I guess it is really that time of the year again. Yes, another year has flown by and you are holding my annual Christmas letter in your hands! I can feel your excitement! You know it is getting harder for me to remember what all has happened through the year as I get older. Good thing I try to journal things throughout the year or I may not have a thing to tell you all. It has been a busy year and yes, I know I say that every year. I am sure waiting for one of those slow years, but I am thinking that won’t be happening anytime soon. So, what have we been up to, you ask? Lots of things. You know I always start with my kids and this year will be no different.Tim II is a senior this year. Yes, did you hear the angels sing? He is a senior this year! We are almost done with this part of school. We are still trying to decide what will be next for him. Even though my memory fails on things from this current year, I so vividly remember what Tim (my husband) was like when he was 17 going on 18. I was absolutely in love with him even though he really didn’t have much a clue what his future held. I think Tim II is much the same way. I imagine it will take him a little more time to find exactly what his next step will be. For now, he has been working for Chick-Fil-A for over a year. He seems to really like it there and he works pretty hard. I know I don’t want to be the one getting up to work the 6am shift, but he does it without complaint. When he is not at work, he is with his friends. Lots of them! Too many to keep track of on some days. He has his own car and spends about every waking moment running somewhere. Prom will be coming up at the end of March and he has asked a young girl, but the word is out on whether her parents will allow her to attend as of yet. After prom, there will be putting the homeschool yearbook together and then graduation in Orlando with other homeschoolers across the state. I have a feeling it will be a blur over the next 6 months.
Savannah is our busy 8 year old. She is involved with lots of things… a science class with friends, AWANA, choir , brownies, homeschool co-op and then finally soccer. Sounds like a lot, but since school only takes a few hours a day… she does great with it. She has lots of pets to keep her busy. She has been running her very own hamster business this past year. When they have lots of babies, her daddy takes her to a pet store and she sells them for $2 a piece. Let me tell you, some days I think I should start selling hamsters. It is a pretty good deal. I know I have talked about her reading in past letters, but I have to say THIS WAS THE YEAR!!! She had been reading for awhile, but this year it all came together and she is reading like crazy! I am so excited about this! She is loving a lot of the American Girl books. I am so proud of how hard she worked. Now it is so much fun to hear about what she has read on her own. Today she wrote and gave her very first official report for science class. Again, how proud am I? We got to take an amazing trip to Colonial Williamsburg this year. We are studying that period in history and we so lucky to fly up there and visit. We took my mom and my sister too. It was an awesome time! All in all she has lots of fun with her friends that keep her pretty busy. I just wish she would quit growing up so fast.
Sebastian is our one and only two year old! He is so completely adorable and into mischief at every turn. His newest thing is doing something wrong and then running up to me with his arms stretched out and saying “HUG”. Like if he hugs me it will make it all better! I have to admit it does melt my heart and probably does make it a little better for him. Lately he has been a little parrot. He will repeat just about anything you ask him to say. He loves to be outside in the backyard, just digging and getting messy. He is a mommy and daddy’s boy. Sometimes he just wants to sit with me and “rock-a-baby” and other times he wants to sit on the swing outside with his dad. He likes to do “work” with his dad too. I love our “rock-a-baby” time each day. Before he goes down for his nap or bedtime, I sit in the rocking chair and sing him a few songs. He just sits so snuggly with me! This is my favorite part of my day with him. I am so excited to watch him become his own unique person each day.
That brings me to Tim and I. We really have had a great year together. We took a vacation to St. John this summer and had a few special date nights. This past October we celebrated 20 years together. Wow! Where did all that time go? We have had lots going on the past couple months. As some of you know, I was laid off in October. It was quite a shock and threw us off a bit. We have had to make some big decisions pretty quickly. The main one we made was that sending Savannah to school and Sebastian to daycare was absolutely not an option for us. From there, we are not completely sure what is next. We have decided that most likely we will move out of state. Our house value has increased substantially and we can get a lot farther some place else. So, that has us working on the last of our house projects and finishing up. We plan to put it on the market sometime in the spring. At this point we are thinking we will most likely choose to move to SC where Tim’s family lives. We just don’t have anything concrete as of yet. If all goes as we would like, Tim may work on starting the aquatics and exotics pet store he has always dreamed of owning. As I keep saying, we just aren’t sure exactly where this wild ride will take us. We just know that God certainly has a plan for our family and we are going to put it all in His hands. We believe He will figure out a way to provide for our family and keep us in line with keeping our children home. I have to say that I have the most amazing husband. He has been awesome at times when I so needed it. I am so lucky to have him. I have learned so much this year. I started a blog - online journal and through that have been connected to so many wonderful people with their stories to share. So many times I have read something that some person I don’t even know wrote and thought how completely amazing that it added something to my life in some small or not so small way. If you have a computer and want to find my blog - go to www.crazyeverydayblessings.blogspot.com . I try to post pictures and updates and lots of silly stories there. As always we love phone calls and emails - keep in touch with us! Please keep us in your prayers. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and remember to hug tight those that you love.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Lots of Love,
Tim, Kari, Tim II, Savannah and Sebastian
Christmas 2006
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