Family 2010 Christmas Letter

Family 2010 Christmas Letter

Friends and Family,

We hope this year was a great year for you all. Our year was crazy and stressful, but sometimes that has to happen in order for God to bless us. The first part of the year was consumed with remodeling our home (enclosed our porch and gained 75 sq ft of living space). As soon as the weather turned nice, we also decided to take the plunge and try our hand at organic, heirloom gardening. We learned much from both tasks and despite mistakes made along the way, both the remodel and the garden were very successful. 

Michael has been working for the Forest Service out of Baker City for a little over a year now and seems to be thriving at his job as the transportation clerk for the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. I’m so grateful he is willing to commute so we don’t have to move from La Grande. We’re getting very involved in the local homeschool group. The kids are developing some fabulous friendships. Michael is still in the National Guard and is currently drilling with the 3670^th CRC out of Clackamas. He is still trying to get his commission back. When he has extra time (not often) he still enjoys restoring his 1923 T-Bucket Roadster. He did a fabulous job remodeling our home and bans me from looking at any home improvement magazines for at least a year ;o)

I’m busy homeschooling Josiah and Hailey (when she’s interested). I’ve had a great time planning a lot of field trips for our local homeschool group. I’m currently working 6 hours a week doing soil database work. Glad I’ve been able to keep my foot in the door of my career. I’m enjoying my second year of being a table leader for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).  I’m also still involved with our local Healthy Families Network group. The garden kept me very busy this summer. I’m still cooking from scratch like crazy and now I’m making all my own cleaning products. I’ve kept up with my blog where I share family pictures and do various posts on healthy living. I’ve also started Facebook this year, which as been fun reconnecting with so many friends and family.

Josiah is 7 years old and is finishing up 1^st grade. Josiah is doing great academically, although we’ve had our challenges with disciplining this year. God continues to get us through each period of testing. So grateful I’m able to homeschool and teach him at the level he is at. He is starting to read on his own a little. I absolutely love homeschooling and grateful that I get to be the one to see the “light bulb” go on. He is busy with Lego Club, AWANAS, and “Rock the Spoon” a kid’s gourmet cooking class. He’s making a lot of friends in the homeschool community as well as at church (Calvary Chapel).

Hailey is 3 years old and in the “princess” stage. She loves anything to do with princesses, music and dancing. She loves role playing with her brother, cooking and arts and crafts. She also has joined Cubbies this year and loves it! I’m hoping she’ll be a joy to homeschool. Some days, she insists I homeschool her, too. She really likes to learn.

Well that is about it for us. May you all have a Merry Christmas, enjoying the celebration of the Messiah’s birth and a prosperous New Year (despite the current economic state) and enjoy God’s blessings for this Coming New Year. Don’t forget to pray for all our troops and their families who are experiencing separation due to deployments around the world.

God Bless,

Michael, Jackie, Josiah and Hailey