Christmas Letter 2016

"Sacred infant, all divine, what a tender love was Thine,

Thus to come from highest bliss down to such a world as this!

Hail, Thou ever-blessed morn! Hail, redemption's happy dawn! 

Sing through all Jerusalem, Christ is born in Bethlehem."

- from See, amid the Winter's Snow by Edward Caswall (1851)

Hello to all of our friends and family! 

This year has been full of God's blessings and grace to sustain with the ups and downs.  He is faithful!  Just to give an abbreviated version of our year, here are a few highlights:

- My dad, Wade, was diagnosed with prostate cancer last December and had it successfully removed in April. We are thankful all is now well. 

- My grandparents, Clyde and Wynona, both passed away in March.  We believe they are now in heaven praising our great God.

- We went to Seattle to visit Adam's family in August and had a blast!  It was a wonderful time together.

- Adam and I celebrated our first milestone anniversary... 5 years!

Here are the annual updates on our little family.  How about I start with youngest first this time!

Nyah Joelle (15 months old) --- this little girl has made 2016 full of fun memories and interesting lessons.  Lets just say we thought we knew how to raise children well until this little girl came along and learned some independence!  With that said, she has daddy completely wrapped around her little finger... seriously.  Nyah is now a walking, talking, dancing, smiling, and sometimes crying toddler.  She is one of the most polite little 15 month olds I know... when she doesn't want something, she almost always says, "No tank que."  Her other favorite phrases are "cha" or "yah."  This girl is so much fun and we love her to pieces!

Marcus LaMont (2.5 yrs old) --- airplanes, dinosaurs, football, and chocolate milk are some of this kid's favorite things!  This guy is mostly smiles and monster "rawrs."  Marcus has grown so much this year... he's only an inch shorter than his older sis!  With two sisters, this kid is sticking close to dad and learning all the man ways.  For example, Marcus tries to boss his sisters with his "daddy voice."  Also, Marcus has noticed that Adam wears shorts almost all the time, and so he sneaks off and puts his shorts on after I already dressed him in pants... I think I need to hide this kid's shorts during the winter months! ;)

Geneva Nevaeh (4 yrs old) --- this girl is full of smiles, hugs, snuggles, and wanting to please.  Her tender heart is dear to ours and she is already a little mother hen, taking after her momma.  Now that Geneva's hair is *finally* long enough, she and I enjoy doing all sorts of fun hair 'dos.  She usually asks for "Ana hair" or "Elsa hair" (characters from the movie Frozen).  Geneva canNOT wait to go to big girl school!  She talks about school buses and her friends all the time.  For now, she really loves her Sunday school class at church.  This girl loves going on walks, riding her bike, dancing, and sometimes even working out with mommy and daddy.

Adam --- I'm not exaggerating when I say that he really is the best husband and father we could ever ask for!  This guy is constantly sacrificing for us and blessing us in many, many ways.  One exciting thing is that Adam's back is starting to finally feel better and stronger after many physical therapy hours!  He is continuing to love his job serving the people of California.  Adam continues to enjoy working on our home with me.  This poor guy... I'm never going to run out of projects for him to do or help me with! ;)  I am most grateful that this awesome guy puts up with me!
Alisha --- the main news with me this year is that I'm not pregnant!  Ha!  So I celebrated being done having kiddos by going blonde.  Now maybe people will stop looking at my kids and questioning if they are really mine.  I am still working one day a week as a dental hygienist and also still teaching piano lessons.  My biggest priority is being there for Adam and the kiddos... I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to be home!
If you made it this far, God bless you! :)
Thank you for being our friends and family.  We love you all dearly!
With love,
Adam, Alisha, Geneva, Marcus, and Nyah
PS - big thanks to Amy Graves for taking family pictures for us!