Dear family and friends,
“Write your trials in the sand and carve your
blessings in stone." Unknown
author
I’m quite sure I’ve posted that quote before, but it seems
especially appropriate as I sit down to write our annual "Happy New
Year!" letter to you. It's actually the first day of January, and as we
say "hello" to it, we are saying "good-bye" to Zac heading
back to his base today. Micah will leave
in a few days. It was great to all be
together and I am once again thankful for a family photo with all of us
present.
Thank you for all the
beautiful Christmas cards and family photos that have come to our mailbox this
year! I don’t know how you all remain so organized and on top of this
season of photos and deadlines, parties and gifts. Oh well, a friend of mine
reminded me that we are still well within the "12 Days of Christmas"
leading up to Epiphany on Jan. 6th. So...it's all good! I do hope that your
Christmas season, however long, was full of all things good and meaningful.
Looking ahead to 2013 is an exciting venture today! Like most of you, 2012 held many awesome
blessings and a few various trials along the way. It was a year of healing from
the loss of Eliana for Caleb and Amy. We
still miss her. Nathanael and Jen began their journey toward adoption
and it is possible they may be blessed with a baby as early as this spring!
Some of our blessings came in the form of accomplishments, like Zac and Micah
finishing Boot Camp in March and entering their training in Aviation. They are
currently stationed at the same base in Jacksonville, S.C. Nathanael, Jen, Caleb and Amy enjoyed some
promotions in their work environment while Seth and Danielle' finished up their
year of college while also working at their respective jobs. Jon-Mark worked a
couple different jobs this year and Michaela entered her junior year of H.S.
Dan's business had its share of struggles, but ended the year with a profit and
a potential project on the horizon. The AMPS employees are amazing and we
constantly see the hand of God in this venture. My accomplishment? Joining our local Y.M.C.A. It was time. We were also blessed as new relationships
began this year as well as old ones being rekindled. Danielle’ has been dating
Nathan Smith for 8 mo. now, and Micah has been dating Kat Chang, also a Marine
in the aviation department. It has been fun getting to know Nathan and his
family, and we were delighted to meet Kat when we traveled to S.C. for a quick
Thanksgiving visit with the guys! Last,
but not least, the blessings of belonging to our local church was multiplied
many times over this year.
As far as the trials,
we will keep trying to learn from them as we symbolically write them in sand
and allow the current to wash them away. Our trials were minor when
compared to so many of our friends and family this year. Some of them lost a
child, spouse or parent to death while several others lost their job of many
years. A few experienced a painful divorce. Others faced seemingly insurmountable health problems and weeks in the
hospital. Thru it all, we witnessed the hand of God enabling each one to
persevere and grow stronger.
In closing, I'd like
to share a book I just received for Christmas. "1000 Gifts" by Ann
Voskamp. Only two chapters into it, I've already made my new year's
resolution, which is to be more thankful. The title comes from a season in her
life when Ann challenged herself to write down 1000 things she was thankful
for. I’m setting out to do the same this
year. Would you consider joining me on
this challenge? You can find Ann's writings at aholyexperience.com.
My journal and pen are already beside my bed, and I figure
if I average writing down just 2 or 3 things a day that I'm thankful for, my
2013 will close out with a new perspective of finding beauty in the ordinary as well as the
extraordinary. I've complained far too much this year, and this book in my
hands was most certainly God ordained. It's all about new beginnings and
redeeming the days we have left! As I try to do just that, I hope to record the
things I should be grateful for every day.
I hope to take more time to sit
and really listen to friends and family, less time tackling projects that
ultimately do not matter. I hope to enjoy the moments with my three remaining
kids at home, instead of mentally exhausting myself thinking of all that I'm
not getting done. My hope is to find the good in situations, rather than
focusing on the negatives. I will strive to pray more, and complain less about
our current political situation. I hope to spend more time sending cards and
pictures to our aging parents, and less time organizing the stuff that ends up
disorganized anyway. I hope to devote more time to having lunches or coffee
with our adult kids, less time shopping or wasting time. By year’s end, I hope
that I've enjoyed more time watching family DVD's or making memories playing
games rather than watching meaningless shows on T.V. I’m already planning to carve out more time
for some romantic, impromptu dates with my Dan, rather than spending those
moments on the phone, e-mail or facebook. Most importantly, I hope to spend more time in
the God’s Word just being still and allowing Him to speak. Yes, there are MORE than 1,000 gifts to be
grateful for.
If you are reading this, you must be a friend or family
member, and so I'll end by thanking YOU for all you've meant to us this year!
May God bless you and keep you, and may you grow in His grace and
strength. Colossians 2:6 – 7.
Much love from our home to yours !
Debbie (and the Frederick family)
No comments:
Post a Comment