Merry Christmas 2014

Our 2014 Highlights

We give great thanks and praise to our Savior Jesus Christ for these blessing, and more!

 ·         Matt’s mission trip to Tanzania, Africa visiting the villages of Kondoa & Mairowa, hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, and spending an afternoon with our sponsor child – Nehemiah (on Nehemiah’s 13^th birthday).

·         Micah made his personal decision to follow Jesus as his personal Savior!! (February)

·         Jodie made another big change in our families “fueling” process to improve/maintain good health in our home.  We purchased a juicer and began using YL essential oils for aches, ailments, and boosting our immune system.

·         Two weeks in Tennessee and Alabama.  First week in Gatlinburg, TN with Jodie’s family celebrating her parents’ 50^th wedding anniversary.  A trip to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center. Five days in Savannah, TN with Great Granny Rich (and other Rich relatives) – sitting on the front porch swing, touring the Shiloh battle grounds, catching lightening bugs, picking fresh blackberries, and celebrating the 4^th of July.

·         Annual trip to Flagstaff with Uncle Charlie & Aunt Alice – week at Bear Paw!

·         Family vacation to LegoLand California!  Two days at the park riding roller coasters and one day at the beach.  Pure fun!!

·         The kids have rhyming birthdays:  eleven & seven.  They think this is so cool!  On the way to CA they saw a 7-Eleven convenient store.  “That’s us, that’s us!!”

·         Four camping trips this summer!  All with great friends making great memories.

·         Hours spent playing with Beanie Boo stuffed animals.  Micah and Lilly have so much fun with these.  They are integrated into everything.

·         Homeschooling is such a joy!  Micah is 5^th grade and Lilly is 1^st grade.  We are beginning our journey to read through the Bible, and our “together” study is Science – Apologia Zoology 2.

·         A week of “hanging out” with our dear friends, the Vega family.  They are from Argentina, missionaries in Malaysia, and were visiting for our church’s Global Missionary Conference.

·         Micah & Lilly made a public profession of their faith in Jesus and were both baptized on November 8, 2014.

·         Micah & Lilly continue to enjoy participating in their extra-curricular activities and continue to improve in their skills and abilities.

o   Micah – baseball, flag football, piano

o   Lilly – gymnastics, … reading and losing teeth

·         Preparations for a 2^nd family mission trip to LaPaz, Mexico (January 2015).

“And this I (we) pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;”  Philippians 1:9-10

December 2014

Hard to believe the last month of the year is here and almost over.

We took a family vacation to LEGOLAND.  It was so much FUN!  None of us had been before, we rode all of the roller-coasters and just had such a great time spending two days at the park and one day at La Jolla beach.  The weather was fabulous.

When we got home it was time to prepare for Lilly's 7th birthday party.  She and Micah have LOVED the Beanie Boos this year, so she chose the theme "Beanie Boo Birthday Party".  Kelli T. came over on Friday to decorate the cake ("Ollie the Octopus"), and nine of her friends attended on Saturday.  They had a blast with crafts, games, and eating Ollie's legs.  (hehe)

This month during our Barton House visit both kids shared their testimonies (we were able to show the video of their baptisms), played the piano, and read Christmas stories.  It was a beautiful comparison to when we started doing Bible studies there 6 years ago.

Christmas activities and traditions will lead us into our Christmas traveling to Indiana this year.  We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!

Jesse Tree Tradition

November 2014

Micah and Lilly made their public profession this month through their baptism.  They are UNASHAMED that Jesus is their Lord.  It was a beautiful moment.

 

Matt's 10th Annual TDNR (Tour De New River) was the first Saturday of the month.  These rides are his regular way of raising funds for the continued building of the schools in Tanzania.  They are very close to completing this project and had the first graduating class this year.  Matt, and his friend, Jim, rode and finished the 40 mile route together.

 

Some great field trips we took this month were Sea Life Aquarium and the Southwest Wildlife Conservatory.  The animals in both were absolutely beautiful.  God is so creative and detailed with his animal creations.

 

Grandma and Grandpa Rich visited two times this month.  They arrived first for a long weekend for Micah & Lilly's baptism.  After going home to cold and snow ... they returned for a beautiful week during Thanksgiving and to celebrate Lilly's birthday with her.

 

A highlight for Micah - getting to run the chainsaw!
Changes for Matt & Jodie - both get reading glasses 1.0

 

October 2014

School is going well - we are REALLY enjoying our science study of sea creatures.
The kids and I started up our fall visits to the Barton House this month.  There are several new residents and we found out that Ellen, the activities director, will be retiring in November.  Our Home Fellowship organized our bi-annual meal at Neighborhood Ministries.  Micah and Lilly get so excited for this night.  We served dinner in the 1st grade classroom this time.
This was the year for our church's Mission Festival.  Over 40 of our 50 missionaries were able to attend.  Our dear friends, Willy & Marilina Vega, and their children, came from Malaysia/Argentina.  We made great memories visiting with them, playing with them, and hanging out with them!
As we wrapped up the month, he kids and I went to Schnepf Farms for their pumpkin festival.  It was a beautiful day walking through the corn stalks, riding in the hay wagon, and picking out pumpkins.  We re-kindled some neighborhood relationships on Halloween night as we walked the up and down our street dressed up and socializing. 

 

September 2014

Lilly - 1st grade; Micah - 5th grade

With so much going on in August, it was a no-brainer that we would start school this year after Labor Day.  Labor Day weekend we got another camping trip in (our 4th this summer - awesome!).  Our homeschool co-op decided to do Memorial Day AND Labor Day this year, and we did BOTH.  It was another great weekend at Dogtown Lake.
We went with our co-op to the Dolphin Tale 2 movie.
The kids and I decided to participate in the Ice Den Homeschool Open Skate.  We have the opportunity to do this 2x/month throughout the entire school year.
Micah & Jodie were challenged to do the Ice Bucket Challenge - we accepted on a 115 degree day.  :)
Lilly was thrilled to find out that she was growing cotton!  She has two plants near the firepit.
The kids are greatly enjoying Beanie Boo stuffed animals.  They call them "Big Eyes".

August 2014

We started the month of August with a week in Flagstaff with Uncle Charlie & Aunt Alice.  Matt joined us for the weekend and came up again on Wednesday to celebrate Micah's birthday with him. 
For our annual birthday camping trip, with the Gravel family, we camped at Dogtown Lake.  Then we hosted Micah's 11th birthday party with an overnight "Camp Out" in the backyard.
Micah's flag football season started.  This year he was invited to be quarterback for an existing team, coached by his baseball coach and with players he knew from baseball.  He is very excited about this opportunity.
Micah's piano lessons began again this month, after having the summer months off.  This is the beginning of his 4th year with Mrs. Amy Cline.
Lilly spent the entire month of August as the only student in Coach Kristine's Tuesday morning class.  Wow!  They were able to do A LOT.  Both of them loved this time together.
Matt's brother, Andy, had an overnight business trip in Scottsdale.  He was able to spend a couple of evenings with us, which we enjoyed.
Lilly lost her first tooth this month.  We were at the DBacks game when it happened.

July 2014

While in TN we had some time to vacation and then visit Great Granny Rich and the other TN relatives.  We celebrated the 4th of July with them.  We spent one morning picking a gallon of blackberries, went to the new water park in town, visited Granddad's grave, and toured the battleground of Shiloh.
Back home ... we went a couple of times to the McDowell Ranch Aquatic Center.  So much fun!!  They have a high dive, fountain area, swimming area, water slide, and lazy river.  (We may get a pass to here for next summer.)
Matt treated us to a DBacks game (level 2) vs. the Cubs.  GO DBACKS!