Christmas Letter 2019

"And the Word [Jesus Christ] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

Jesus came to this earth as a part of His plan to save and Redeem us, who are wretched and undeserving! We are so thankful for our Lord and Savior for humbling Himself to fail humanity, living a perfect and holy life, dying on the cross for our sins, and raising from the dead to reign in glory forever and ever! When you think of the greatness of this truth, how can you do anything less than fall on your knees and cry out, "Hallelujah! What a Savior!"

As we reflect on this last year, this is the theme of our year, "Hallelujah! What a Savior!" God has blessed us richly, protected us from much, and continued to grow us in His grace.

I was thinking, the middle kids never get to go first, so let's go out of order, shall we? :)

Marcus LaMont is now 5.5 years old and he is growing leaps and bounds physically and mentally! He is now officially half an inch taller than his older sister. Marcus played little league T-Ball this spring and had the best time. This kid is quite an athlete like his uncle Austin and can pretty easily accomplish whatever he sets his mind to. We learned Marcus' vision is not great, so he is now wearing glasses. We are trying to help him not completely destroy his glasses while he keeps being a boy and smashing his face into just about everything. Marcus is loving first grade and soaks up all academics like a sponge! He loves to read, especially his Bible, devotionals, and anything about bugs. He also started learning the piano this year, and let's just say that he has an incredible ear! Marcus has now officially changed sides career-wise and wants to be a cop!

Nyah Joelle is 4 years old and she is definitely coming up on teenage years early! This girl is caring, sweet, sassy, talkative, and hilarious. The doctor says we're raising giants (well, not really Geneva), and Nyah is in the 95 percentile for height. Nyah loves books; so whether she is making up the story line or she's being read to, she's having a good time for sure. This girl played soccer for the first time this fall and she had a lot of fun! Nyah wants to do everything her big brother and sissy are doing, so that means that she is quickly catching up to them (at least she thinks she is). This also means that she has started preschool and is absolutely loving it. The kid is good too... she can already tell you the shapes of spheres, cones, cylinders, and cubes. Lastly, Nyah is insistent that she wants to be a doctor, probably because she loves and always wants to help people. :)

Geneva Nevaeh is a big 7 year old now! This girl is the sweetest and loveliest of young ladies in our eyes. She recently entered the giggle-fest stage of life, and once she gets going, the girl can't stop! Geneva is also growing, but let's just say that she's probably going to be more like mommy and be fun-sized. :) Geneva is growing in her love for reading and is doing a good job reading poems, books, and the Bible for our family devotions. Her new glasses help her out a lot with reading better! Geneva started the ABeka video school for second grade this year! She is also taking piano lessons (Gramma  graciously teaches all of the kids) and she's doing a great job. Geneva also played soccer this fall, is a good forward, and scored some great goals! She is still set on being a dentist when she grows up, but now wants to first pursue being a teacher and then dentistry. :)

Adam has had a different year of office work instead of working outside while recovering from a back injury. By God's grace, Adam's injury has improved enough so that he can be back outside... just in time for the snow. :) Besides work, Adam has really enjoyed his new responsibility at our church (Grace Community Church) and is happy to serve the church body however he can. Adam's main hobbies this year are comprised of chasing kids, physical therapy, being the fix-it/project guy, and buying and shooting more guns. He was able to go to Pahrump, NV with Seth and Jeff for a fun week-long firearms class with Front Sight. He loved it and can't wait to go again! Adam was also able to enjoy a guy's camping trip and enjoy many cigars without his wife telling him how stinky he was.

I, Ally, am still a stay-at-home mom, sitting on the couch watching Oprah and eating bon bons all day long. ;) Right... I've never even tried a bon bon before. Are they any good?! I stay busy with homeschooling, Bible study, and teaching. This is a wonderful, stretching, sanctifying, and beautiful season of life that I am ever-thankful to God for!

We've continued to foster little babes here and there, and we've been thankful for every one of them that God has brought into our home to love.

We didn't do much traveling, but did go to Washington for Adam's grandmother's memorial service back in July. Our hearts are saddened that Joyce is no longer with us, but we rejoice that she is now with our Savior! It was a blessing to visit with Adam's family in Washington while we were up there!

May you be filled with joy in Jesus now and always!
Adam, Ally, and kiddos

*Photography credit to Adam's wonderful cousin, Amy Graves, for taking our family photo at the top of this letter!