The time has come to write the annual Christmas letter. As I write, I am sitting amidst the glow of the Christmas tree, fireplace on, and Christmas music playing in the background. This morning as I was having breakfast I continued reading the book, “one thousand gifts.” I had been reflecting on what I was going to write in my letter and the answer was right in front of me - JOY! In Ann Voskamp’s book she speaks of living a joy-filled life. Sometimes in the hectic pace of our lives, full of mundane routine, it is difficult to find joy daily. But I believe joy is everywhere, we just have to open our eyes and hearts to it. May you be filled with JOY this Christmas and see gifts all around you in the coming year.
An overview of our year…
In Jan/Feb, we made our annual trek to Maui for a mid-winter dose of paradise. Jaret and Terry had fun ziplining through the treetops one afternoon while Kirra and I spent some girl time shopping the market and hanging by the pool. During our Maui time, we enjoyed paddle boarding and getting up close and personal with some turtles at Napili Bay.
Jaret wrapped up a season of basketball with his team winning bronze. He enjoyed basketball but didn’t like that it kept our family from skiing on weekends so made a decision that he would take a break from it. He had a good season of diving and took a short break to focus on school but is looking forward to diving again in the new year. Jaret played ball this summer and loves the sport. He and Terry went to Seattle again in June for some father-son bonding over Mariner’s games and even did a tour of the stadium on this trip. Jaret is in Grade 5 now and is busy with homework but is definitely finding his strengths in math and science. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up...a professional baseball player or an economist.
Kirra is now in Grade 2 and she absolutely loves school. She was sick one day this fall and when I told her she had to stay home to rest and get better, she cried because she just wanted to be at school. Kirra has continued dance with her dancenastics class. This year she is thrilled that her friend Kaycee is in dance with her. Kirra played soccer in the spring and had a great coach (teehee - I helped coach the team). It was a fun season but we missed a number of games due to the rainy weather. Kirra is full of energy and creativity. She loves to read, craft, and can’t get enough time hanging out with her friends. When she grows up she wants to be a vet and she would love nothing more than a pet puppy.
Terry continues to work as Director of Finance for Compute Canada and really enjoys his job. An added bonus is no commute (especially great in the recent -37℃ temperatures). He travels periodically and enjoys the chance to connect with colleagues in person when doing so. He also continues to serve on the Board of Fort Calgary. And I can’t forget to mention his favourite activity - cheering on the Seahawks. In September we met Kim and Jackie for a weekend in Seattle and a Seahawks game. They won and we had a fabulous time!
I continue to work as Elementary Vice-Principal at Bearspaw Christian School and love my job. In what little free time I have, I try to keep up my blog and running. This summer I ran the SeaWheeze Half in Vancouver with my friend Rachel. This coming year we won’t be doing Seawheeze but I hope to run the Calgary ScotiaBank Half with friend Nichole. I love the time I can spend with family and friends. A highlight this year was a trip to Vegas with friends Kelli and Sandra where we hiked Red Rock Canyon, shopped, saw a cirque show and spent time catching up by the pool. Hopefully some more girl trips can be planned.
Summer was also busy but fun. We spent time in Saskatchewan with both of our families and celebrated Terry’s parents’ 50th anniversary on July long weekend. We followed that with a trip to Chilliwack to visit friends Pam and Patrick and their boys, enjoying time on Cultus Lake kneeboarding and tubing. We also caught more baseball games in Seattle and visited family in Victoria and the Vancouver area. We enjoyed seeing a pod of Orca’s on the ferry ride to Victoria. A week in August was spent with the Tysdal family in the Shuswaps where we all had fun cruising around on the Seadoo and waterskiing and tubing behind the boat. Such great memories made each year!
Wishing you and yours a most blessed Christmas season - full of His abundant grace, love, gratitude and JOY!
Much Love,
Terry, Jenn, Jaret & Kirra
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