365 Days of Blessings, Days 205 and 206

Double Blessings Day!

Giving Thanks and Praise for:

1. Getting my poem, "Black Diamonds", published at Every Day Poets. Check it Out:
Black Diamonds

2. Meeting awesome new blogging buddies through the Be Jolly By Golly Blogfest!!! Thanks for stopping by!

3. Being just about-almost-just-that-one-present-I-forgot finished with Christmas shopping.

4. Picking out the best of the year's photos for an annual Christmas letter.

5. Bob's Sweet Stripes Candy - it's made with sugar and not corn syrup, which means everyone in our house can eat it!!!

6. Listening to Christmas music on the radio . . . I wish it would last longer, like for 12 days after Christmas day.

7. Tape.

8. Ribbons.

9. The awesome help of my daughters. They've wrapped most of the presents!!! Except their own, of course.

10. A serious family planning session for the Dawn Treader gingerbread boat, to be completed tomorrow . . . we hope. We've had three successful homemade gingerbread years. Before that, all of our houses and castles collapsed. For our plans so far, we've simplified them into a squarish boat, in the hopes that we can avoid ginger disaster. It may only be recognized as the Dawn Treader by us, and a sign in the end, but we have high hopes at this point.

I finished writing the annual Christmas letter, and I'm going to count it as blessings 11-20.

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’” Luke 2:8-12

Greetings!

We hope you are all enjoying a wonderful, warm-hearted Christmas season. We have had a wonderful year.

Anna (11) and Trisha (9) danced with Action Dance at four competitions and one convention, including a the Spotlight World Cup in Seaside, OR. They also danced at two parades, community events, and one paid gig. They continued homeschooling, and we are enjoying our second year at both Harbor Christian Home-school Co-op, and our Family Co-op. They skied, played, and swam. In addition to all of that, Anna moved from Children’s Choir to Middle School Youth Group at church, and Trisha sang a solo for Children’s Choir, and then a duet for the Christmas Program. Anna also sang on Wednesday Night Family Night worship with the Middle School band.

John (43)continued working hard as an supervising engineer at Tacoma City Light, teaching snowboarding on the weekends, working as a sound and media guy for our church, and producing dance videos for the dance studio. He also enjoyed both a summer and a fall softball season.

Tyrean (39) continued to teach, write, blog, and walk the dogs. She had some poetry and a story published this last year, and started a 365 Days of Blessing project on her blog. Participating in National Novel Writing Month in November, she challenged herself to write a 50,000 word rough draft of her Christian fantasy novel, The Crystal Sword. Tyrean is also enjoying teaching two classes at Co-op, Writers’ Workshop Adventure and The Shakespeare Affect.

Altogether, we had an amazing year, enjoying our winter, spring, summer and fall days playing together and learning together. We were blessed by gracious friends who hosted us in Washington D.C. over the 4th of July. They showed us the sights, gave us tips on touring our nation’s capitol that were invaluable on hot, crowded summer days. We loved every moment of our trip, and especially enjoyed our experience acting as soldiers at Williamsburg. We worshiped at the National Cathedral, one of the largest Cathedrals in the world. We were wowed by the fireworks over the Washington Monument. We toured many of the 17 buildings of the Smithsonian Museum. We finished our trip with the monuments and memorials, with the Korean memorial reminding us that Freedom is Not Free. This memorable trip of a lifetime was truly a gift to us from our wonderful friends – Thanks Wilborns!

If that wasn’t enough, we also made our annual trek to Creation Fest, where John had the privilege of filming B roll video. We all went on the Middle School Road Trip, and the Youth Ski trip at Mt. Baker. The kids went to Zoo camp again this year, adding to their knowledge of the animal kingdom. We also volunteered at the Harbor Hope Cat Rescue for our second year, and enjoyed our furry friends there. The girls both dream of working with, or saving animals, someday, when they aren’t dancing. Of course, if you see them at the store, in the library or just about anywhere, their feet are tap, tap, tapping. So, maybe someday there will be an animal and tap dancing show coming to a stage near you. All silliness aside, we’re wishing you a

Merry Christmas!!!