After-Christmas Letter, 2012

Dear friends and family,

If you noticed our lack of annual Christmas card this year, don’t be alarmed. While the rest of New England was dreaming of a white Christmas, we were privileged to spend a week in the sunny Caribbean when Don took our whole family on a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas. We snorkeled off the Coast of Grand Cayman, rode horses in Jamaica, sunned ourselves on the beautiful beaches of Labadee, Haiti, and enjoyed the incredible food and swimming pools on the ship. It was quite the Christmas gift!

Don put in many hours of overtime this year in preparation for our grand vacation. He works as a software developer by day and coaches gymnastics in the evenings. We are continuing to plan and save with the eventual goal of owning our own gymnastics facility. Manda also joined the fitness world this year by turning our family’s love of Beachbody products into a business as an Independent Team Beachbody Coach. She provides online fitness coaching and blogs about her health journey at DigFitGirl.com. In addition to her regular workouts, she and Donny ran a 5k together in April!

At 14 months old, Abby is full-fledged toddler who empties cupboards and snuggles her teddy bears, or “buhbise.” Her favorite word is “up,” but she also says Mumma, Dada, buhbye, and no, and signs for milk and more. Lydia is an active 3.5 year old who loves learning letters and playing the Mumma to her baby dolls (and often her siblings as well!).

The boys are now doing third grade homeschool work - our curriculum this year is called Exploring Countries and Cultures, so we are all learning some world geography. The boys also participated in a Junior Lego League this fall. Six year old Hayden started gymnastics this year and learned to swim underwater this summer, while Donny is passionate about collecting coins, studying science, and reading Boxcar Children books. We celebrated Donny’s 8th birthday on 12/12/12 - it is hard to believe how quickly all of the children are growing up!

After a few months of hunting, our family joined a small new church. We are excited to be using our gifts there, including Don’s launch of a new youth group for teens. Manda has been participating in the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group as well as some online Bible studies. It is a blessing to be part of a community of believers who are passionate about God and demonstrate compassion for people.

As we head in 2013, we do not know what the year will hold, but we are excited to see where God will lead us as we strive to follow His will for our lives. May He bless you and your family this year!

Love,

Don, Manda, Donny, Hayden, Lydia, and Abby