Christmas Letter 2011

It's been a few years since I have sat down and written an actual Christmas letter. We decided that we would just update everyone through our blog and post our picture instead of mailing it out to each of you. Hopefully you won't strike us from your mailing lists and we promise to get a picture out next Christmas!

Ryan:
In June, Ryan was able to go on a trip to Israel through Youth Unlimited. He was gone for 2 weeks and had an amazing time! It's hard to capture in words all that he saw and experienced during that time. He says that it was incredible to see the Bible come alive and to get an entirely different perspective on scripture, kind of like watching TV in Black & White and then experiencing it in Hi-Definition! While he was in the Land he visited all the major regions from the Negev Desert/Wilderness all the way to the Northern Borders of Israel and Lebanon. They spent time at the Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, and Mediterranean Sea. They visited sites such as the battlefield where David fought Goliath, the Shepherd's Field outside of Bethlehem, Capernaum, Caesarea, and much more! Their time in Israel was finalized by spending a few days in Jerusalem walking the Passion walk of Christ. Ryan definitely felt that the trip was spiritually refreshing and he returned with some amazing stories and new ideas to use for the next school year. We definitely missed daddy those few weeks and tried to keep ourselves busy with VBS and day trips with friends.
Ryan returned from Israel and was barely home when he had to finalize plans for the SERVE group arriving at our church in July. 70 adults and high school students arrived for a week of serving the community and being challenged to fulfill our call as Christians to go into all the world. Ryan loves the SERVE experience and really enjoyed hosting a project here after having done it numerous times with our church in CA.
Ryan continues to stay busy with high school and junior high youth groups and all the extra's that go along with each. We praise God for the wonderful staff he works with and the support they are for each other. He continues to love his job and it is definitely fulfilling to see the relationships that have been established and God working in the lives of these students!

Sheri:
I continue to stay busy with a variety of church activities and trying to keep one step ahead of our 3 kids. I still play piano for the praise team once a month, help out with Children's church, and am the craft coordinator for our Story Hour (Coffee Break) kids every Wednesday morning. It's enough to keep me involved and yet I don't feel overwhelmed with all that being a stay-at-home-mom requires.
In July, the kids and I were able to fly to WA for 3 weeks to spend time with my family. It was so much fun to be in WA in the summer and get some sightseeing in and visit with friends and family. My Grandparents celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary so we were able to be there for the De Groot family reunion. We really enjoyed spending time with family and creating great memories with my family! Ryan was able to join us for the last week and of course we were spoiled by my parents! It was a wonderful family vacation!
About 2 weeks after I returned from WA, we received a phone call that my dad had been having seizures. After a number of these episodes, it was determined that he had a stroke. He lost the use of most of his left side and was having incredible difficulty swallowing. In about 3 weeks time, he was out of the hospital and at home recovering. He was back to work about a week later. I was able to fly out in October by myself for a week to help him at work as he is self-employed and spend some time with him. It was so good to be able to be home with him and see for myself the progress he had made. We had quite the fun time at work together and I really enjoyed spending time with both my parents alone and being the favorite aunt for a week to my nieces there! We definitely praise God that my dad is almost 100% recovered and only has minimal issues swallowing. He is back at work full time, walking on his own, finished with therapies, and waiting for the go- ahead to drive! Praise God!!!

Kiera:
Kiera entered the world of "real" school as she calls it. She started Kindergarten at Christian Center School. We LOVE her school and her teacher! She attends mornings 5 days a week. She absolutely LOVES school. She is always full of information and wanting to stay all day. It has been so much fun to see her make new friends, embrace learning, and enjoy all that school has to offer. She continues to be quite the helper at home with the boys and they have really started playing together so well! She is definitely our social butterfly and always wants someone to play with her. She has quite the active imagination and can bring to drama to any and every situation!

Caleb & Joel:
I lump them together because they are never apart and pretty much continue to be identical in most ways. It's hard to believe that we have survived 3 years with twins! These two boys have definitely pushed us to the limits of our parenting knowledge, tested our patience in every way, and brought us incredible joy through it all! The 2's were definitely terrible...the 3's are looking much better! We still aren't potty-trained, but who really wants to train 2 at once? These boys have quite the relationship and we love to see them interact with each other and with Kiera. You will have to read my previous posts about each of them to truly understand how these two boys operate together and independently of each other. Sometimes it can be quite unbelievable!
The boys most favorite thing to do (next to playing and eating snacks, of course) is to attend Story Hour. They love to go with me on Wed. mornings to play and be with other kids. They think they are pretty hot stuff going to class all by themselves. They started attending Children's church on Sunday mornings as well since they decided nursery was not acceptable. Thankfully we only have to have them in church with us occasionally.

Our year has definitely had it's high's and low's and through it all we have seen God's faithfulness to our family, our extended family, and our friend's. We thank God for each of you and the role you have played and continue to play in our lives. We wish you and each of yours a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!