Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Our Christmas letter and more fun pictures

Greetings Dearest Friends and Family,
This year has been a very busy year for us, but as always we thankful for God’s provision and His amazing grace. The biggest news for us this year is that we have decided to head toward this mission field in 2013. Our goal is to go to the Dominican Republic by next fall. If you would like to know more or receive our support letter please let us know!
Randy has continued to work at the post office this year. He works 6 days a week and about 9 to 10 hours a day. This continues to be a huge adjustment for us, and at times is beyond exhausting but we are exceedingly grateful for God providing him with a job. Being a postman has allowed Randy a lot of i pod time. He has been able to listen through several seminary courses and countless sermons. It has been a year of learning and growth for Randy.
Emilie continues to be at home with the  kids and is homeschooling Autry and Clarabelle. It is a joy for her to be able to spend so much time with our children. She also has learned to sew and has thoroughly enjoyed using this creative outlet in her spare time. Randy and Emilie also started a new program at our church called Kids Corner. It takes place during the second service and is for visiting kids ages 6-8. We have both enjoyed developing a curriculum that preaches the gospel through every story in the bible.
Randy and Emilie were able to go to the Dominican Republic this year and although the first part of the trip was to explore different options for the mission field we were also able to go to the beach for a small vacation. It was  a great time of relaxation and rejuvenation for us after a long year.
Autry continues to be our adventurous, fun loving boy. He will turn 7 at the end of  December and is an avid reader. He is a boy’s boy in every way but he still loves cuddling which makes a mommy’s and daddy’s hearts glad. He loves Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and anything else that includes knights and fighting. His favorite activity besides reading is dressing up in all his knight gear and fighting bad guys in our backyard. He played both baseball and football this year and enjoyed them both.
Clarabelle is 5 and is our resident mother of the house. She takes care of everyone in the house even when they don’t want to be taken care of. She is a very content girl, that loves all her dollies and plays with them for hours daily. Clarabelle  is a kind hearted girl and is passionate about telling her younger siblings about Jesus. She is doing gymnastics this year and is becoming quite the athlete.  
Adelaide turned 4 this year and is our sweet girl or Daddy’s baby as she likes to be called. Adelaide loves to be with her family and loves playing with her big sister and doing everything Clarabelle does. She is a joy to be around.  She loves crafts, puzzles, and playing memory. Adelaide also is doing gymnastics this year and loves it.
Gibson enjoys being the family’s comic relief. He is 2 and constantly makes us laugh with his antics and funny personality. He is a bundle of energy and loves playing with his brother and sisters.  He talks non stop and loves telling knock, knock jokes.
I hope this letter finds you well and it is our hope and prayer that you may all know and cherish the sweet grace of God in the upcoming year.




Christmas cookies!



Gibson wanted nothing to do with getting in the picture

Santa snuck in

Getting our tree



Waiting to  go find their stockings


HOoray, we are looking for our stocking

Addie found hers

Autry's was in the dishwasher

Yes! A Russel Wilson jersey!
(This was his favorite present, like father like son)

We went to the new aquarium on Christmas day. Claire is not
to sure about the Moray Eel. 

Trying to pet a sting ray

Gibson was trying his hardest to touch it

and he finally got it!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Running

Last summer I started running and I have become addicted. I decided I need to start chronicling my running experiences a little more. In 8 days I am going to be running the Portland 15k (9.3 miles) shamrock run. This is a crazy course, where the first 6 miles are pretty intense hills. I am super nervous but I feel that if I can run this I can do anything. I am running my first half marathon on the 4th of July with my friend Heather and my sister. I am super excited about that. Even as I write this I can't believe it's true. Anyone who knew me in high school knows how much I hated to run. I would do almost anything to get out of running. In high school I decided to switch from soccer to volleyball because soccer required to much running (not that I was any good at soccer anyway). Needless to say until the last year I have always HATED running and convinced myself that I just wasn't made for running. Now I finds myself addicted to it and always looking forward to my next long run. In conclusion to all of this if I can turn myself into a runner, anyone can. It is always hard to start but once you do you won't be able to stop.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Snow day

This weekend Randy has a two day weekend...hooray! He hasn't had two days off since January 1st and 2nd so this was some much needed time. In the morning before church Autry and Randy called us girls into the bedroom and told us they had a surprise for us. "We are going to the mountain!" Autry yelled.
I was very excited but realized we now had 45 minutes to eat, get ready for church and pack all our gear up do the mountain. This may seem impossible ( I thought it was) but thanks to Randy we did it. At 12:30, after church, we headed up to Mt. Hood to play in the snow.
The snow was so much fun. Gibson at first was unsure. After awhile he was walking through the snow like a pro. As he walked he constantly said, "woah, woah, woah." Addie was pretty timid but looked super cute with the hat of her Halloween costume and afterward exclaimed, "Snow is fun mommy!"
Claire was by far the biggest shock! She was so adventurous in the snow and at one time was up to her waist in snow, she just kept trudging on through. When she walked through the snow she would call it her adventure. At one time when her, Autry, and Randy were trudging through some pretty deep snow she said, "This is sure our adventure in Odessey."
Autry of course loved the snow and was his normal boy self jumping of show drifts and sliding down hills.
It was a very fun day and of course there was a lot of talk of being in Narnia as we drove through the snow covered trees.
The night was capped off with some delicious pizza in Sandy and then a drive home with sleeping children. And do you know the best part? Randy still has another day off.