Christmas 2012 Update

Wow, 2012 has just flown by.  We can’t believe it is New Years!  There is so much to look back on for our family this year.  Here are the highlights.  We have had a great year serving the Lord here in Tifton.

Mackenzie started the year off right by killing her first deer back in January.  The rec department didn’t have spring soccer this year, so she tried softball for the first time.  We think she is gonna be a great ball player.  She completed the second grade, and is halfway through the third grade.  This fall she made the all-star soccer team for the 8-9 year old league with the rec department.  She started the CHESS Academy for history and science this year; three days a week for a couple of hours in the morning. She plays her Kindle often, and is always early to every appointment she has, and will be 9 years old in January.

Kaitlann played T-ball this year, and had a great time.  She says she is going to play softball this spring.  She will be 7 years old on February.  She is in first grade, and working hard.  She also played soccer this fall, and goes hunting with Jason when she gets a chance.  She loves to cook with her mama.  In fact, she played “Paula Queen” (Dean) in the children’s Christmas play.  She enjoys dancing and having fun with Knox.  She also likes to play Draw Something on her iPod.

Knox is a real handful at 2.5 years old.  He is wide open, and a little spoiled, because his sissies get him everything he wants.  He loves dinosaurs and his tricycle.  He is talking well, and is finally potty trained.  No more diapers!!!!  He loves to dance and sing with his sisters with their socks on the hardwood floor.  He thinks he is the king of the world at church, where everyone treats him as such.

Erika is currently recovering from surgery (again) and doing well.  Maybe this will be the last one for a while.  She is still making cakes, and Christmas wreaths.  In her free time she homeschools the girls while Knox is running around her knees.  She will be teaching a class at the CHESS Academy next semester.  She is still teaching Sunday School as well.

Jason has been driving to Macon once a month working on a training to hopefully catapult New River to some growth.  He went to Peru in January, and again in September.  Our partnership is wrapping up there, so he will probably only go back a couple of times.  He hunts when he can, and has killed a 7-pt this year.  He didn’t coach any sport this year (a first in 10 years), but probably will this year.

In the spring we did Disney World with two grandmothers.  In the summer we went back to Maine on a mission trip with New River.  Our family also spent a few days extra to visit old friends.  We had a wonderful time.  Dollywood and the Flint Riverquarium are also regular visits. 

New River is doing well.  We have been here six years now.  They are still putting up with us. We opened the bottom floor of the new building in October, and plan to have both floors done by January.  We will also present our new vision and strategic plan in the spring, and hopefully adopt it by late summer.

Grandparents, sisters, brothers, cousins, and other family are doing well.  Burt and Lori, Jason’s cousins, had a little girl several months back.  Kimmy, Erika’s sister, is expecting another baby in June.  We are looking forward to visits during Christmas.  And our church in Maine is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this coming year, so they are having us up to preach and celebrate with them for a few days in February.  We are so looking forward to playing in the snow, and seeing friends again.  Then birthdays, spring softball, and all the other events and activities that keep our family busy will fill our days again.

We hope that you have a great Christmas, and that Christ is lifted up in your celebrations and in your lives.  He is not only the reason for the season, but the reason that we exist, “for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” –Rom 11:36

Jason, Erika, Mackenzie, Kaitlann, and Knox