Happy Holidays: Our Vander Well Family Year in Review

Merry Christmas from the Vander Wells! It’s been a great year. Here’s the latest from our crew…

A family photo featuring a man holding a young boy, a woman holding a girl, and another young girl beside them, all smiling outdoors.

It was a big year of transition for me and Wendy at work this year. On April 1st I became the sole owner of our company Intelligentics as my long-time business partner began his journey in retirement. That brought a lot of transitions with work that have been both challenging and rewarding. I’ve been working on writing my first book, “This Call May Be Monitored (What Eavesdropping on Corporate America Taught Me About Business & Life),” which will be published early next year.

Outside of work we’ve remained busy with family, friends, and community. I continue to serve as a teaching leader at Church. I finished a one-year term as President of our local community theatre. I even returned to the stage for the first time in several years, performing in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. Wendy once again directed Pella’s annual Tulip Queen Announcement Party (her 7th year!) and I once again served as Master of Ceremonies. I still get the honor of officiating a wedding here-and-there and enjoy doing P.A. for Pella High baseball (State Champs this year!).

Between fun, family, friends, and work, we enjoyed several travel experiences in 2025. I forgot how much we traveled until I went back to look at all our photos. It began with a cruise out of New Orleans that departed the day before NOLA hosted the Super Bowl – so, you know, just a few crowds we had to navigate. Wendy and I also spent long weekends in Chicago and Minneapolis to see the Cubs play, then back to Minneapolis a few weeks ago for our annual pilgrimage to the Vikings’ mother ship. We made it to South Carolina twice this year to hang with the Madison, G, and MJ. We even got to take MJ to her first baseball game (Go Fireflies!). In the fall we headed to Park City, UT for a little R&R with friends.

And of course, family! We enjoyed hosting the whole family over fourth of July when the SC crew made it back to Iowa. We also got to host Thanksgiving, and the annual Vikings-Packers Smackdown with our nephew Sam and his family. Taylor, Clayton & kids are still in Des Moines and we love having them close. We love having Milo and Sylvie to keep us busy playing in the pool, playing dress-up, and having light saber duels. They love having Papa make them Shirley Temples at the Vander Well Pub. Milo even spent the week with us this summer attending USP Drama Camp. Madison, G, and MJ are doing great in Columbia and we’re looking forward to having them here for Christmas at New Year’s this year. MJ likes to FaceTime Papa Tom in the wee hours of the morning. Papa Dean continues to live independently here in Pella. He keeps busy in his stained-glass workshop and can’t keep up with demand for his ornaments and decorative pieces. He even got a commission to create a large stained-glass piece for the new wing at Pella Regional Hospital.

Wendy and I also continue to walk life’s journey with our close-knit cadre of dear friends. From graduations and baptisms to dinners and dates, our life is so full of goodness. We are so thankful and so blessed with such a community of loved ones. God is so good.