Joel turns 16

Joel and I experienced a DMV birthday miracle. We got in and out with his license in 11 minutes! We had an appointment, but usually doesn't mean much in terms of time. This time it did! The waiting room was full of people, and I thought, "Great. We're going to be here forever," but then a few minutes after we sat down, they called his name. It was amazing. Having already taken his driving test through driver's ed, all he needed was some paperwork, payment, and a photo. Done! We went to Firehouse Subs to celebrate before I took him back to school.

Always a fan of a party, Joel had a big birthday party with lots of food and friends. He has a great circle of friends, and they're fun to have around. 

New Year's Eve

We ended the year with half our family feeling under the weather with colds. Greg got hit with it hard and had to stay home while we went with our family friends to the Pates' to ring in the New Year. We all brought dips for snacking and played multiple rounds of different games, the night culminating in an auction of things we had laying around our houses and in our closets (some reject Christmas gifts). The boys enjoyed playing with fire and lighting off our fireworks we never got to use in July. It was COLD outside at 24 degrees at midnight. 

As I was thinking about this last year, I was amazed at how much had happened. It seems like such a long time ago that we were teaching another kid to drive and that Greg was suffering through the end of his chemo and also kidney stones. We had enough snow to sled down our hill. We had our Easter service at Pleasant Home, and kids were still doing online school. Hybrid school started in the spring. Greg went to Texas with friends, and then I went to Texas with friends two weeks later. :) Kari and Joel got to play tennis again! It was a short season (even shorter when Kari's team got quarantined), and they had to wear masks, but it was something, and we were so grateful! Grant did a lot of baking and a lot of Odyssey listening. We had an amazing weekend getaway with friends at a lake house up in WA just before summer. Grant finally got to go to Trout Creek overnight for a week! Kari went on her first mission trip to Mexico and grew so much in her confidence, her friendships, and in her faith through experiences and challenges on that trip. We went to Rockaway Beach with the Arnolds. Kari and I went on college visits with Kylee and her mom. We hiked Hurricane Ridge with the Wilsons in August and then celebrated our 21st anniversary. Kari got her senior photos done, and they were incredible and captured her personality beautifully. Aubrey got stuck in the bathroom when the doorknob failed. We finally got to to Disneyland with the Moffats (three members of our family was sick the whole time), and it was all we hoped it would be (minus the sickness). Kari got accepted into colleges and was very happy to get the CBU acceptance box. We squeezed in some fall fun, and Grant got back into water polo. We filled our thankfulness tree of all the gifts and blessings God has given us this last year. We had some fun with spirit week at school, and celebrated Kari's 18th birthday. We watched basketball games and ate pizza in the car with Kate. We had a full Christmas celebration this year, and after missing out on EVERYTHING last Christmas, we were all extra thankful. There are so many other moments that didn't make it on this list, but that's why I keep this blog, to remember those moments that slip my memory with time. 

Once again, I can see so many ways that God has been faithful to us, has sustained us, has grown us this last year. Here's to another year of relying on His strength and not our own, to relinquishing our control and yielding to His plans for us, for our kids, and for our friends and family. 

Happy New Year!

Christmas

 We opened presents on Christmas Eve morning, since Ryan and Michelle's family was going to be coming to stay with us that night. We got two full days of Christmas! 

We went over to G&G Arnold's after our morning was finished, so they could give the kids their gifts, and we saw Blake and Lindsay for a bit that morning, too. 

I had time to do a little bit of food prep before it was time to go to the Christmas Eve service. The service was really nice! We did a combined event with Gresham Bible, and it was great to see so many friends there, too. I loved the candlelight service and the way we were able to take some time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Afterwards, we went back over for dinner and birthday cake for Jesus with the Arnolds.

Ryan and Michelle got in late that night, and we headed over to G&G Moffat's for Christmas Day. Lots of great family time. The kids had a great time playing games all day long. It was a happy, full, and loud house!

Ryan and Michelle's family took off the next morning to spend the day with her side of the family, and Greg and I took down the tree and decorations, trying to get our house back in order.

The next day we went to see Sing 2 in the theater together and had dinner with everyone over at Eric and Leah's. 

In the days following Christmas, it snowed off and on, which was fun. It was just enough to be pretty but not so much that it kept us from doing things.

Christmas at Church

 Our community group had a Christmas party early in December and kids were invited. I thought it was funny that the oldest girls chose the smallest chairs.

I requested a family photo after the Christmas service the Sunday before Christmas. The kids reluctantly obliged, and I'm so glad. :-) 

We went over to the Wilson's and played games that Sunday night. The week ahead got full with sports and work, and activities. We had to squeeze in an evening before they headed off to Maine the next week. The girls were matching in their TCBC sweatshirts, so I needed a photo.

Greg and I visited Grandma a couple days before Christmas. It's always good to see her. We always end up laughing, too. Her friend Dorsha was there, as well, keeping the conversation entertaining.