Please add us to your travel agenda for next year!
May you and yours be blessed with peace and plenty in the coming year.
Steve and Nancy Sliwa
Pixie, Angel, and Casper
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