Happy New Year!!

Our annual Christmas and New Year's letter is below! 

We also included several links to pictures and other sites we have found to be helpful and encouraging through the year... Hope you enjoy!! 

 May your HOPE for 2013 and all the years to come be in Jesus Christ, 

our Savior and Lord!

We pray the year 2012 has been a good one for you, our friends and family. Our annual Christmas letter was not composed in time to make it in the mail with our Christmas cards, hence a New Year's letter here on the blog. For whoever is interested, here are a few of the highlights from our year, each in our own words...

Tricia: I continue to be blessed to be a stay at home wife, mom, and homeschool teacher. My days are full, as well as my heart, yet sometimes the work is awfully hard and tiring. However, my Lord continues to daily provide me with strength, energy, and endurance to do what He has called me to do for this season.

We are well into 3rd grade and I am so proud of the boys for all their hard work. What a joy it is to see them learning, and it truly blesses my heart to see and hear them actually apply what they are learning! I love to see David curled up reading a book, it amazes me at how well Paul can apply numbers and math to daily activities, and it tickles me when Paul uses big words correctly, just because he likes to use big words! They both sometimes leave me stunned at how much science and history they glean and can have a conversation about just from time spent reading together!

 One of the highlights of our year has been spring and fall soccer season! They have both become good little soccer players and I absolutely LOVE watching them play and cheering them on! Being a soccer Mom is FUN! David seems to have a natural God-given ability and speed that he uses nicely and humbly on the field... We were told he plays like "Messi", which we found out later was quite a compliment! Many hours of practice between the 2 of them and James in the backyard has resulted in some awesome "brother" plays on the field... One passes to the other right in front of the goal and the other one shoots it in!

I continue to run. It is a great way to clear my mind, get some exercise, and it is the one time of the day when no one can ask me any questions!! I completed the Seaside Half Marathon with a friend in March, and am currently training for the Mercedes Half coming up in February.

As I get older, it becomes more and more evident that nothing in this world matters other than knowing Jesus, my Lord and Savior and walking with Him. My heart's desire is that my husband and children would see Jesus in me, and that those I meet along this life journey would see Him and want to know Him and walk with Him also.

 David: I liked soccer because it was fun. I also liked Dollywood, especially the Wild Eagle roller coaster. I also liked camping out with friends in the backyard because we got to have smores. I liked riding the Ski Bob behind the pontoon boat, because it was easy to stay on and not fall off. Paw-paw took me to Uncle Rays, I was fishing with dead minnows and I caught a croppy. I also caught a colossal bass! When we used crickets at Uncle Ray’s we caught too many blue gill to count!! I also used live minnows and a spinner bait that bass love and caught 4 bass! Uncle Ray has a really nice big lake behind his house, I love to go there! And Paw-paw almost reeled in a 20 pound carp and I got to help, but it broke his pole!!

Paul: This year I liked seeing dolphins and a manta ray at the Gulf of Mexico. I also liked going to Tennessee and staying in a cabin in the mountains with my fun cousins. The cabin was 3 stories, had a hot tub, and a game room with a pool table, foosball table, ping-pong table, and an Xbox game system. Grandfather played a game of pool with us and he won! We went to the beach with some friends and it was very fun! While at the beach we saw a lot of jellyfish! And we also went to the lake and rode on a pontoon boat. And while we were there I caught a catfish and I tangled it in fishing line. And while I was riding behind the pontoon boat I jumped a wave, and I went through a wave.

Bootsie: I’m coming up on 20 years… against their better judgment I’ve been allowed in the house some during the holidays, it’s been kind of cold these past few weeks. I had them wondering if I was about to leave them a couple of times this year, and they hauled me off to the vet which is something I never want to repeat. Then I had to continue to suffer for a couple of weeks as they jammed some yuck stuff down my throat and coated my eye with some foreign substance… glad that is over! But one good thing did come out of all that, now I get to eat canned food!! It tastes heavenly!!

James: Another year, ... I must have blinked along the way. Our little boys are turning into little men. They've become serious soccer players, mountain bike riders, wrestlers, and fishermen. They have kind hearts and sweetly express compassion for the less fortunate, for those that who are different, or those in pain, that is, unless they are inflicting pain or misfortune on each other. The boys still find girls to be yucky but they also find something mysteriously interesting about them. They still dig dirt and Tonka trucks and things made out of cardboard boxes. They have requested a 3-story ropes course as an addition to their backyard fort. 

 I find myself thankful for many things… for good times and good friends, for the opportunity to travel, for my wife's restored health, for the blessing and opportunity of seeing family that we hadn’t seen for years, for my boys love of being outdoors, their eagerness to learn, and for their strong work ethic and desire to be helpful (many times without being prompted). I’m thankful that my boys know about the Jim Elliots, Gladys Aylwards, Eric Liddells of this world. 

Thankful for good friends… let’s expound on that one a bit… just HOW good are these friends? How about sharing a condo at the beach and nary a fuss from the adults nor children! Or an incredibly fun weekend on the lake sking and tubing! Even better, an eight hour road trip to watch cars go fast and hangout with old college buddies- just to have your minivan drop a transmission without warning six hours from the house on the way home!! Thankfully we were able to coast to an exit ramp and then pushed the van to the only establishment in sight, which happened to be a Dollar General. Wasn’t looking forward to that tow bill! Yet the Lord provides. While we awaited our rescue from the extraordinary Mr. George, we made the best of it and camped out at the Dollar General parking lot, complete with hibachi grill. This “good friend” acquired a trailer to haul our entourage back home, drove 6 hours to rescue us, loaded us up, turned around and hauled us back home. Tricia managed to miss this memory maker, as she was enjoying a rare 3 day weekend at home all alone. However, my friend’s wife that was well with child WAS with us… and she just rolled with it- calmly knitting as darkness fell upon us.

On a different note, I empathize with those who have lost loved ones, those who are experiencing the pain of broken relationships, and those who live with chronic pain. But the Lord allows for us to grow through circumstances and I continue to strive to be the best husband, dad, son, and friend that I can. To help keep things in perspective, I enjoy listening to Ravi Zacharias, John MacArthur, Erwin Lutzer and Chip Ingram.

May 2013 be filled with the blessings of the Lord in your lives and in your families. “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”  Numbers 6:24-26 

Love and Blessings, 
James, Tricia, Paul, David, and Bootsie 


P.S.  If you have taken the time to read this, please leave us a comment!  We would love to hear from you!! (Just click on post a comment below.)