Christmas Newsletter 2008

Merry Christmas! This past year was obviously filled with many tired nights and exhusted days as we adjusted again to have a baby in the house. Elizabeth joined us on January 26th, and she has easily blended into our family. As we come us on the 11th month mark, Elizabeth has learned to wave and clap. We think she has learned to say Mama and Dada. She is a perfect, happy child. I will add though she has a cold at this time and is crying quite fervantly, but this has been the exception. She is relatively content, so much so she still is happy sitting on the floor playing with toys. She has made no efforts to move from that position, so we may still have some time before she becomes mobile.

Rachel has been the best big sister. She is our errand girl to run upstairs to get more diapers. She also lets us know if Elizabeth has fallen over. Rachel started up with preschool this year and loves it, and every night she wants to pray for her friends at school. She has always been the social one in our family, and now she has a birthday party to attend almost every other weekend.

We started leading a small group at our church in the fall for parents of preschoolers. We studied the book Shepherding a Child's heart which focuses on how we need to parent toward our children's heart instead of just getting them to behave correctly. We have enjoyed it and have met some good friends through the class.

We have been increasing our time at our church, Reynolda Pres. We have participated in different training classes on prayer, and joined teams to pray for those who need help connecting with Jesus. It has been a great blessing for us as we feel we had been out of that type of ministry for some time, and it had been a source of great healing for us.

I (Kevin) am still enjoying my job at Bridgetree in their marketing department. There is not much different to say than last year. What I do is always changing, but it is still work with Lowe's Home Improvement. I will work on anything from mailers, websites, and reporting. If you get anything with a Lowe's coupon, it has probably touched someone I work with before you see it.

Alli has still braved the stay-at-home mom task. We completely believe in the rewards of spending this time with the kids early on, but sometimes it is just difficult to have the same conversations and activities over and over again. The ministry at church has been a lifeline for Alli as it plays right into her strengths. She has also recently started mentoring three moms at church, which she has enjoyed.

2009 looks to be another year of change and excitement, but we will wait to see what actually pans out. Until then, Jesus is a wonderful friend. We hope that you are blessed celebrating His birth this Christmas.

With much love,

Kevin, Alli, Rachel, and Elizabeth

(2007 newsletter)    (2006 newsletter)
(2005 newsletter)    (2004 newsletter)