2009 Christmas letter and pictures

1. Merry Christmas!
We hope this letter finds everyone happy and healthy during this Christmas season. We
have so much to be thankful for, and we’d like to share some of our highlights from this past
year with you…
Thankfully, Brian’s job has held strong for him and has actually kept him quite busy.
We’re so grateful for that, especially given the state of the economy and with so many people out
of work. He continues to lead our small group every Sunday night and also continues to serve
communion at church month on, month off, with Stephen. In July, we were able to meet up with
Brian’s dad, siblings, and their families, to camp for the weekend. We had such a good time and
immediately made our reservations at the same place for next summer!
Stephen finally had a huge growth spurt that was long overdue, so that now makes me the
shorty of our family! Back in March, he began doing fundraising for his Eagle Project. With
four bottle drives that raised $1500, he was able to organize and install a prayer walk at our
church. Stephen and his crew poured cement and built and installed an 8’ wooden cross and
three benches. It all turned out very nicely. In the spring, he also ran track and qualified for the
Regional Meet in the mile run. That was a great way to end his freshman year! In July, Stephen
began driver’s training. He completed segment one just in time to get his permit the morning we
left for South Haven to camp for the weekend. So, he was able to get in a few hours right away.
I haven’t been on the edge of my seat as I anticipated, so that’s a good thing Stephen
immediately began cross country training once school got out in June, attended cross country
camp for a week in August, and began his official cross country season the beginning of
September. He’s a sophomore this year and continues to do very well in school. He qualified
for the State Cross Country Meet, individually, which was awesome. Stephen was only the
second sophomore ever, at Dakota, to qualify as an individual, so it was pretty exciting!
Brian’s in 8th grade this year and also continues to do well in school. He participated in
track last spring, really enjoyed it, and was selected to participate in the District Meet for the
mile run, which was cool. During the summer, Brian got up every morning to go with Stephen
for cross country conditioning. It was good endurance training for his upcoming football season.
In August, we had the opportunity to go to New York, for a week, for a national Federation
Baseball tournament in Cooperstown. It was an awesome experience for Brian to be able to
participate in that. (Thanks goes out to my mother who came to stay with Stephen the week we
were gone, as he had to leave for his cross country camp the day before we came back home
from New York.) Brian began this school year playing football, and although he broke his wrist
later in the season, he enjoyed it and looks forward to playing again next year. He recently made
the basketball team again, so he’ll be busy with that until mid-March.
As for myself, I finished the third grade long-term that I began October ’08 and started
another one, in fifth grade, that lasted until the end of the school year in June. I also had the
opportunity to teach summer school again this year. I taught 4th grade for the second year in a
row and loved it. I recently finished my Master of Arts in Teaching Degree. I’ve been avidly
working on my 86 page thesis for 2½ months and am glad to be finished! I have a third grade
long-term teaching position arranged for the second half of this school year, so I’m excited to
begin that in January. In addition to hosting our home group each week, I continue to help
supply home-baked cookies to visitors at our church and enjoy attending all of the boys’ sporting
events.
Those are just some of the highlights of this year. God has been good, as always, and has
given us endless blessings…good health, steady work, great kids, friends, safety, encouragement,

2. hope, love, and many more. Let us continue to praise and worship the one and only King of
Kings, Jesus, who loves us so much and wants us to continue to draw close to Him in all
circumstances. We hope you all have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful beginning to a new
year!
Love~
Brian, Mindy, Stephen, & Brian
Stephen (Men in Black) &
Brian (?) - Halloween ‘09
Stephen – Fall ‘09
Stephen–Varsity CC ‘09
Stephen –
Homecoming ‘09
Brian – Cooperstown National Baseball
Tournament – August 2009
Mindy & Brian – Sept. ‘09
Stephen’s Prayer Walk Project – June ‘09
Brian – 2nd Joe Dumar’s Basketball
Brian – Fall ‘09 Championship – November 2009 Mindy & Brian – December 2009