Reflections on 2011

As I reflect on 2011, I keep coming back to the same things: what filled it. Yes, there were plenty of activities to keep us from sitting and twiddling our thumbs, but love, joy, peace, and purpose are the overriding memories. During dinner last night we laughed as we told stories on each other. The following is a compilation of some of the things we recalled.

Karis Joy (9 years old):

Highlights:

• Making a sock monkey, which matches her new sock monkey hat!
• Playing on her first soccer team and loving it (Next fall she plans to play flag football. Watch out, boys!)
• Skipping a grade in school (Much to Micah’s chagrin, she is now only one grade behind him.)
• Being interviewed, along with Micah and their teacher, on a McKinney TV program when Mr. Wright was named the 2011 Outstanding Teacher of the Gifted and Talented for Texas Region 10.
• Having her wise man drawing chosen by The United Way of Dallas as one of their Christmas card covers.

Micah (11 years old):

Highlights:

• Finding and catching a small pufferfish in the creek behind our house, and adopting it as a pet – what a miracle a fish like this was back there! (We found out later that our next door neighbor had “let it go” in the creek.)
• Catching a game ball tossed up in the stands by a major league catcher at a Texas Rangers game.
• Playing in his first soccer season with a team that went undefeated and won the Dallas Area Tournament of Champions.
• The day we told him that yes, we felt like God was leading us to adopt an orphan. His months of praying and campaigning were successful! (*More details about that is shared three posts back.)

Caleb (13 years old):

Highlights:

• Having the opportunity in El Salvador to preach his first sermon.
• Realizing his lawn business is not so humdrum when you happen onto pretty girls poolside.
• Cliff jumping with his siblings and dad into the Seven Pools of Oheo in Maui.
• Having beautiful girls in harem costumes sing his (Aladdin’s) praises in the musical “Aladdin.”

Derek (16 years old):

Highlights:

• Getting his driver’s license (so far, so good….).
• Snowboarding for the first time on a fathers/sons trip.
• Winning second place in his first sprint triathlon (and crossing the finish line with his mom).
• Hoisting Genie up on his shoulder in “Aladdin” (quite a change from the Disney version – our Aladdin was 220 lbs. and Genie was maybe 65 lbs!)

Dillon (17 years old):

Highlights:

• Being offered scholarships covering tuition, room and board by his #1 college choice, Baylor University, on Dec. 23 (Merry, merry Christmas!)
• Making history as he and his MBHS tennis teammates qualified for State, making them one of the top four 5A high school teams in the state of Texas.
• Memorizing 750 scriptures over the summer and qualifying for the National Bible Bee.

Brenna:

Highlights:

• Making memories with the family in Maui, the trip of a lifetime.
• Completing her first Olympic Distance Triathlon (which included her first open-water swim, a big step, as she’s not big on swimming with fish in murky waters!)
• Square dancing at Wind River Ranch, near Estes Park, CO.
• Being surprised by Chris with a date to see Les Miserables, and getting ready, long black formal and all, and out the door in 15 minutes flat (last minute surprises are all the more exciting, right?)

Chris:

Highlights:

• Leading a small group on a mission trip to Mexico, and seeing God bring 1,100 to faith in Christ.
• Enjoying a 6-week Sabbatical after 24 years of ministry.
• Taking Derek and Caleb hunting (They each got a deer!)
• Being 45 seconds off of the 3^rd place time in one of his Sprint triathlons (Inching closer to the winner’s stand!)

If those were the highlights, these were the lowlights (or is that a hair term?) Basically, these are a few things we would have gladly done without:

• Seeing Caleb brought down the mountain at Wolf Creek in a yellow body bag on a sled (Daring ski jump/accident knocked him unconscious, which led to ambulance ride to ER. Suffered a concussion that put him on the bench during basketball season.)
• Brenna at the wheel for the Maui Road to Hana (a narrow winding mountain road overlooking the ocean) trip, which was about 10 hours roundtrip in a day and included 1,234 sharp turns and 112 one-lane bridges roundtrip (Chris, who may not admit to having control issues in the car, forgot to bring his renewed driver’s license to Maui…a trial for all.)
• Forgetting to empty pockets before snorkeling…then feeling his cell phone vibrate in his pocket while 50 yards off shore (poor Derek.)

We thank God for his many blessings this year, and pray the same for you this year of 2012. Most of all, I pray for you God’s love, joy, peace, and purpose for living.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. Psalm 28:7