Christmas Newsletter 2006

Hello, friends and family! What a wonderful season we are in - to celebrate our Savior and Friend, Jesus Christ! The older I get, the more I enjoy Christmas because I love thinking about the baby Jesus coming to earth, especially now that I am a mom. The LORD is so good to meet our needs! God has really met our needs in awesome ways this past year and directed our paths more than we can say. Life with Him is truly an adventure, and we want to share with you some of what has happened this past year and let you know what’s next in store for our family.

Kevin graduated from MBA school in May and God provided him with a truly perfectly matched job for his skills, abilities, gifts, and what he enjoys. He really loves his job and is thriving as a Marketing Specialist for Bridgetree, Inc. His main account right now is with Lowe’s Home Improvement in their new movers program and gift registry. His boss and co-workers commonly comment on what a wonderful job he is doing. I am so proud of him!

Due to the fact that Kevin works from home 3 days a week (which is wonderful for our family) and is near Charlotte 2 days a week, we decided to move to a bigger house that was closer to Charlotte. We are just on the west side of Winston-Salem if you ever want to come visit. We have a guest room now! J

I am doing well and just feeling so blessed on so many levels. The Lord has given us a beautiful home, loving family, and most importantly Himself. I enjoy staying home with Rachel and watching her change everyday. I work some Saturday mornings with my organizing business which I also really like doing.

Rachel is now almost 18 months old, and such a joy! She is very verbal and likes copying words we say, sharing toys with other kids, getting the mail, and reading books and magazines. We have moved twice this year (one was a one-month temporary move before our house was completed), and she has just rolled with the punches and been really good through all of life’s changes. We couldn’t ask for a better child. She is definitely the Lord’s blessing to our lives!

Perhaps in part to what a sweet child she is, and in part to God’s working in our lives, we feel led to pursue an international adoption from Kazakhstan, which is a predominately Muslim country between China and Russia. It’s a long story, but we are on the very front end of this process and are considering even adopting two sisters from there. International adoption is something I considered when I first heard of babies in orphanages overseas that didn’t have a family and would never grow up knowing about Jesus. That broke my heart as a small child, and it’s always been a desire of mine to pursue this. Kevin and I talked about it while we were dating and off and on over the past couple of years, and now seems to be God’s time to begin the process. It’s not necessarily our timing, but we have learned to move when He says to.

It’s overwhelming to think of having one or two more kids at times, but our lives just don’t feel complete. As God works, it’s as if we feel like we have kid(s) living overseas and we need to find them and go bring them home. We are so excited to have our family grow, although we know it will be tough. Where God leads, He provides, so we know He will provide all we need during this process. We covet your prayers as we embark on this journey!

Finally, we joined a new church recently which we are really enjoying as well. It is an Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and we are really growing there. We also had Rachel baptized a month ago which was very important to us. We have taken a couple of years off of ministry while Kevin was in school and I was adjusting to being a new mom. But we are thrilled at the opportunities that await us. We have met with a couple of the pastors and are ironing out details of how we will serve, but it looks like we are going to be marriage mentors for engaged couples in the church. We may also lead a small group of married couples, be involved in prayer ministry, and perhaps help with developing leaders.

I hope I haven’t gushed too much at how well things are going. It is just incredible when you are in the center of God’s will. He meets you there and you grow and thrive because of it.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas! Please email us or give us a call to keep us up to date on you!

Much love,

Kevin, Alli, and Rachel Shorter

Following God is a great adventure
because He will take you places you would have never thought of going
to give you treasures you never would have dreamed of asking for.

(2008 newsletter)    (2007 newsletter)
(2005 newsletter)    (2004 newsletter)