Merry Christmas From the Kislings!

How I love this time of year! I love the sparkling lights on houses, twinkling Christmas trees in the windows around the neighborhood, Nativity sets, my Christmas mug collection, making Christmas cookies, gift giving, Christmas music and spending time with family. But most of all, I love the month long reminder that we have a Savior, who came as a tiny baby, born in humble circumstances, who later died a terrible death and rose again, that we might spend eternity with Him. Now THAT is the ultimate Christmas gift.

As I reflect on the past year, it mostly seems like a blur with a few highlights! Time seems to go faster and faster as the kids get older. We had quite an eventful summer. We had the amazing opportunity to take our whole family on a mission trip to Haiti! We went with a group from our church—9 kids and 6 adults led a vacation Bible school for 300 kids up in the mountains near a town called Saut d' Eau. All the kids did an outstanding job, and came away with new perspectives and changed hearts. I'm so thankful to the Lord, and to all who helped either through prayer or financial support, for the chance to serve in that capacity as a family, and with the people from our church. I hope we will get to do it again someday. 36 hours after returning home from Haiti, we left on a road trip to Colorado and Wyoming. In Colorado, we picked up a tent trailer that friends of Reid generously donated to ARM Ministries, in our care, for us to use personally as well as in any way for the ministry. What a blessing! We then met in the mountains of Wyoming with Reid's brother Craig and his family and camped and fished for a few days. It was such fun! And SOOO beautiful! It was a welcome respite after our trip to Haiti. Later in the summer, we took our "new to us" tent trailer to Crescent Lake for our annual family camping trip. And of course that was relaxing and fun. My brother Kevin joined us. He's always a lot of fun to have around. :)

Reid has been working at Western Seminary for a year and a half now. He is continually reminded of what a blessing it is to be there. The atmosphere and the people he works with are pretty wonderful. He continues to be involved with ARM Ministries missions organization, and works quite a bit with Pastor Riccardo in Haiti. In his free time (which isn't much!) he enjoys working with our tilapia farm. Yep, I said tilapia farm. :) It's in our garage and is a very small operation, only fingerlings (babies :) ) at this point, but believe it or not, people do buy tilapia fingerlings in bulk. Here in the Northwest, people use tilapia for aquaponics (think, backyard chickens)—growing fish (aquatics) and plants in water (hydroponics) together. The fish waste is fertilizer for the plants that clean the water to go back into the fish tank. It's the ultimate in sustainability and just fits our Oregon location. ;) He's working to build a website for the business called backyardfishfarm.com.

Cameron is a senior this year! I don't even really want to think about it in some ways, but in other ways it's so exciting to see him grow into the wonderful young man God created him to be. He works hard at school, and if all those AP credits work out, will be a sophomore when he enters college next year. Water polo season was awesome this year! The boys team was undefeated in their league and won the state championship! What a way for Cameron to end his high school water polo career! Cameron is involved in two youth groups and co-leads a Bible study/prayer time before school every day. It's swim team season right now, and in the spring, he will be back at playing water polo. He works as a life guard at our local pool, and in his free time enjoys spending time with his wonderful group of friends.

Katie is a sophomore now. She too is a water polo player. The girls team worked very hard this year and did well. Next year they will be a force to be reckoned with as they will have 9 seniors on their team, and several strong younger players as well. Katie is doing swim team and will play spring water polo as well. She plays the oboe in band. She is in her second year of painting class at school and is quite an artist. I'd post one of her paintings, but that is strictly forbidden. :) In her free time, Katie enjoys youth group, likes to read and of course loves to spend time with her friends—one wonderful young man in particular, if you catch my drift ;).

Rosalie is in 7th grade. She is thriving and growing into a confident, though quiet young lady. Playing clarinet in the band is lots of fun for her. The middle school band teacher is a favorite of all, and makes it so much fun for the kids! Rosalie is in her second year of 4-H cooking class, which she loves. It's such a great experience! When Rosalie is not doing homework, drawing or reading a book, she can be found playing with Natalie, or spending time with one of her good friends. She also enjoys youth group at our church.

Natalie started middle school this year! (6th grade) After watching her three older siblings reach this milestone, and spending many hours in the middle school for older siblings' events, her transition was very easy and natural. She loves school, and is thriving. She plays the flute in the band. (Finally one who follows in my footsteps! :) ) She joined Rosalie in 4-H cooking class this year and is really enjoying it. She will often wander into the kitchen while I am cooking and offer to help me, which is a blessing and a fun time for both of us. Natalie likes to play with Rosalie and her other friends, practice her flute, and read. And like the others, she attends youth group at our church. In case you haven't picked up on it, all four kids are in the youth group at our church. They all meet on the same night, so that means.... date night for Reid and I! We have enjoyed many coffee dates in the recent months during youth group hours. :)

The pace of my own life has seemed to pick up lately. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm going to survive these busy years with 1 tween and 3 teens! I'm sure many of you can relate! :) I have three little part time jobs that keep me busy—sometimes more than I would like :)—but I am thankful for the opportunities to earn a little extra money, and to spend time with and serve people. I work for ARM Ministries about 20-25 hours a month, processing donations for all the missionaries. I enjoy this and do it from home, which makes it easy and flexible. I have a new little job—I am a substitute for the switchboard at George Fox University (I answer the main phone line and redirect calls). This has been really fun! It is very sporadic, but in December and January both, I will have a full week of work. I also still clean for my aunt Pam twice a month. We enjoy our visits and I am always so encouraged after spending time with her. I have also spent a little bit of time with my aunt Cindy lately. These two sisters of my mom are such a blessing in my life, and help keep mom alive as we reminisce and often laugh at the memories. On the home front, managing six schedules, cooking and baking for our gluten free/dairy free family, and keeping up with all things "hearth and home" more than fill my time. :) And I truly love it! In my free time, I enjoy women's Bible study at church, coffee dates with my dear friends and sitting down with a good book once in a while.

We hope this Christmas season finds you blessed. We know that Christmas can be a difficult time for many- whether grieving the loss of a loved one, or hardship of another variety. But even in the midst of all circumstances, whether joyful or not, God is good, and we have the hope of a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.