2007 Christmas letter

Although a lot of people who read my blog will get this letter, I think I'll post it anyway.

Mele Kalikimaka
Merry Christmas in Hawaiian

We’re almost to the end of another year. Where did 2007 go?

We need to start by giving thanks to God for His grace and mercy on us throughout this year.

Looking back by month:
*January
Derrill started a new job at Sterling Commerce.

*February
Amy & I saw “Willy Wonka” with some friends and thousands of school children in the Playhouse Square area of Cleveland.
Amy made a game to enter in the Life of Faith Board-game contest.

*March
Derrill & I went to a Selah concert. (It was great!)
All three of us went to the Cincinnati Homeschool Conference.
Amy & I went to a Scrapbooking Expo in Columbus with some friends from Zanesville.
Amy started voice lessons.
Amy was the winner of a doll in the Life of Faith contest. She was one of the five finalists. Very, very exciting!

*April
Derrill had adrenal fatigue hit which then affected the rest of the year.
Amy & I went to see the Monet exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Amy & I also saw the “Seussical: The Musical” (again with friends and the school children).

*May
My sister Amy & her husband came to visit. Mike had some training in Cleveland for a week, so they spent a good amount of time with us for that week.
Derrill, Amy & I saw the play “Junie B. Jones” at one of our favorite local theaters in Barberton.

*June
We went to Omaha the first week in June. While there we saw “Peter Pan” at the Omaha Playhouse. That was fun!
Amy turned 12 and had a sleepover party.

*July
Derrill’s sister and family came to visit for a few days.

*August
Amy had her voice recital. Derrill’s parents came to visit that weekend.

*September and October
Looks like these were months where nothing out of the ordinary happened. J

*November
We went to Hawai’i.
We celebrated our 20th anniversary.

*December
Preparing for Christmas.
A friend & I are going to see the Monet exhibit in Columbus.
Derrill & I are going to see “White Christmas” at the Carousel Dinner Theater in Akron with another couple.
On New Year’s Eve we’re heading to Virginia for a few days.

All of the above only tells the highlights of the things we’ve done this year. It’s had its difficulties in that Derrill’s new job has been very challenging. His health hasn’t been that great either, therefore affecting everything because he’s not had the energy to do all he’d like. Despite the problems, we’ve been incredibly blessed to do the things we’ve done this year (including our trip to Hawai’i). As I said God has been generous and merciful. Derrill has had exactly what he’s needed to get through each day, although sometimes it hasn’t seemed that way. We’ve been blessed to have a great marriage for 20 years! We celebrated our anniversary (and Thanksgiving) in Hawai’i. See Ann’s blog for pictures http://wintersedgehome.blogspot.com/.

We are thankful to be able to homeschool Amy. It’s gone pretty well. She’s done well this year with voice lessons. She’s also teaching herself guitar and continues with piano. She’s become our expert computer person in most areas even surpassing her dad in some things. She’s got her own website and developed one for some friends of ours. Her favorite thing to do on the computer is post on AGplaythings and AGfansboard, both American Girl message boards. She’s got lots of ideas on what can be done with AG dolls. She’s learned to sew doll outfits thus saving lots of money. She also sold one on eBay.

I have also been sewing a lot. If you check the archives of my blog you’ll see. Feel free to check my shop at http://momawake.etsy.com/.

I’m so thankful to be a wife and mom, and to be able to serve my family (I need prayer to do it better). God has blessed me with exactly what I need. From Derrill…Hi everyone, we pray this letter meets you at a time of blessing. From Amy…Greetings to all in the name of the Lord! I hope you are all doing very well.
Derrill, Ann, and Amy