Christmas Card 1999

Another Birth, Addition to our Family

This has been the most special birth that our family has ever experienced. It was the shortest and most painless labor and delivery. It was also very special to us because the new child was born in our own home. On 10-10-99, the Lord changed the heart of our 60 lb, 50 inch daughter Carmen Hope. She was baptized in November.

The new addition referred to in the title is a puppy. We picked up Buster from the humane shelter. We believe he is mostly a German Shepherd. You can judge for yourself.

Adam has been very entertaining this year. He is always making something out of nothing or destroying something of value. This summer a bunch of ants were making tracks to and from an ice cream sandwich Becca left in the garage the night before. All the neighborhood kids were concerned about how to remove the ants without hurting them. As soon as the kids left, he blasted the ants with RAID and posted this sign, using all the elements of his personality.

Carmen and Adam are both doing well at public school. Becca enjoys preschool for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday and this gives Jackie a chance to volunteer in Carmen and Adam’s classrooms. Here’s a collage of all the kids’ first day in school. All three kids have great Christian teachers, which is an answer to our prayers.

Our summer vacation to South Carolina was a highlight of the year. We saw lots of dolphins at the beach, lots of deer at the condo, a few alligators at a plantation, toured Charleston, visited with friends and spent a day on the USS Yorktown. It sounds like a busy week but it really was relaxing.

If you have spent any time with our family, you know that the oldest four of us are very competitive. Carmen and Adam are continuing to be aggressive athletes. However, God decided it was not good for us to always be in a contest and He made Becca. Becca loves to have fun. She loves to be pretty. She loves to encourage. She is our cheerleader. When everybody is negative, she is positive. Everyone was stunned at a basketball game when Becca shouted, “Adam, where’s your man?” Well, there are four of us against one of her. Eventually, we knew she would have to cave in, but so young. But no, she didn’t mean it. She looked at as with a Becca grin, indicating she wasn’t aware of Adam’s open opponent. She was letting us know that yelling is just part of the fun.

We have many things to be thankful for this year. In January, the Lord delivered on our prayers to become debt free. We have been committed to being good stewards of the money that has passed through our hands and God’s Word has a lot to say about that. I have been blessed with the opportunity to teach God’s basic principles of finances at our church. I am always thrilled to be a part of releasing Christians from any bondage to the world.

Jackie and I had a great time on our trip to Albuquerque, NM for Matt and Kim’s (friends from church) wedding. We had a wonderful time seeing, experiencing, and especially tasting the Southwest. Cable cars, desert, history, culture, a rodeo, concert and beautiful weather. Mountain biking will always be etched in my memory thanks to Scott (another friend from church), who demonstrated an incredible dive over the handle bars into a cactus. Ouch! We want to go back some year for the balloon festival and some more food.

We hope that all of you will enjoy your Christmas and New Year holidays! After all our family has received, it is still amazing to me that our God loved us enough to send His Son as a baby to earth to show us how personal His love is. He didn’t stop there, He allowed His Son to die on a cross to pay for my sins. Amazing. Not done yet, Christ rose victorious over death so that we might live victoriously now and forever. Amazing.

Kevin, Jackie, Carmen, Adam & Becca