Merry Christmas!
Hope you’ve been able to slow down a little and enjoy the Christmas season. I know in the next week we’ll make sugar cookies with lots of frosting piled on top, fudge, and other goodies. We have presents that need to be wrapped, and we still having shopping to do!
2006 has been good to us. No complaints! We gained a lovely daughter-in-law in September. We’ve camped at the beach, the mountains and in-between. Our family went down to Tijuana, Mexico, for a one-day missions trip with Spectrum Ministries. Jesse, Sarah, and Joe, go down more regularly. We were able to get the younger boys in on the last visit that allowed the younger children to participate. John was so diligent in washing boys’ feet that the director gave him a little golf towel as a keepsake. Steve and Sarah went to Georgia for a Father/Daughter Retreat. (They were able to visit with the Redman family too!) Steve & Vikki were able to get away a few times. We went to Scottsdale, AZ, and Palm Desert, Ca. We went into Joshua Tree National Park and explored the beautiful trails and rocks. Love that time when we get to explore like kids again. J
The NEW lowdown on everyone: J
Steve: He now heads up the children’s ministry at church. He has a great team in place.
He’s a wonderful father and husband. We couldn’t ask for a better leader.
Vikki: Started online classes (again) and stopped. (again) I just can’t keep up with my family and trying to get smart. It’s too much for my brain to compute. I am schooling six this year. Well, okay, Jesse and Sarah pretty much teach themselves, but I do have to do their grades and lesson planning. I’m teaching Science 1-3 for our Home School group. I am learning as I go because I am NOT a science person. I find it incredibly boring and would much rather teach history, but they didn’t need a history teacher, they needed a science teacher, so they twisted my arm knowing I wouldn’t say no. I’ve been running our online store The Biblical Family but will close it down soon to focus on my family and meet their needs. There I said it, now I have to do it. J
Jared: Got married!! He was married to Miranda on September 16. It was a beautiful day. We all had a great time and we LOVE Miranda. She’s a jewel!!!
Jake: Working hard!! He lives with Jared & Miranda. They own a condo together in Santee. He was in the wedding as a groomsmen. He is my very own Johnny Cash-the man in black. He can sing just like him and when he wears his black shirt and pants, that’s what I call him.
Jesse: Worked last winter and spring at a restaurant. He quit when he found he was working too many hours and not getting his schoolwork done. Jesse’s in 11th grade and is 16, (17 next month). He’s taking an Honors Chemistry class through our home school group and doing very well. He was a groomsmen in the wedding too! He played soccer this year on the Lakeside’s Boys Under-19 team, earned his driver’s license, and plays the keyboard for our church service.
Sarah: Enjoys reading, her best friend Hanna, youth group, knitting, soccer, and food. She is in 10th grade, (15) and can’t wait to get done with her studies. She’d much rather curl up with her knitting needles and a ball of yarn or a good book than learning math or English. She was a junior bridesmaid in Jared & Miranda’s wedding.
Joe: Growing up. He’s 11 and is very tall. He’s doing well in his studies. He is now old enough to go to the jr. high youth group at church and loves it! Our youth group and the leadership is so awesome, that it would be hard not to enjoy yourself! Joe is in 6th grade this year, and made it to All-stars for soccer. He was the ring-bearer in the wedding.
James: James is a sweetie. He has the cutest smile. He’s 9 and in fourth grade. He loves little ones, much like Jake used too. He loves our new big screen tv we bought. He loves I Love Lucy and other older shows. Many times I can hear him laughing hysterically at something he’s heard. James was recommended for All-stars, but so far hasn’t received a call that he made the team. He’s pretty satisfied just knowing his coach thought he was good enough to make it. He’s an awesome defender!
John: People person, talker-the boy never closes his mouth. He wakes up talking. I swear one day he’ll be President of the United States. He loves people, he loves to talk to anyone, anyone that will listen, anyone that can’t get away from him-he talks to!!! John is 7 and in second grade. He is full of passion and a love for life. He doesn’t like to sit still, there’s too many people to meet and too much to do. (He sounds a lot like his mother.) He’s never met a stranger, just friends he doesn’t know yet.
Joel: Joel is the opposite of John. He could care less about talking to people in fact he would rather not! Joel turned six this year and started Kindergarten. He’s a little math whiz. If you ask him what 4 + 4 is and he’ll say 8, then I double it, and he’ll say 16, and so on we go. The thing is, he’s doing all of this in his head. He can get up into the low hundreds at times. I have no idea how or where he got it from. It must be from his dad.
We’re enjoying life. We enjoy our Lord, our church, and our church family. We enjoy camping. We enjoy each other. We enjoy you!
May you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!
Love,
Vikki (for Steve, Jared, Miranda, Jake, Jesse, Sarah, Joe, James, John & Joel )
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Dec. 15, 2006 - Untitled Comment