Merry Christmas to all of you! This year has been an eventful one: whale watching with Luke's homeschool group; building a castle on a rainy day; lots of Phineas and Ferb drawings; petting an Emu; Luke stepping on a rattlesnake and living to tell about it! We spent a few days in the snow in March with the School of Worship, two weeks at CreationFest in Cornwall, England, and two weeks in Florida with my mom, Neil's folks, sister, and brother-in-law. In between, there were beach days, park days, short family trips, various illnesses, school work, lots of drumming for Daddy, and on and on it goes. One exciting piece of more current news: Neil is in the process of becoming a U.S. Citizen! His interview is this Tuesday, so please pray:)
As I review all the pictures from last year, I see a 6-year-old smiling boy (who just lost his 8th tooth!) and two very tired parents. I am battling a third bout with strep and Neil is awaiting some results from an MRI, yet we are thankful. I was released from the care of the oncology department as it's been 10 years since my cancer diagnosis. Hard to believe that 10 years ago I had no hair and no real hope of having a child, according to the doctors. Yet here we are, day in and day out, seeking to raise our boy in the Lord and seeking to grow ourselves.
We suffered two losses in our family this year. Just recently, my great aunt Lily (89) entered into her reward. She and her husband Art served on the mission field in Japan many years ago. She and Art have been married for 63 years, so her passing has been very difficult. Back in June, my dad's wife of over 25 years passed away as well. Sharon was only 56 years old. Whether young or old, death is a robber; so at Christmas and every day, we are so thankful that Jesus conquered death!
We're keeping it simple this year ... not too many gifts, not too much traveling. Praying you all have a lovely holiday celebrating with family and friends.
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. ... Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour. (C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening)
5 comments:
What a glorious testimony of God's faithfulness, Romy!! Praise the Lord for the "living hope"that we have in Him!-I love the passage from Spurgeon. I read from it most mornings....(I need to 'locate' this one!:)
Love and blessings, "Ma" Chaddick (Neil started the "ma" thing, as you may recall!:)
Beautiful, thanks for sharing, blessings to you!!!
I love you guys so so much! You seriously always have made me feel part of your lives and valuable to you. There are not many families like yours and I can't even begin to tell you what you all mean to me and all of the Bear Hug Band guys too! Thank you for serving the Lord and letting me come along with you while you do! Praise Jesus for you! He has blessed me so much by giving me you three as my friends. I love you!
Jake Rowley
Thanks for the update Romy. It's awesome to reflect on how good God is! Glad we got to be part of your travels. It was great to see you and So good to meet Neil's family! :)
haha, that last comment from "dad" was actually from me. I didn't realize Mario's dad had used my computer and didn't log out, so it posted from him. Haha. Merry Christmas, sorry for the confusion! :)
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