Christmas Letter 2010...

Merry Christmas!  Happy New Year!  We are excited to share with you the happenings of our little family in our annual Christmas letter New Year's letter.  In case you haven't been following this blog all year, here's a wrap up...

The Kiddos:

Kelsey finished her sophomore year in stellar form.  Can't begin to tell you how proud of her we are.  She worked her brain into a frazzle and walked away from the 2009-2010 school year with straight A's.  Even in math.  And especially in AP Biology.  Over the summer she went on her first out-of-the-area mission trip, to Islamorada, FL, where she worked with kids at VBS.  She had a blast. She returned to school this fall for the infamous junior year and decided she needed more activities for her college resume.  Those new activities included:  varsity volleyball, student leadership team, yearbook copy editor, morning devotional leader, junior prayer group leader, powderpuff football team, FCA leadership, and volunteering as a Sunday school teacher in the children's ministry at church. She was selected to attend the ACSI leadership conference, which was a big deal or there is no way we would have let her miss three days of APUSH and AP English.  There were probably more things she did than those, but we are still a little traumatized from the fall activity overload.  This spring she takes the SAT and two AP exams.  Oh my!  We still start the official college visits too.  She has her favorite (probably as a result of her dad's brainwashing... "Hark the Sound" was his lullaby of choice for the kids), but we are encouraging her to keep an open mind as she seeks the Lord's will for her life. Oh yeah, she got her driver's license, too. 

Zane also finished the 2009-2010 school year with straight A's.  Goodness, it's a good thing Jimmy's their dad.  They get all their smarts from him. :)  During the spring, Zane discovered his track event:  hurdles.  It took a little convincing, but the coaches finally let him run hurdles in a meet, and he blew up the competition.  We were all a little amazed; Zane may have been the most amazed.  He spent the summer...um...relaxing.  This fall Zane started high school, which has brought about a number of changes, not the least of which was the fact that he had [a lot of] real homework every night.  Football season brought a new JV head coach, a starting position for Zane on offense, and a lot of playing time on defense too.  The team did great, finishing 8-2, and the coach did an "excellent" job teaching the guys about excellence in all areas of life.  Zane, also, is on the student leadership team at school.  After football season, Zane took the classroom portion of Driver's Ed, and we are waiting for the call from the driving school about when he will do his road work.  This summer Zane had his first job, mowing Gramma's lawn.  He's learned a ton about working hard and saving money.  Zane's most interested in anything to do the the military, whether it be video games, History Channel documentaries, or books.  He especially loves learning about World War II.

Zack is in third grade this year, and he has a super-fun teacher.  We knew it would be a great fit when we walked in during open house and the room was decked out in a beach theme.  She does a great job of motivating the kids.  Zack has done very well this year, and much to his mom's delight, is writing essays.  He's always been a storyteller, but now he's branching into writing.  He's found a couple of book series that he likes, and he's read us out of house and home. Zack opted out of sports this past year, and we didn't push it as it was all we can do to get his older brother and sister everywhere they had to be.  But this spring is his time to shine.  He is trying to decide between running in a youth track and field program or playing flag football in a local league.  Like most nine year olds, Zack LOVES building with Legos.  For Christmas this year he got three large sets, and by Tuesday he had put together all three by himself (well, he had a little help from Zane on the last one, which doesn't work quite the way it was advertised... imagine that). Zack is our little daredevil, learning how to skimboard this summer and sledding like a champ this winter.  He loves riding his bike and is definitely our outdoor kid.  He was all about being in the pool this summer, until a bee landed on him in the water.  That pretty much ended the pool season for him.  The ocean, on the other hand, is his favorite.  He would be in the water from sunrise to sunset if we would let him... and if sunrise and sunset weren't feeding time for sharks.  He can tell you all about sharks and pirates and privateers and knights and aliens and dinosaurs.

The Parentos: 

Norma survived teaching mainly middle schoolers last year and moved up to teaching mainly high schoolers this year.  Of course a move up in age level also meant a move to half-time from full-time.  It was a little bit of a surprise at first, but it has turned out to be a huge blessing.  The Lord's provision has been incredible, and we are grateful.  Teaching mainly writing classes (Honors Creative Writing, Journalism, and Middle School Creative Writing) and one English class (tenth grade College Prep) has made life busy with four preps and lots of writing to grade, but it's also been a ton of fun.  Five of her middle school students were selected for publication as part of a national competition.  Three of her students (one middle school and two high school) were winners in NaNoWriMo.  We hosted the church's high school summer Bible study this year, and it was a blasty blast.  For the first time, it was co-ed and we fed the kids before the study.  It was sort of like hosting a night of Meta once a week.

Jimmy continues to work for Medtronic and loves helping people.  He has some great folks on his team who have become good friends.  He's also been blessed to build friendships with some of the doctors in his territory.  His favorite part, though, is helping the patients and their families understand the devices they receive.  Well, that and the selling part.  He really likes sales too.  We are so blessed in the place where the Lord has called Jimmy to work.  Jimmy was able to help coach Zane's football team again this year, which was a lot of fun (understatement) for him.  The new head JV coach is the guy who was Zane's first football coach when Zane played city league in third grade. Jimmy and Coach C have a shared football history and can talk for hours about lineups and plays and such (trust me on this one). With an increase in job responsibilities and ministry as a volunteer football coach, Jimmy has taken a leave of absence from being a deacon.  We are still serving in student  ministry by being support for the junior Sunday school class teaching team.  Jimmy is praying about additional opportunities to serve, but at this stage in life and in our family, we need great wisdom to know where to direct our time and resources. 

Speaking of time and resources... yes, we still have the condo at the beach.  It was a particularly needy real estate investment this year, as several major systems saw the end of their lifespan.  :-/ But as always, the Lord provided.  Boy are we grateful for the emergency fund Dave Ramsey made us save!

That's a few high spots for 2010.  We hope the year has been a huge blessing to you and that you enter 2011 full of love and joy and peace and hope.

May the Lord bless you bigger than you can ask or imagine!

Love,

Jimmy, Norma, Kelsey, Zane, and Zack (and Pepper too!)

Merry Christmas Letter 2009...

Through the amazing power of the Internet, I can write a Christmas letter on December 26th and post it online on December 25th... oooooooooo... ahhhhhhhhh... CyberTimeTravel! :)

Merry Christmas, friends and family! We hope that your 2009 has been filled with love and peace and joy. We are blessed this year. Our sweet Lord Jesus Christ has given us a year to know Him more deeply, lean on Him more heavily, and serve Him more passionately. If you read this blog with any regularity, you probably know much, though not all, of this little update. If you don't read regularly, you can catch a whole year's worth of our adventures right here.

Person by person... here's how 2009 shaped up for us...



Jimmy... 2009 started of normally enough, but by the end of January, we learned that Jimmy was being recommended for a promotion to management that left us with some family decisions to make. While he wasn't thrilled about leaving the sales force, the Lord in His kindness gave Jimmy numerous confirmations that this was the path we needed to take. Within a few weeks, Jimmy moved into the position of District Service Manager for the Raleigh South district. Blessedly, the daily trips 1.5 hours each way to work finally came to an end. Not that we don't love the Sandhills, but goodness, he was putting over a thousand miles a week on his car.

Soon after he moved into his new position, Jimmy found out that one of the sales reps on the Wake Med team was leaving to go with a competitor. Jimmy helped fill in, and what started as a stop-gap measure ended with Jimmy moving back into the sales force with that team. Although several job offers have cropped up in recent months, Jimmy feels the Lord has placed him where he is, so he has turned them down. He loves the Wake Med team, and we have enjoyed getting to know not only the Medtronic folks, but also the doctors (and their families) and staff who work at Wake Med.

Fall found Coach back on the football field. A highly-persuasive friend is Zane's JV coach, and he made Jimmy an offer he couldn't refuse: just come when you can. So Jimmy did. It was a wonderful season, with the JV football team finishing undefeated and winning their second consecutive conference championship.

During 2009 we discovered eMealz and Dave Ramsey, which lead our family into a new level of fiscal responsibility. More lifestyle changes. We rented out our condo to a long-term tenant, drew up a budget and pretty much stuck to it, learned how to plan menus and shop wisely, and served as small group leaders in our church's Financial Peace University class. I can't tell you what a blessing it has been to see debt disappear as we learn to live inside the financial fence that the Lord has given us for our protection.



Norma... Another big change in 2009 came when I headed back to teaching full-time. Our fall season was full of lifestyle changes as I returned to the classroom, quickly remembering everything I love (and hate) about teaching. After a period of adjustment, I'm learning how to pace myself. More than that, though, the Lord has re-birthed in my heart a passion to see those kids come to know and walk with Him. I have much to say about that topic and may blog about it at a later date, but right now it is sufficient to say that my job is now my ministry (outside the house and secondary to the ministry I have in our own home, of course), and I see that as an infinitely cool thing the Lord is doing.

I teach English to seventh and ninth grade students and journalism to students who range from ninth to twelfth grades. In the second year of partnering with my friend Karen as advisers to the school's student publications (everything except the yearbook... an amazingly saintly Suzanne handles that), we saw our class size nearly double. Our first issue of the main publication went to a meaty sixty pages, and we are well on our way to putting out the second issue of that publication, a second annual insider's guide to AP and Honors classes, and a first edition guide to helping students plug-in to community service.

Gramma and Granddaddy are plugging right along. Granddaddy seems to have recovered well from a bout with cancer. He should write a book about taking control of your own health care, as he always goes into every appointment armed with research and a list of questions. He is still retired and living on his family's farm. Gramma continues to work for the Department of Corrections, although she is planning her retirement for the not-too-distant future. She went through a time of intense therapy on her back and hips at Core Health Systems in 2009, which has revolutionized her ability to move. She's still hosting a women's Bible study in her home, which is a blessing to all those women who attend.



Kelsey... This fall Kelsey began tenth grade at our school. In a strategic move, she opted to take AP Biology, Honors US Constitution, Honors English, and college prep Algebra II along with the mandatory Bible and Spanish I. Although she qualified for Honors Algebra II, she is learning to work the system in a smart way. She doesn't particularly care for math, so she bumped down a level in math and up a level in science from what most of her friends are taking. As a result, she's able to spend the most time on the subjects she loves, biology and history. Please note that English is nowhere in that pot of academic love. HOWEVER, Kelsey has started her own blog, which is an amazing window into the heart of our absolutely-not-average teenage daughter. What a blessing to see how the Lord is growing her into a beautiful woman of God.

I don't think I'm allowed to talk about her social life, so moving right along to sports... Kelsey started track season last year as a sprinter and ended it as a discus thrower. It was an interesting transition. One day she picked up a discus and threw it just for fun. It went a really long way. As a freshman (with next to no training) she missed qualifying for states by only a few little inches. She's hoping that with a more intense focus on the event this spring she can qualify for the state meet. This fall Kelsey wrapped up her career in JV volleyball with a challenging season. While the team struggled in comparison to other years, Kelsey discovered the strength that comes from trusting in the Lord's plan and not leaning on her own understanding. At the ended of the season she won the MVP award. Kelsey is playing club volleyball this winter for the first time with a local team run by the school coach. They are learning California-style volleyball. We have never done the weekend sports thing other than little league football, so please pray for us! It's kind of a crazy schedule.

Kelsey's tender heart for kids is more and more evident each day. She continues to serve as a teacher's assistant at school in a kindergarten classroom, and this fall she started helping in a three-year-olds Sunday school class at church. She is quite the rock star to these little kids, and it is so cute to hear them yell, "Hey Miss Kelsey!" as she walks through the halls at school and church.

Also in 2009, Kelsey got her learner's permit. We are working on getting something smaller than a Suburban or truck for her to practice driving. She'll turn sixteen this coming summer and I will be grateful to have another driver in the house! Kelsey also began attending a new youth group on Sunday nights where she has made some great friends who have encouraged her to grow leaps and bounds in her faith.



Zane... He is relishing the breather that comes with eighth grade. School is going well academically, and Zane was exempted from all his first semester exams. Last year, Zane felt burdened to start a middle school FCA at our school. He and a couple of friends approached the administration, and after a few months of talking and planning, they assembled a leadership team and began meeting on Friday mornings in the Student Life Center. Jimmy and I go to the meetings to support the kids and we are blown away by how much those kids are growing in their faith. The middle school FCA is truly student-run, and we are amazed at God's grace and provision.

For a couple of years, Zane has felt called to encourage his teammates and classmates in their faith, and Jimmy and I have been in prayer that someone would come alongside us to help teach him how to be a godly leader. Although we thought that teaching would come from a different source than it did, we now see God's hand of provision in an awesome and humbling way. Last year Zane received the boys' Timothy Award for his grade. Voted on by the students themselves, this award goes to the students (boy and girl) in each grade who demonstrate godly character. As a result of receiving that award, Zane became eligible for leadership training as part of the Student Life ministry at school. He was also elected a class representative for eighth grade, giving him the opportunity to work with other students and administration on Student Council projects.

To continue the tie between faith and sports, Zane's football coach invited him to become part of the student board of directors for his ministry, Generous Community. His coach has such an amazing philosophy of pouring love and encouragement into these kids to teach them how to live out the teachings Jesus gives us in the Word. We are grateful for the coaching not only on the field, but also off the field as the kids learn to put their faith into action as they share the gospel with words and deeds.

I don't think I'm allowed to talk about Zane's social life either, so moving right along to sports... Zane started track season as a thrower but scored most of his points for the team as a sprinter. Go figure. This fall in football he discovered his love of playing middle linebacker. Zane is now second only to Jimmy in height and just as skinny as Jimmy was in high school. The guys set up a new weight room in the basement, so we can train at home as well as at school. Zane stays after school four days a week in the weight room, working on bulking up for next year's football season.



Zack... Our sweet second-grader still loves school with all his heart. Most of the time. He had the chance to stay home on the half-days that the middle and high schoolers were in exams, but he chose to go to school instead. He loves his teacher and his friends. We have been blessed beyond anything we could ask or imagine with the teachers he's had at our school. Last year Zack hit a rough patch in reading, and his teacher spent countless hours helping him get up to speed. We are thrilled to say that after struggling and making C's in reading in first grade, Zack finished the first semester of second grade with straight A's. He has worked so hard, and we are grateful that in His grace the Lord has let Zack see the fruit of that hard work.

Zack continues to love sports and hate playing by the rules. This spring we are planning to go ahead and join the neighborhood swim and tennis club so that Zack can play tennis. He really loves riding his bike and scooter and doing all the old school playing-without-being-an-organized-sport things that we used to do as kids. As I type this Christmas letter, he is circling the kitchen table riding his new scooter. He wore out his old one. For Christmas Zack got a football-throwing game that allows him to score points when he hits the target with a foam football. He is freaky-scary-good at that game, much to his old quarterback dad's delight.

Zack is our highly social child and cannot stand to miss an event where he can hang out with his friends. He ALWAYS wants someone to come over and play and when no one is available, he drafts his brother and sister. He is STILL the storyteller extraordinaire. I can't wait until his story writing ability catches up with his story telling ability. Thanks to Kelsey's discovery of Owl City, Zack's new favorite video is the "Fireflies" video. I imagine it's probably because the stories going in that room are like the stories Zack makes up in his playroom.

One of the highlights of Zack's year (and one of the things that Kelsey and Zane have still not gotten over because they were not there) was meeting Tyler Hansbrough at Sutton's Drugstore in Chapel Hill this past May. We were on a field trip to the Planetarium, and decided to head to Sutton's afterward for a milkshake. Who was there? Mr. UNC Basketball himself! He very kindly took a picture with Zack and then with Zack's bff Jude. Then he ran out the door, heading to a final exam. You can read all about that adventure here. What a thrill!



Pepper... Our furry little Shih Tzu celebrated her second birthday in February and her first full year as part of our family in May. We can barely remember what life was like before we adopted her. Talk about an unexpected blessing! Pepper loves ripping into furry squeaky toys, chasing tennis balls, cuddling on the arm of the leather sofa/chair, defending our yard against squirrels and deer, and bacon.




Random wrap-up... Kelsey got her wisdom teeth out in June. Zane got his wisdom teeth out in November. We have the name of a great oral surgeon if you need it... Jimmy ordered the other four members of our family matching UNC Snuggies, but he refused to get one for himself. Otherwise, our Christmas picture would have been of all five of us sitting in our Snuggies in Kenan stadium. Near win... Pepper had to wait until Christmas to get her Snuggie... We vacationed at CB in April, so when summer rolled around and our condo was rented, we fell in love with backyard staycations... Pool ownership is a bit of a pain when there are copper issues in your community water. Then there are algae issues in your pool because the minerals mess up your chemical balance. On the bright side, you learn some science when you learn about chelating agents... From September 27th until November 28th we couldn't manage to string together a whole seven days without someone in the family having a cold, flu, cough, allergic reaction, or injury; but we are better now... Two SBS groups met here this summer, and it was a ton of fun seeing so many women get into God's Word each week... Jimmy's still a deacon... I resigned from Women's Council when I found out I'd be going back to teaching... Subway is our favorite option for tailgating before Knights football games... We LOVE being part of the Knights football family... We managed an epic fail at hosting Fun Fridays in our home... We discovered that Ikea could possibly be the coolest place on earth, next to home... Facebook is a great way to stay connected with people you never get a chance to see (and even some folks you see every day)... Time flies, and the list of what you meant to do will never carry more weight than the list of what you actually get around to doing... I Corinthians 13 is key: it really IS all about LOVE!

We hope you and your family are having a blessed holiday season! Thanks for stopping by and catching up with us. We covet your prayers as we approach 2010 with some decisions to make about where and how the Lord would have us serve Him. Please be in touch and let us know how we can be praying for you!

With much love <3,

Jimmy, Norma, Kelsey, Zane, Zack

Christmas Letter 2008...

Merry Christmas to all our Friends and Family!

We are happy to be sending you Season's Blessings from blogland this year. For those of you who are new to our little spot on the 'net, welcome! We hope you'll keep coming back to visit from time to time.

We missed sending out Christmas greetings altogether in 2007, so let's catch you up on what you missed. 2007 was eventful, with the biggest event being a move for our family. We left the home we'd been in since 2001 and moved about 4 miles away to a house with a little more space for teenagers to hang out. And a pool. It has a basement with an apartment, which came in very handy shortly after the move.




A few days after Thanksgiving, we got a call from my dad, who had been hospitalized twice with both cardiac and pulmonary problems in the summer. He was having those same problems again, so Jimmy went to the farm where Dad lives and brought him back to Raleigh. Over the course of December, he had two more hospital stays. He came home to our house on Christmas Eve and stayed through January. With all that excitement, Christmas cards didn't make it out last year.[We are happy to report that my dad is doing very well. He is back living on his farm, working on projects and designing everything from engines to houses.]

So let's take a shot at 2008 and see where we are now...

Zack is now 7. Zane will be 13 in a few short days. And Kelsey is 14. They still go to the same school. Zack is busy being the storyteller as he has been since he began to talk. Zane played center on the JV football team this fall and led the team Bible study as a 7th grader. Kelsey played volleyball and is making the transition from middle school academics to a more rigorous high school curriculum. Most of the time no one gets body-slammed at home, but Zack is becoming more and more proficient at annoying his big brother. All struggling and strife cease and there is harmony in the land as Carolina basketball season arrives. And when Carolina basketball season DOES arrive, there is no one in the family as on top of the stats and game schedule as Kelsey.








We have a new addition to the family this year ... Pepper. She's a rescue puppy... a shih tzu whose first family didn't have a whole lot of time to spend with her. We offered to give her a home and now she's DEFINITELY part of the family!




Jimmy continues selling medical devices and loves what he does. He had a TON of fun this fall operating the clock for varsity football games and helping keep an eye on the other team from atop the press box during JV games. He has become a pool expert in one short season and has a pretty substantial list of home improvement projects in the pipeline. Jimmy's involved in a Friday morning men's Bible study and serving as a deacon in our church. In January, he will come alongside the Creation class teacher in Student Ministries to help grow that program.



I went back to teaching this year... just one class... journalism... at the kids' school. I love seeing students grow as writers. On the other hand, having even a little job after being home 14 years (and working only in fields with highly flexible schedules like real estate) comes with its share of ups and downs. I miss my Bible study very much and am prayerfully considering where the Lord would have me next year. I'm still on the Women's Council at church and still on the editorial team for the Women's Ministry newsletter. My favorite project for the year has been serving as Administrator for the Celebrating Christmas blog. Click the link and see what my Friends and I have been up to!

Yes, we still have our little place at the beach, but we have very little time to spend there. We would LOVE to sell it, so if you hear of anyone looking... let us know!

Gramma is doing well, still working for the Department of Corrections and living in the same house that she has lived in for nearly 50 years. She's quite the hip grandmother, with her own Facebook profile and blog! How cool is that?!

We are blessed. Truly. Jesus is the heart of our home, for which we are eternally (literally) grateful. So in this holy season when we celebrate His arrival in the flesh here on Earth, we send to you love and blessings and pray your 2009 is filled with grace and peace...

Today in the town of David
a Savior has been born to you;
he is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11