Merry Christmas

We are very thankful to God for all the ways He has blessed our family. He has given us each other and 2 wonderful boys who never, ever let us get bored! He has given us a house and He provides for all our needs. He has given us wonderful family and friends like you who encourage, pray for and finacially support us. And He's given us Himself. We are truly blessed.
Thank you for your prayers and support this past year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Late Fall and Christmas Season 2008

If you read my blog about Advent Conspiracy you know that we didn't buy gifts this Christmas but instead made homemade gifts and gave relational gifts to each other. Most of our days off in Oct. and Nov. were spent working on calendars for our family members. The boys drew pictures to illustrate the different needs of people in the world (orphans, hungry, those who need water, etc) for the calendars.

Paul and I gave the boys coupons for special outings that we will be taking them on (one-on-one). Daniel was excited the most about the fact that we will have to ride the subway when we each take him out on our special outing!

Instead of the big gift opening marathon on Christmas morning our family had a simple time of giving our relational and homemade gifts to each other, then eating our traditional monkey bread Christmas breakfast. Then for the rest of the morning we had our Christmas Day family video game tournament. We played on teams: Paul and Daniel vs. Jae and I. Unfortunately, Jae and I lost---but not by much! It was a fun time. We had a couple of other families and a single lady over for Christmas dinner--all people who don't have family nearby. It was a great Christmas. Knowing that the money that we spent this Christmas is going to people who really NEED it made it even more special. The boys each got to give some of thier Christmas gift money in the special Advent Conspiracy offering we took up at church on Dec. 14th. They each got to decide where they would give thier money. And they have some more to give this Sunday!

Grandma spent 2 weeks with our family before Christmas. She took each of the boys out separately for a special McDonald's lunch. It's amazing how excited they can get over a Happy Meal! But the time alone with Grandma was the best thing. They walked and talked and window shopped at toy stores and pet stores. She planned a time when Paul and I would be out of the house to help the boys make gifts for us (chocolate and white chocolate covered pretzils--yum!) She also babysat for Paul and I so we could go out! Thanks Grandma! Then she headed to DC to be there for her 5th grandson's birth and to help with the older brothers. Our new nephew was born on Christmas day! We're looking forward to driving down to visit soon.

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Kentucky. Paul spoke that Saturday and Sunday at Harmony Christian Church in Georgetown and it was so nice to see several people we hadn't seen for a long time. And my mom was able to take these awesome pictures of our family!

Daniel and Poppaw riding the "tractor". Daniel's favorite thing to do in KY. My dad told him that they couldn't go out until it got up to 40 degrees and every morning he was constantly running back and forth checking the thermometer to see if they could go out yet!

Visiting my grandparents in the nursing home.

Along with participating in Advent Conspiracy this Christmas, Crossroads also participated in Angel Tree again. We had a party for the children and thier families on Dec. 13th and several came. Most exciting was that several of them were teens and several of Crossroad's teens were helping with the party and were having a youth event that evening that they were able to invite them to. I think at least 1 or 2 came to the event. We hope that they will continue to come to other events and get involved in the youth ministry.

Crossroad's small groups will be taking a break in January and instead we will be having a class on how to study the Bible. Then in February we will have our 30 Adventure (focusing on Poverty this year) and new groups will start up.

I am hoping to train some new teachers for the elementary class at church to take over so that I can take a break from teaching (both of our boys are in my class now) and take on a new role of "family ministry connections person" or something like that (we haven't come up with an official name yet!). I will be the greeter and sign-in person for all the children's classes and be able to connect with all the parents more and keep in better contact with all the families and visitors. I have other plans, too. Please pray that the people we're talking with will step up and commit to teaching so this can happen soon.

As many others around country ,several people at Crossroads are struggling financially and are out of work. But others have been blessed with better jobs and more opportunities. Ryan, our worship leader, just got a better, full-time, permanent job (he had been working as a temp.) which is going to allow he and Andrea to stay in Brooklyn and continue serving at Crossroads. We are so thankful for that as they are both faithful servants who do so much for the church and our family. God has been faithful to continue to provide for our family and for Crossroads.

Crossroad's baby update: 2 more born---1 more to go (at least!). Our connections ministry leader had her baby a week early and another mom at church had her baby in November. There are babies everywhere! We had about 50 people come to the Christmas Eve service and so many of them were families with young children--it's exciting!

We're getting ready to celebrate Daniel's 7th birthday in less than 2 weeks (I've been planning all day today!) We have lots of other exciting things coming up in 2009. We pray that God will use our family and Crossroads in big ways this year! Thank you for your prayers and support that make it possible for us to be here.