This year has been filled with some great moments; none greater than the safe arrival of our fourth child, Lily Jane. She was born at 3:16am August 28th, weighing 7.0lbs, measuring 20”, and perfectly beautiful. After a couple rough months with colic, she has turned the tide and is now all smiles. She has become a very easy addition and the kids have absolutely loved and welcomed her.
Jacob just last month turned two. He is a riot! His facial expressions are so animated. He began talking in complete sentences around 18 months or so and hasn’t slowed down since. He has a severe identity crisis though; we’re sure he’s convinced that he is a six-year-old like his brother. He has joined his older siblings expecting to be able to do everything they do, and in many ways he certainly holds his own… literally. He now weighs just a pound less than his older sister! We’re just glad we gave her the extra 30-month head start!
Lauren, now four-and-a-half, has begun preschool this fall. What she once refused to learn at home, she now longs to know. She has begun writing and learning so much. Though still quite temperamental, at school she is evidently a model student working hard and really seeing improvement… whatever they have in the water at school we’ve begun negotiations for permission to bottle and bring home! She is still very much female at heart. She loves anything girly; from accessories to baking, from lipstick and fingernail polish to dressing up in her princess dresses. She is such a challenge at times, but also so sweet when she wants to be.
Joshua is now six-and-a-half. He is already midway through first grade. I confess that he is definitely my son. He is quite serious about his education. His teacher has even made the comment that in 20-plus years of teaching she’s never seen a child with better handwriting. His Christmas list this year includes a fish, a robe, bakugan, and… a wifi-enable mobile webcam! What Joshua has gained in knowledge, he has lost in teeth! He has lost five now, and is currently still missing three of his front teeth! It makes for a pretty funny smile!
Here are memorable highlights for 2009: In March, I ran my first marathon in Washington DC. I finished in just over 4 hours. In June, I bit the heads off of 37 crawfish during our church’s annual VBS. This year we took up an offering for a Malawi school start… needless to say, with the incentive of watching me bite a head off for every $75 collected, we had one of the best offerings ever in our VBS history!
Melissa, after having Lily, has come home from working… at least outside the house! She is now a fulltime stay-at-home mom and nurse to our children. I am very glad to have a nurse as a wife… we have lived in sickness for what has seemed to be months now… oh, wait… it has been months! In preparation for her homecoming, in August I went back to teaching, this time at Twenhofel Middle School (Sixth-grade math! Pray for me!), to offset the salary deficit and provide health insurance for our family. I have continued on in my ministry position at church but have stepped back to 3/4 in time and pay. Balancing teaching, ministry and family has proved a daunting task so far. We have survived, but at times it hasn’t been pretty.
Though I’ve written much, it seems to have been a somewhat stable year. We’ve stayed in the same spot for our third Christmas. This year my ministry position at Piner Baptist became the longest job I’ve ever held, three years! We continue to seek God in our plans and dreams and are excited about what’s in store for the next edition, 2010.
May God, through the reminder of Christmas, once again remind you of His great love and passion for relationship with humanity. May He guide us all as we enter a new decade sure to hold just as many changes and advances as the last.
Merry Christmas and God bless.
1 comment:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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