This is my annual update. Honestly I think Facebook has pretty much made this unnecessary.

Kim and I started the year with Tony, our exchange student from Spain living with us. We ended it with Nicole, Joe and Riley living with us. I guess you just never know what the year will bring. Who knows next year?

Anthony and his family moved from the pacific northwest to the Kansas City area. They visited over Easter. It was the first time we had all been together since Joe and Nicole's wedding.

The major travel for the year was our Italy trip. Kim and I took 17 Ball State students to Italy for 5 weeks.

We landed in Rome and did a couple of days of tourism (even got to see former student Jason and his wife who also happened to be in Rome) before taking a charter bus to our "home base" of Macerata. We spent four weeks there while students worked on videos of local churches. If you want to watch some of the videos you'll find them here. On the way out of the country we did a couple of days of tourism in Florence. The students had 3, 3-day weekends where they could go touring on their own. Kim and I took advantage of one of the long weekends and celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary by visiting Polignano al Mare and Alborebello: two places we'd never been to.

We also had good fortune to have multiple guests visit us in Macerata. My brother Jim, cousin Cetta and her husband Stefano visited.

So did our friends Mark and Martha from Greece.

Kim's nephew Jake came for a whole week, and Kim had a fantastic time showing him all around (while I worked).

Make no mistake - we have a great time when we take students overseas, but anyone who thinks it's not work is nuts. For the first time, we had three students who needed medical attention.

We weren't back in the U.S. a week in June when Kim and I headed off on another trip. First we drove Tony to Indianapolis where he was traveling with other exchange students to Chicago for the long flight home. Tony stayed with a friend from his swim team while we were gone. We said our goodbyes and headed to St. Louis for the day to reunite with a whole bunch of Sipe family members.

We left there the next day and stopped at my bother Tony's house on the way down to south Florida. Of course we went to visit my mom, but we timed the trip to coincide with the South Broward High School Class of 1974 40-Year Reunion. 

I loved my high school years and cherish any opportunity to get together with the great people who were part of it. Kim is a saint for going along with me. Many of my friends have spouses who don't go. I mean, who wants to sit through a bunch of old people reminiscing about their lost youth?

Then at the end of July it was time for another great drive. First stop: Chicago for Fulbright meetings. I've gone past the Palmer House many times, but this was the first time I ever stayed there (thanks Fulbright). After two days there we drove west. We had lunch in Iowa with our old friends Jae and Gemma Park, my former BSU racquetball partner. We woke up at the Palmer House in Chicago and went to sleep at the Comfort Inn in York, Nebraska. Talk about a contrast! The next day we made it to visit our dear friends the Limbirds in Fort Collins, Colorado. Had a great time catching up. FoCo is great and I could easily live there. Somebody at Colorado State needs to retire so they can hire me.

Next it was a short drive to Denver to see Kim's sister Diane and her husband Steve. Plus we got to see their daughters, son-in-law and most important we finally got to meet their new and cutest addition Jamie.

They live in a downtown condo - walking distance to great food, museums and pot shops, but we never went in one. I did drive everybody crazy wanting to get a picture, though.

We left Denver and went to visit Anthony and his family in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It was our first time seeing them in their new house.

We made a quick stop to visit Kim's sister Pat and Tom in St. Louis on our final leg home. All total we drove more than 2,500 miles in 17 days.

We even managed to get one last trip in before classes started - a 2 night retreat in Brown County, Indiana. We rented a "cabin" with Nicole and Joe, plus Joe's dad Sandy, and Sheila.

We returned to St. Louis for Thanksgiving. Kim's sister, Jacque, and Stuart were great hosts. It was a special treat for us, as Kim and I were able to be not only with Kim's family, but both our kids' families.

Kim and I have  gotten to visit several university campuses. I'm serving as a Fulbright Ambassador. I visit campuses to encourage faculty to apply. I tell them that if I can get selected twice, anybody can get a Fulbright. In 2014 we've visited the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Heidelberg, Franklin, Bowling Green, and Eastern Kentucky.

I welcome the chance to talk about Fulbright, but I also love getting to see other campuses.

It's been great having Nicole's family with us since August. What a blessing to be able to watch this guy grow. He turned one-year-old in Oct.

2014 was an eventful year, and 2015 promises to be every bit as exciting. We hope all our friends and family near and far have a great year. We'd love to be able to share it with you (virtually if need be, but in person would be even better).

Luca, 6, Riley, 1 and Matteo 3 Christmas Eve 2014