“For
unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be
upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
"For there is born to you this day in the
city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
Dear Loved Ones,
Merry Christmas
to you! We trust that 2012 has been for
you a year of seeing the mighty and wonderful works of our Lord. Here is a little bit about what our family
has been up to over the last year.
Besides the 40
weeks of miraculous growth and development in the womb, this first year of
Joshua’s life has seen the most drastic of changes. In 2012 Josh has gone from a barely-sitting
five month old infant to now a running and climbing 16 month old toddler! He has a mouth full of sixteen teeth which he
regularly uses in his appetite to eat anything and everything in sight. He is about 39 inches tall and weighs about
23 pounds; tall and skinny. Joshua
regularly uses both baby signs and spoken words to communicate his needs. Our dog Coco seems to be one of Joshua’s best
friends although there are some “sibling” squabbles from time to time where
Josh plays to rough and Coco bites. But
for the most part they play together really well with Joshua throwing a ball
for Coco and Coco covering Josh with kisses.
Joshua becomes friends with just about everyone he meets, greeting them
with knuckle bumps and high-fives. If
you spend even a little time with Joshua, it soon becomes obvious that he has a
keen interest in technology, especially cell phones. And he is mesmerized by acoustic guitar and
piano worship. Every night Tim reads to
Josh from his Jesus Storybook Bible, which we love! Joshua has an infectiously large smile with
giggles to match and overall is a very happy toddler. He brings us such joy and we have a blast
playing together. We are so thankful for
the blessing of his precious little life.
Tim has been
blessed to have many opportunities to grow in his gift of teaching God’s
Word. It is clear that God has placed a
calling on his life in this area. We
wait on the Lord’s timing to see if this goes beyond the noble calling of
leading our family in the Word to a more formal role one day. Tim continues to work from home but was able
to transfer into a different department earlier this year that better utilizes
the skills and knowledge he gained in his years in college. The flexibility that working from home
affords has been such a blessing to our family.
Earlier this year Tim joined the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
as part of an outreach called Search for Jesus.
This outreach utilizes online technology to interact with lost and
hurting people all over the world. Tim
has learned so much to improve his methods and approach to evangelism, most
importantly the biblical principle of being “slow to speak and quick to
listen”. One of the most exciting
aspects is a live prayer website that shows in realtime individuals from all
around the world as they give their life to Jesus as a result of interaction
with a counselor through this online outreach organization.
As a mother of a
toddler, there is not much time for regular exercise although I have been
giving it a good try. I haven’t yet
gotten my body back into the kind of shape I would like but it certainly is
better than it was. For years I have
been praying God would give me the discipline to become a morning person. Within the last several months, my prayers
have been answered. I have been waking
up between 5-5:30 in the morning to get in some brief physical activity, time
in prayer and reading my Bible and to be ready for the day all before Joshua
wakes up in the morning. It has been a
bit rough but it is so nice to start the day feeling prepared instead of
rushed. I have also started a new
routine of reading one of the many books I have wanted to read for years and
then once the book is read I complete a craft out of my growing pile before
reading another book again. It sounds
silly, I know, but the organization has really helped me. In just the last few months I have read
several books that have been such a blessing and an encouragement to me in my
growing relationship with Jesus. I just
love being able to stay home with Joshua instead of working. I will be honest that there are times when I
think it might be a good idea to go back to work, even just part time but God
continues to make it very clear that’s not part of His plan right now. This fall, I had another opportunity in what
I have called my “ministry of availability”.
I have been blessed to spend a lot of time with my nephew and to
strengthen our relationship. I enjoyed
that part of our time together very much.
We have had many
ventures and adventures as a family this year as well. Tim and I continue to be involved in the High
School ministry at our church. We are so
blessed by their love and patience with Joshua.
We have been to camps, involved in Bible studies and had some good
opportunities for one-on-one interactions with the students. This summer, we took a leap of faith in
opening up our home for a family Bible study.
It has been a great learning opportunity and a precious time for us to
spend together in God’s Word. As life
can have the tendency to get hectic quickly, Tim and I have been making a
stronger effort to keep time with family a priority and focusing on improving
our marriage. Monday nights are spent
with family while we keep Tuesday night as family prayer night and Thursday and
Sunday nights as family Bible study nights.
It has been good for us to be sure that we safeguard special time
together and not over-extend ourselves. A
big change for us this year is that we became a one-car family a few months
back. With Tim working from home, we decided
that there wasn’t much of a need for a second vehicle so we went with just
one. Even though we only have one child
so far, after a few big trips we are starting to realize that the one car that
we have may need to turn into a bigger car simply due to the amount of “gear”
we end up toting around!
We hope this
letter finds you all well as we look forward to a new year in 2013! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all
things have become new.” 2
Corinthians 5:17 And please let us know
how we can be in prayer for you.
With Love,
because of Jesus!
Tim, Anna, Joshua
and Coco too
