Merry Christmas 2016
As I sit here writing this letter, I can’t help but to
think about how much has happened this year.
As many of you know, we moved to Colorado back in August. It was difficult to move away from people we
love, like family, and friends, but we felt that it was something that God
called us to do.
For the first half of this year, Julie was still teaching
in the classroom and doing a great job with her students. Something that God put on her heart was to
take the energy, passion, and love that she was giving to her students, and
give them to our kiddos. When we moved
here, Julie started homeschooling them and it has been great to see her passion
for teaching played out with our four. As
one could imagine, it is sometimes difficult teaching at four different grade
levels, but Julie is doing great and the kids love that their mama is their
teacher! The kids have had some amazing
teachers in the past, but none of them loved them the way Julie does and our
kids know that. Julie does have some
help. The kids are part of a hybrid
program and once a week, the kids go to a school where they are with other
homeschool kids and are taught hands on subjects like Science, Engineering,
Art, and Music. Janna and Jadyn also get
piano lessons every week outside of school. They both have a love for playing
the piano, and it is so great to hear the piano being played daily in our home.
All four
of the kids were involved in sports over the past year with Kare Youth League
and that is definitely something that we really miss. The kids have now started playing sports
through the local YMCA and are continuing to thrive in all sports. Joshua started things off by playing flag
football and I had the opportunity to help coach the team. The level of competition was a little
different than what he was use to but it was good to see him work on skills
that needed improvement. He is now playing
basketball, and is enjoying it. Janna
has been swimming since August and has shown a lot of improvement! It has been a different experience for her
considering that it’s not a “team” sport.
Janna expressed interest in playing basketball next month, so she will
be joining a team in January. Jadyn
also started out swimming and then transitioned into basketball last
month. Jadyn is a tiny little thing but
it is fun to watch how focused she is out there on the court. Jeremiah began with soccer and is now playing
basketball as well. It was fun to watch
Jeremiah play soccer and learn the fundamentals. He was one of the older kids on the soccer
team, but one of the youngest on his basketball team but he doesn’t let that
stop him from having fun!
Joshua
and Janna are part of 4-H and have begun thinking about which projects they
want to be part of. Joshua is thinking
about archery and goats, and Janna is thinking about quilting. She has already started making things on the
sewing machine and loves it. Although
our younger two are too young, our 4-H club is very family friendly and allows
the younger kids to participate in a number of activities. Both Jadyn and Jeremiah are excited to start
projects of their own as they get older.
I
mentioned that Joshua is interested in having goats, but Janna is also
interested in an animal as well. Not as
a project, but for a pet, she would like a pig!
Right now, we have our two dogs, bunny rabbit, and ten chickens, but the
kids would like some other animals on the farm.
We were very blessed to have found a property like ours. The house was an old church parsonage from
the late 1800’s and was relocated to this location around 1908. There is also an old school house from the
town of Monument which was also relocated to our property. Our goal for that is to fix it up and
homeschool from there. There are a few
other outbuildings on our eight acres and the kids love to explore them!
With a property like ours, there’s always
something for me to keep me busy when I’m not at work. Luckily, my work hours are pretty
flexible. I started my job September 1st
and was working with two young men. Our
goal was to get them transitioned into their own place and functioning on their
own. As of the week of Thanksgiving,
that all came to be and both are doing great.
I will now be working with young men in high school who are part of the
foster system.
We have
found a new church home and we love it!
We are part of a cowboy church out here in the country and it is
different than what we are used to. Our
pastor teaches from the bible and says it how it is and we love it. The people there have been so welcoming and
genuine with us and it makes us feel at home.
Every month we have a potluck and it has been great to meet and eat as a
family on a regular basis.
Every
year we make many memories, too many to put in our Christmas letter, but this
year we would like to specifically highlight two that stretched us and grew us
closer to our amazing God. Back in February we took the kids on their very
first mission’s trip to Mexico with the youth group at NewSong Church. Our family
spent a weekend in Ensenada serving alongside the youth at a church, and in the
community of Lomitas. We served in many ways including painting houses, helping
with a bible school program, playing soccer with the community, and repairing
roads. This is a trip our 4 treasures have continued to talk about throughout
the year. They were blessed to be given the opportunity to serve God in this
way and they saw how others were blessed by their service. Another highlight
was that dear friends of ours opened their home and their trailer to us as we
were waiting to find a place of our own to call home in CO. They were so
generous and hospitable. We were given the opportunity to do life with them for
2.5 months. We were incredibly blessed to do so! There were days that were
trying, but we relied on God for patience and persevered through. We grew in our character, and it was an
opportunity for God to continue to mold us into His likeness. We are incredibly grateful that we got to
have this experience.
As I mentioned
before, this move was hard for us. We
left some amazing people whom we love a lot!
I also mentioned that we felt called to make the move. We know that this what God wants for our
family, and we have to be obedient. God
has called us to follow him and we know that’s not always the easiest thing to
do, but we are not called to live an easy life, we are called to live a life
that will honor and glorify Him in everything we do, no matter how hard it may
be. God knows what a hard life looks
like. Jesus came to this earth, was
hated on, beaten on, and died on a cross for us. Life may be tough, but we have so much to
rejoice in. I pray that you are able to forget about the things that are tough
and focus on the birth of a friend…a friend that loves you more than you will
ever know!
Have a Merry Christmas
Love,
Joshua, Julie, Joshua Wayne
(10), Janna Rose (8), Jadyn Elizabeth (7), and Jeremiah Ray (5)
*We have decided to start updating our
blog again –Please go to thetaflingers.blogspot.com for further updates