Gavin's 11th Birthday

Gavin turned 11 on the 18th. All of a sudden, he's growing up too fast! It wakes me up a little bit to the fact that we only have a few years left to prepare him for being on his own some day. It's fun to watch his personality and interests grow as he ages.

On his birthday-day, he and I went skiing at Snow Bowl here in Flagstaff. We both love downhill skiing. I wish we could afford to do it more often!

We decided to take one of the lifts all the way to the top. I didn't realize the only way down were black diamond runs. Gavin was a little scared as we headed down, but he sure was proud to tell his friends he went down a black diamond :-)

Since the kids had school off on Monday, we decided to do Gavin's birthday party with his friends from Sunday night to Monday morning. They had a great time swimming at the Flagstaff Athletic Club and having a sleepover (which is fairly rare for our kids).

Happy New Year!

I just heard the neighbors running outside clanking bottles and screaming, "Happy New Year"! It must be that time of year again. I can't help but reminisce about the previous year...the blessings, the trials, and everything in between.

Overall, it's been a great year:

• We were miraculously granted the ability to purchase our home for way less than it's worth. 
• Sara got a house cleaning job that helps to pay for our slightly higher living expenses now that we're paying a mortgage. 
• Our kids are all in the same charter school and they love it. 
• We got another puppy, and she is so good so far

Here are some of the challenging parts:

• Aubri is still struggling with her mood stability. We do our best to stick to our gluten/dairy/grain/starch free diet, but it's hard to tell if it's making a difference. We're working with a natural-path to find some natural remedies that could help, but so far it's only gotten worse with the ones we've tried.
• Gavin is entering the "tween" stage, which means video games, friends, and "being cool" are all of a sudden more important than the things that are really important. We've got some re-guiding ahead of us.
• The puppy is great, but Sara has discovered she is greatly allergic to her. We are not quite sure what the solution would be. The kids would be devastated if we had to sell her.

When I look back at the year, the one thing that comes to mind is how faithful God is. No matter what our circumstance is, it's so evident that He is there with us. I would be so lost without His guidance.

So, the new year, as usual, comes with lots of unknowns attached to it. I celebrate 4 years of serving as the worship pastor at North Point Fellowship this summer and I have to take a six week sabbatical. We've decided to do a road trip during that time up to Yellowstone, through the Black Hills, and then visiting friends and family in the mid-west. We'll have to be creative about how to make the long travel days somewhat enjoyable. It'll be interesting. I have a difficult time taking time off, so 6 weeks off will be really strange... probably good, but it'll take a little time to get used to. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us this year!

Meet Lucy!

Sara and I decided to get another puppy to add to the family. This time we were a bit more specific on breed and narrowed it down to a golden retriever. All the local breeders were charging around $1500 for a full bred golden, but Sara found a family selling full bred golden pups in Phoenix for $500 a piece. Sara and her friend went down and picked out the ones they wanted a couple weeks ago and we got it set up for a Christmas morning surprise with the kids. We decided to name her Lucy. She is about 7 weeks old right now.

It has actually been a really easy first day with Lucy. She's not really potty trained yet, but she knows what to do when we bring her outside. She eats and plays, then she sleeps quite a bit. She loves laying and sleeping in her kennel, which is great! The kids absolutely adore her. She's already turning out to be a huge blessing to our family!