As 2010 is nearing to a close, our family took some time to think back over the good and bad times of 2010.
Some of our good memories included:
- Ivy's first "big" birthday party where we invited friends over to help celebrate;
- continuing to host a college/career Bible study group where we got to know some pretty great people;
- the birth of our little girl Letty Ruth and watching her grow and develop her own personality throughout the year;
- all of the family day trips we took over the summer and just getting to spend some fun days together as a family;
- all of water battles we had over the summer;
- the buried treasure hunt with the Johnson family;
- the times we got to spend with all of our family and friends that came to visit us;
- hosting a married/engaged couples Bible study group where we got to encourage and be encouraged by other Christian couples and work on our own marriage in the process;
- our trip home to see our families over the Thanksgiving holiday; and
- our Advent calendar activities.
The worst event of 2010 for our family occurred in February where we were faced with one of the toughest decisions of our lives thus far - whether to continue attending our (now former) church or not following some poor choices/decisions that were made by the church's leaders - and then having to explain our decision to our 4-year-old daughter. We ended up leaving the church. Although everything about the matter was wrong and my words here cannot fully express the anguish that our family and so many others have gone through over this past year, we know that the Lord led us to the right decision in leaving the church and has us where He wants us to be right now (joining in planting a church), and we are amazed to see how the Lord took a horribly bad thing and turned it into His glory - something only He could ever do!
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ~Romans 8:28
A sad memory in 2010 included the death of Nathan's beloved Gram. Although we are assured that she is now with Jesus, we still miss her greatly. She was an extraordinarily special lady to Nathan and me. Losing a loved one, however, really makes you appreciate and love that person even more, and it can remind us that through a death, there will be eternal life and we can hold fast to that hope that we can ONLY have through the blood and love of JESUS!
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ~Romans 5:8-9
On a lighter subject and still thinking back...
Ivy can now wear Mommy's favorite sweater that she wore growing up! Mommy wore this sweater for her preschool or kindergarten picture (I can't remember which one, but I think it was kindergarten)!
Also speaking of thinking back...Ivy loved doing our Christmas Advent activities and has really missed pulling an activity out of the little box to see what we are to do. So, Ivy came up with an activity all on her own for our family to do.
We were going to have a family game night while we sipped on hot cocoa and ate some leftover Christmas cookies! But first, we had to put scarves on and wear gloves for this event!
Letty had her own "games" to play!
A rare photo of our forgotten dog these days! Poor Paisan! We still love you buddy!
