Christmas Letter 2010 (Blog Version)

It's been a few years since I took the time to mail a Christmas letter or even a card. This year I decided it would be much less daunting a task to blog a letter, and then mail it if I get around to it. I hope that's not cheating. :)OK, I know. It really is cheating, but I hope you'll forgive me. :)

The last year has been the most painful, yet the most amazing year of my life. For those of you who don't know, I hate to shock you right at the start of this letter, but that's just the way things go sometimes. My sweet and wonderful Mom went home to heaven last January. Yes, she died. It's hard to believe even still. She died the same day of the earthquake in Haiti. Guess she caused quite a ruckous when she left, huh? :)It has been a hard, but blessed year. We all miss her terribly. How does one ever fill the hole a mother and grandmother leaves? Only with Jesus, but even then, there is an emptiness in life without her. I have written about much of this journey in past blog posts, so for my blog readers, I won't dwell here. Guess I may have to revise this if I decide to mail a real live letter.

The amazing part of this year has also been a topic of my blog writing. Reid has been called to be the senior pastor of our church here in Newberg, Grace Baptist Church. It's quite a story, but again, it is recorded in past blog posts, so I don't need to rehash the details for you blog readers. :) (I begin to see that this plan of mine to blog the letter and just make a paper copy of it may not work. Shucks!)

I was browsing through pictures in iphoto to include in the paper letter version of this, and was pleasantly reminded of the many fun times our family has had over the last year. For Spring Break, we rented a large but cozy house with my Dad, brother Kevin, brother Mark and his family, and my Uncle Stewart. We stayed 4 nights, and the weather was, well, at least sometimes great. :) We went clamming, searching for agates, kite flying and the kids even went in the water! Brr! We played games, read books and went for walks. It was definitely a highlight!

We took our usual camping trips: 4th of July, a week at Crescent Lake with Dad, and Labor Day. We also went camping at the coast with some long time friends of Reid's and mine.

In August we went on a fishing/ camping trip with my Dad and my brother Mark's family. Our boats floated slowly down the Umpqua river, and we caught fish after fish after fish. It was great fun for all of us, especially the kids! The cousins all had a great time floating in the river on inner tubes when we weren't fishing. We took a side trip to some water falls and jumped off a cliff (OK, a large rock) into the river.

Also in August we went to Klamath Falls for a couple of days. We went fishing and on a picnic with Reid's parents and his sister Holly's family. It was fun! Only two fish were caught on that trip, but hanging out all day with cousins and grandparents and Holly was lots of fun.

We have added 8 animals to our family this year. It sounds like a lot, but don't panic! Seven of them are chickens. Reid and Cameron, with some help from Reid's dad built an amazing chicken coop in the back corner of our yard in late Spring. We enjoy having fresh brown eggs every day! And the chickens are very entertaining to watch.

The 8th animal is still quite new. Tiger the kitten has a story of her own. Katie has wanted a cat for years. She has cried over it, begged and pleaded, and prayed fervently for one, and even put it in the #1 spot on her Christmas wish list "Even though I know I can't have one." But because Reid is allergic, we have always thought it would not work, and that was that. In exasperation, Reid told her at one point "Katie, the only way you could ever have a cat is if we find some pitiful, sick little kitten on the side of the road someday!" Guess what? Are you laughing with me? :) One day when Reid was out of town, on our way to Katie's last soccer game of the season, we almost ran over a tiny little kitten in the road. I picked her up. She hissed. I texted Reid. He said we could keep her. We took her to the vet. She had fleas, worms, an eye infection and an upper respiratory infection. Pitiful, sick little kitten. The vet estimated that she was only about 6 weeks old. She is now full of life, healthy and playful. And so far, Reid's allergies don't seem to be an issue. I think he kinda likes her, though he will only hesitantly admit it. :)

As for the kids, they all continue to bring us much joy as we watch them grow. Cameron is 13 now. He is the same height as me - 5'9". He checks just about every day to see if he's passed me up yet. :) He is a great student, enjoys playing trumpet in band, and still loves to read. He played football in the Fall and is looking forward to track in the spring. Oh! He also got braces this Fall, which made him have to relearn how to play his trumpet!

Katie is in 6th grade now! That means middle school! It has been a fun, but challenging adventure so far for her. She plays oboe in the band, plays piano and wants to learn trumpet, flute and saxophone as well. She thinks she might want to be a band teacher someday. :) She played soccer last Fall and will enjoy track in the spring. She likes to read, and do crafts of all kinds and is especially into making jewelry these days.

Rosalie is in 3rd grade and doing well. She is our quiet one. It has been so much fun to watch her blossom over the last couple of years. She is very organized and loves to make checklists like her mommy. :) She is a good worker and loves to help me with odd jobs around the house. She likes to help me in the kitchen, too, and has brought home several cookbooks from the library recently. She enjoys reading and has a wonderful imagination that she utilizes in her play every day.

Natalie is almost 8! Where does the time go? She loves school. She, too is very organized, and keeps her spaces pretty neat and tidy. :) She loves to play teacher and has her classroom set up in our play room. Her American Girl dolls make great students. :) She is cheerful and quite a charmer. :)She has reached some milestones this year! She learned to ride her bike, got her ears pierced and got braces on her front teeth.

Reid is currently transitioning from his job at George Fox to the pastor job at church. It has him hopping for now, but will slow down at least some soon. He is enjoying being part of the choir for our Christmas Eve services.

As always, I stay busy keeping the home fires burning. I clean house for dad, help with Women's Bible Study at church, and volunteer at the schools. I also just started cleaning house for my Aunt Pam every other week. I am excited to be playing my flute in the Newberg community band. I've wanted to for a long time, but have had too many evening commitments in the past with kids sports and things. We decided to skip basketball for Cam and Katie this winter. It has been wonderful to enjoy dinner as a family every night of the week, and to relax more on the weekends. And it affords me an evening during the week to fulfill a longing of mine to play in the band.

We love living near Dad. We try to eat dinner together once a week or so, and pop by whenever we have a chance. We shared a garden up at his house this year, though neither of us took great care of it. :/ Maybe we'll do better next year.

Life is full. Full of sorrow, full of joy. Full of growth and new things. Full of blessing. Full of wonderful memories from the past and the making of new ones. Life isn't always the way we thought it would be. It takes twists and turns that we don't plan on, or even want. But there IS joy in this journey, and I pray you will find it in your every day lives in the year to come.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Carrie,
(and Reid, Cameron, Katie, Rosalie, and Natalie)