I think I have finally mailed out our final Christmas cards this year... better late than never. If you didn't get one this year and would like to receive one next time, please update me with your address & I'll add you to my next mailing list (...or you can just blame the postman...). ;)
Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year from the Medals!
We hope you have been
having a joyful Christmas season. During the last several weeks we
have enjoyed reading through John Piper's Good
News of Great Joy, a series of advent
readings. It has been encouraging to read of the good news of
Christmas: that the Son of God became man, lived a perfect life, died
an atoning death, and rose again after three days. On the eve of
Christmas we used Enoch's toy Nativity Set to re-enact the birth of
Jesus from chapter 2 of Luke's gospel; one thing that stuck out to us
was how Mary “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her
heart.” After that we sang O Holy Night,
which reminded us that it is the “King of Kings” who was laid in
a lowly manger. Truly the Christmas season is a good time to be
reminded of the gospel.
We have also been reminded
of how gracious God was to us in 2013. The fall semester down in
Starkville was a pleasant and busy one, and we are now enjoying the
Christmas break. Hugh is working on finishing up a few grant
proposals as well as prepping for a new class for this coming spring:
Stochastic Optimization (you can wikipedia that one if necessary).
;) He and Enoch (now 2 years old) have both been enjoying the warm
weather down South this fall/winter by playing outside as often as
they can. Their favorite outdoor activities are swinging,
stump-jumping, riding in Enoch's plastic push car, and playing
hide-and-seek. When inside, they enjoy wrestling, playing the guitar,
learning to count, and reading. Little Man is also talking nonstop
these days and loves learning new phrases as well as building towers
and playing with toy construction equipment.
The
girls have also been doing well lately. Karis is 7 months old now
and growing well. She is so sweet and snuggly yet also very
determined and adventurous when playing. Right now she enjoys
putting everything into her mouth as well as grabbing faces and
giving kisses. She and Leanna go to therapy twice per week these
days (physical, occupational, and speech), which is aiding us in
helping her develop important skills. Leanna is thankful for the
daily joys (and challenges) of being a stay-at-home mom and is
relishing this stage with both kiddos – a sweet, snuggly infant and
an ever-learning, active toddler. She has also already begun
planning her spring garden and is looking forward to beginning
another round of reading through the Bible in a year, chronologically
this time.
A
few of our favorite memories from the past semester include: playing
outside, watching Karis grow and develop, picking pecans in our
backyard, growing closer to our church family, seeing Enoch engage
with the world around him, spending time with our family (in person
and on the phone/Skype), raking leaves together, hearing Karis laugh,
having a friend move in with us, eating around our dinner table,
swinging on the front porch, listening to Enoch learn to sing,
cooking together, becoming members of our new church, Redeemer, and
meeting with our church small group on Thursday nights.
As
we look forward to the coming semester, here are a few things we are
anticipating: a spring garden, a trip to Arkansas/Oklahoma/North
Dakota/Minnesota, more learning and fun with the kids, raising
chickens (possibly?), continued therapy for Karis, a short get-away
to a marriage conference (based on Ted Tripp's book What
did you expect?,
which we would highly recommend!!), and
many more memories. We will also continue to be involved with our
church, worshiping together, studying the Bible together, praying
together, and serving together.
May
the joy of Immanuel – God with us – dwell within you,
Hugh,
Leanna, Enoch, and Karis
Also, Google+ made this video for us using a random selection of photos and videos that I had uploaded from my phone. I think it's a great snapshot of some of the year's happenings. Hope you enjoy!
