Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Family and Friends,

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”   1 Peter 1:6-9

The above scripture has carried us through this year. I also know it has carried many other families through a hard year, as well.  You may be one of those families, or you are close to a family that is going through a hardship. I pray that if you are going through hardships that you are able to rest in His truth.  As we get ready to celebrate our Savior’s birthday this year, Kevin and I are humbled to know that He has walked with us and carried us through this entire year.  “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for Him.” Isaiah 30:18 We are comforted by this truth, as this year of hardships has revealed areas in each of our lives that we are not proud of and need focus and healing. We are so thankful for our family and close friends that have allowed us to be completely transparent, open, and real without passing judgment.  We truly did need your prayers and support.  We thank the Lord for you!

Back in January when Nicole’s surgeon said she was confident that she removed all the cancer we were ready to get home, recover, and move on with life.  It did not cross our minds Nicole would have complications and chronic pain this whole year.  As hard as this journey has been on each of us, individually, and on our marriage we both can say we want to go through whatever it takes for our faith to be genuine.  The Lord knew exactly what it would take to get our hearts cleaned out and renewed.  “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:10   We both are in the process of healing emotionally and Nicole is still healing physically, but we are doing the best we have all year.

This year our primary focus, other than the obvious, has been making memories as a family.  We have put most of our efforts into enjoying our son, Logan.  He has brought so much laughter and joy in our home.  He turns  2 years old on December 30^th.  His big interests right now are cars, hats, cookies, apples, singing and dancing, books, balls, and falling down on purpose.  His best talent is being a copy cat!

As we close our Christmas letter we want to thank you for allowing us to focus on what the Lord has been doing in our lives to strengthen our faith.  It is always easy to write out all of our physical accomplishments and share all the wonderful things we have going on, but reality is life can be hard at times.  There are always blessings even in hard times. We must put our faith in our Lord and Savior and keep our minds focused on the Truth.  “Let your mind dwell on these things only: truth, honor, what is right, pure, lovely, what is of good reputation, what is excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8

In Christ,
Kevin, Nicole and Logan