It's official. I've decided to go digital with our Christmas card and send out a Christmas post instead. It seems that once again, Christmas is around the corner and there are no more white spaces left on the calendar for me to find the time to get a Christmas picture done & printed, or to sit, write, address, stamp, stuff and lick the envelopes. So my procrastinatingly, hectic life, basketball mom, chauffeur, toddler time apologies to all of you who will be receiving my cyber space Christmas post. The boxes of Christmas cards sit on the table nearby, (they were nice too) and perhaps I'll get to send them out next year! (Ha! Who am I kidding?! It's only gonna get busier...but the busier the better because it is full of blessings!)
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| Family at GCC! |
Here's what we've been up to in 2010:
PHIL & DENISE
We have been thoroughly enjoying life with baby! It has been fun to watch her accomplish all her "firsts" and reminisce about Darla and Micah when they were her age. They have both been wonderful siblings to Clara and it is a joy to see them interact with and care for her! We took a few family trips over the year. Two to Virginia. The first, sadly, to attend the funeral of Dave, our Best Man. It was a blessing that we could go, catch up with old friends and be reminded of the impact others have in our lives. It was amazing to see and hear about the testimony Dave had and the lives he touched. We are glad to have had the privilege of knowing him and praise the Lord that he is now in glory!
Our second trip to Virginia, was our annual vacation with Phil's folks at his brother Steve's house in Virginia Beach. We enjoyed the yearly trek to the water park down the street, the beach, and even a sunset cruise on a tall ship! It was a great time relaxing with family and enjoying watching as Clara learned to push her little walker around. On our return trip home we made several stops to visit some old friends from college and seminary before a brief stay in N. Wildwood for July 4th!
The rest of the summer was put on hold when I fell with Clara and ended up in the hospital for 10 days and 3 casts for 4-6 weeks! That was a rough time. Thanks to my Mom, who basically lived with us for 5 weeks (and Dad who let her!), and our amazing church family who provided meals and more, we all
My fall has been busy with weeks and weeks of physical therapy while juggling naptime and the kid's schedules. In addition, I've continued to co-teach our Ladies' Bible Study and started helping out with the Senior High Girl's Bible study too. Phil and I have also started to work with the young adults in our church. We've been attending the Sunday school where we've been viewing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace videos, which have been a timely study for us as well. In the evenings we've been organizing meals and activities with the group which has been a lot of fun!
The Kids
DARLA
Darla will be 15 in less than a month! Wow?! It seems like yesterday when she looked like Clara...sniff...sniff...sniff.... This past year she graduated from 8th grade with high honors and an impressive amount of awards! We are so proud of her accomplishments, but even more so of the Christian character she has demonstrated in school, church and at home. Over the summer she was awarded for memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism and she went on her first mission trip on her own with the senior high youth group to Georgia. There she was challenged in many areas of construction as their team helped restore several homes for needy families.
This past year Darla said good-bye to braces (round two!) and hello to contacts before starting high school! She is the type of person who looks quite different in glasses, so much so, that several people have not recognized her! She is growing up to become quite a beautiful young lady and enjoyed her first semi-formal dance at school just this week. She continues to play piano and was approached to play saxophone for the school band, which she has been enjoying. It has been a busy year for her with her involvement in community theater, school activities, church events, academics and athletics. We enjoyed a trip to Grove City College for my 20th reunion over homecoming and Darla expressed interest in attending - with her resume thus far, she should be good to go!
MICAH
Micah has been having a great year of transition too as he started at a new school. He graduated from Grace Christian school, which he loved immensely, and is now attending Plumstead too, which he seems to like just as much! He has made immediate friends, helped start a ping-pong club, plays percussion in the band, and is looking forward to playing basketball and tennis - all in all a great 7th grade year! He has been excelling academically, as well, which is good for him since he's having to follow in his sister's footsteps!
A highlight of Micah's year was performing as Edmund in the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe with Theater & Kids. What a thrill to land a lead right out of the gate and he did a great job with the part, we are so proud of him! He's been bitten by the acting bug and is now rehearsing for his role as the professor in Little Women at PCS.
CLARA
At 16 months, Clara is quite an active toddler! She is very friendly and sociable, which was quite obvious when her first word was "Hi!", accompanied with a very enthusiastic wave that has since morphed into a cute princess wave. Her other favorite words are uh-oh, baby, ow (for meow), bye, baaallll, dada and when she gives kisses she makes a ma sound. She loves toting her baby doll around, giving her hugs and kisses. She is an avid "reader" - she just loves to sit and look at books. Her stubborn streak comes out when we actually try to read the books to her, she likes to be in control of the pages!
Overall, Clara has really been an easygoing baby. She is content in her crib, highchair, carseat, and play yard and she calms down easily with the magic CD (Sounds Like Fun from Discovery Toys...worked for all the kids!). She goes down easily for naps and bedtime and usually doesn't mind being dropped off at the nursery for church or MOPS.
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