It's been many years since we had a family portrait taken and even more years since we sent out a Christmas newsletter, so we thought maybe this year we would attempt to do both! We're hoping this letter finds each one of you healthy, happy, and enjoying a wonderful holiday season. Just going over our list of names to send our picture out to made us so grateful for the amazing people God has put into our lives. Time marches on so quickly, it is hard to encapsulate even a fraction of what has gone on in our family since we last saw you, but we hope this newsletter gives you a little snapshot of our tiny part of the world in the past year.
Perhaps the most delightful event of the year has been the addition to our family of Ariana Mata Gonzalez, who is originally from Venezuela, who now lives in Valencia, Spain with her lovely family. She arrived in August and is spending the school year with us while she learns English, takes classes at our local community college, and she will be participating in a missions outreach internship called Young Hope. She became instant family from the moment she stepped off the plane and we love her sense of humor, her compassionate spirit, and her zest for life. I have really enjoyed our morning drives to the college, sharing pieces of our lives and experiences with each other. I actually started crying the other morning thinking about having to let her go home in June. It's awesome to know that now we have family in Spain we can visit someday!
Esther turned sixteen last month and is very close to getting her driver's license. She has been getting a lot of practice driving us around everywhere, but it will be a very strange feeling the first time we let her go somewhere on her own. Our little girl, driving a car!!! It's crazy.
She has been very involved in her youth group at church and with her Chamber Orchestra at the high school. Some highlights from the past year involved a missions/service trip to Denver, Colorado which involved feeding the homeless, ministering to the elderly, serving the poor and learning about cultural diversity. (The whitewater rafting outing on the last day was an awful lot of fun, too!)
Esther was one of four freshmen last year given the honor of participating in Chamber Orchestra (usually not open to underclassmen), which eventually led to a Spring Break trip to Chicago to play on stage at Orchestra Hall. This trip also involved a LOT of tourism, so she (along with Amy, Jedaiah and Grandma Chrystal, who also went on the trip) got to see a lot more of Chicago than we ever would have on a regular trip home. We also got to connect with Grandma Katy, Kimeri, Barb, and the Chicagoland cousins, which was a huge treat!
Jedaiah is now in the sixth grade (twelve years old, can you believe it?!) He prides himself on almost being as tall as me (he's up to my eyebrows). He has really enjoyed being part of his choir at school and participated in the all-city Honor Choir concert. He also continues to take drum lessons on a weekly basis and plays in the middle school band at school. He recently auditioned for the all-city Honor Band and was rewarded second chair in percussion. We are greatly looking forward to seeing that concert in January!
Last summer, Jed took a class on computer animation and has enjoyed developing his skills as an animator on his computer. Some of his animations are a bit gory, but they are otherwise very clever and entertaining to watch.
A little over a year ago, Michael made the decision to leave the ER management position he was in. He wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to do instead, but he knew that he didn't want to have to be on call every weekend or deal with the headaches of staffing anymore. He had six weeks of vacation time saved up, so he was able to enjoy a nice break from work while he looked for a new position. Several opportunities presented themselves during that time that seemed somewhat promising, but nothing ever seemed to be that perfect fit job we were praying for. As time grew short and vacation time dwindled, we really began to wonder what it was God had in store for us. Then seemingly out of the blue, Michael got a call from a woman he had interviewed with some time ago. She had a possible position for him in Quality Improvement at Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands, a job similar to one he had interviewed for previously, and had even done an extra certification course for, but which had never panned out. After a couple of interviews, he was offered (and accepted) the job and couldn't be happier. His hours are much more regular (no more late nights and weekends, Hallelujah), he's working with a great team of people and loves the work that he is doing. God is so good to us!
Over the summer, we made a weekend trip up to Waco, TX, to watch my nephew Martin play in a national tennis tournament. He and his teammates astounded us with their amazing tennis skills and their incredible endurance, playing for hours on end in 100 degree heat. It was such a treat to get to hang out with Martin and my brother Joel for a couple of days, catching up on all the family news and marveling at how much Martin has grown up!
I had the awesome opportunity in April to travel to Ecuador with a team of about a dozen people from our church. We spent several days offering an eye clinic to locals in a tiny town called Santa Isabel (the mayor of the town had favor on them and gave them the entire basement of the town hall municipal building out of which to run the clinic.) Hundreds of people lined up each day to receive eye exams and to purchase glasses for just $1.50. About 1,100 pairs were distributed while we were there. I fell in love with the people and the countryside while I was there and can't wait to go back some day and bring Esther along.
I recently began her 6th year working for a local surgical practice in The Woodlands. I still enjoy my medical secretary job immensely and am hard at work trying to master the latest challenge - transitioning the office over to its new electronic medical record. In my down time, I continue to pursue my love of everything crafty. The latest wave has been a plethora of knitting and crochet projects, but I sense a revival in my interest for scrapbooking is about to break through any day!
It's been a few years since we took a family trip, and having Ariana here has made us think it's about time to get on the road again, so come Spring Break, we are planning a road trip to Washington, DC. Michael's been in contact with our local congressman and his staff, and already has some tours of congress and senate planned. We're also hoping to sneak in a trip to Graceland on our way back down. So much to look forward to!
Here's hoping your Holiday Season is bright and that the New Year brings many moments of joy to you and yours!
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