ALAN & ME
Alan's company was acquired by Extreme Networks in November. It's too soon to tell what changes lie ahead, so we will continue on as we've always done...trusting God. Besides work, which he loves, Alan enjoys shuttling the kids around to various activities, snuggling with Nutmeg, and serving at our wonderful church. He is my steady strength when I am weak and my comic relief when things get too serious.
As for me, Ibarely survived made it through our first year of high school. (Dark chocolate helped!) I served as a judge at four speech and debate tournaments and lived to tell the day. I spoke at two women's retreats and didn't pass out at either one. I meditated on the character of God and wrote a Bible study. I drove thousands of miles and got into a 4-car crash (no one was seriously injured). I wept at funerals and prayed for friends with cancer.
Every December, I ask God for a word for the coming year. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the word He gave me for 2014: COURAGE.
MY MOM [AMY]
The biggest change in our family involved my mom. After my stepdad passed away last year, I did my best to support her, but it was challenging to do so long distance. Mom lived in Hawaii for 50+ years and loved it there, so we were happily surprised when she decided to retire and move to California to be near us. Like Abraham answering God's call to go to an unknown land, Mom took a courageous step of faith, and His hand on her life soon became clear to us.
After a whirlwind of moving Mom into her retirement community, furniture shopping, driver's license testing, finding new doctors, and so on, things are finally starting to settle down for Mom. One of the biggest blessings of having her near is that she joins us for church every Sunday. She has remarked often how much she likes our church and the people in it.
One Sunday, our pastor announced that we were having the last baptism of the year. Unbeknownst to us, God had apparently been stirring Mom's heart, because she suddenly announced that she wanted to get baptized! I had shared the gospel with Mom before, but I wasn't sure if she had truly grasped the truth of it. In talking with her about her decision, it turns out that when she was a single mom, and I was just a little girl, she had gone to a church in Hawaii. While there, the pastor had given an altar call to receive Christ, and Mom had gone forward! God had had His hand on her life for a very long time, and she finally wanted to make that decision public.
We know that God has more to do in and through Mom. We're looking forward to seeing what He has in store for her!
NUTMEG [6]
As for me, I
Every December, I ask God for a word for the coming year. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the word He gave me for 2014: COURAGE.
MY MOM [AMY]
The biggest change in our family involved my mom. After my stepdad passed away last year, I did my best to support her, but it was challenging to do so long distance. Mom lived in Hawaii for 50+ years and loved it there, so we were happily surprised when she decided to retire and move to California to be near us. Like Abraham answering God's call to go to an unknown land, Mom took a courageous step of faith, and His hand on her life soon became clear to us.
One Sunday, our pastor announced that we were having the last baptism of the year. Unbeknownst to us, God had apparently been stirring Mom's heart, because she suddenly announced that she wanted to get baptized! I had shared the gospel with Mom before, but I wasn't sure if she had truly grasped the truth of it. In talking with her about her decision, it turns out that when she was a single mom, and I was just a little girl, she had gone to a church in Hawaii. While there, the pastor had given an altar call to receive Christ, and Mom had gone forward! God had had His hand on her life for a very long time, and she finally wanted to make that decision public.
And so it was an unspeakable joy for our entire family to witness Mom follow Christ in baptism on a sunny November day. Our pastor asked me to join her in the water to help dunk her. What an incredible honor and privilege! Thank You, Jesus, for Your grace!
We know that God has more to do in and through Mom. We're looking forward to seeing what He has in store for her!
NUTMEG [6]
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention our lovable Nutmeg, who brightens our days and sneaks into photo ops!
A POEM FOR THE NEW YEAR
In Memoriam, Lord Alfred Tennyson
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
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