Merry Christmas!

For those that did not get our Christmas letter in the mail, it is either because I don't have your address, have the wrong address, or forgot to put your address on the envelope.  And yes, I did that.  For example, I'm pretty sure I mailed Matt and Jen's letter with only their names on the front of the envelope.  No return address, no mailing address.   Yeah.  That's floating around in Postage Land somewhere. :)

Anyway, here is our Christmas Letter and photo for those who wish to read it:

Christmas 2011

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.” Ps 103:2

Dear           

We hope you are counting the Lord’s blessings in your life, and are reflecting on His great sacrifice of love for you.  Would you believe this is our tenth Christmas letter?  Josh and I can scarcely believe that we are celebrating ten years of marriage this Christmas season, but it’s true.  Several gray hairs, a lot of experience, and boatloads of God’s grace later, and here we are. J 

Josh’s work schedule doesn’t seem to change much from year to year, which is probably a good thing!  He is just as busy as ever with rehabbing houses and landlording, though this year I have seen him grow and change in his management skills.  On the home front, he has become an even better husband and father!  If Josh works on Saturdays he usually takes Noah along, and he displays such patience with Noah’s inquisitive ways.  It has been such a blessing to see him be a great dad. 

Joanna has rediscovered “free” time this year since Noah started preschool.  I now have 3 extra hours every morning with which to get my work accomplished.  This has afforded me an uninterrupted Bible-reading time, and piano practice time, in addition to time for the everyday errands and housework.  I had forgotten what it is like to meander through the grocery store thinking complete thoughts!  Parenting gets more challenging and humbling with each passing year, as I see just how far I have to go.  God has been working in my heart, ever stretching me and urging me to rely on His grace—it is sufficient! 

Noah, at four years old, is fully engaged in LIFE!  This boy constantly pleads, “Watch me do this!”  Weapons fascinate him (he’s a boy through and through), and it is remarkable to me how just about anything can be pretended into a sword or gun. J He is learning to read, which delights him to no end to find that he knows what something says.  We continue to teach him Bible memory verses each week, which he enjoys, and teach him about the Lord.  One of our prayers is that Noah would trust the Lord as his Savior, as that is his greatest need.

We have enjoyed seeing lots of friends and family this past year, and hope that we can visit with many more of you in 2012.  If you would like to keep up with what is going on in our lives, please feel free to visit our blog at:  http://aclayinthelife.blogspot.com/.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!