{2014 Year End Letter}

Well, what a busy year this has been.  I have posted so little, that putting this post up almost seems silly to me, except that I know there are those of you who will click through the link from Facebook, in order to see my yearly recap.  You can probably tell from my horrible lack of posting that this year has been busier than most.  It has certainly felt that way, yet we are all still doing well and thriving even in the midst of what sometimes seems like chaos.

Gabe (16) is now a junior in high school.  He has had some amazing experiences this year.  He continues to keep top grades, earning a 4.0 in the Spring, and on track to continue to do so this year.  He took two AP classes last year, in addition to his Honors courses, and is taking part in an exclusive AP combination course this year as a part of the Cambridge Capstone program.  His track season was not quite where he would have liked it to be, and then he took driver's ed this summer, which pulled him out of summer practices with his team.  This tough combination set him up for a slightly rocky start to cross country this year, but he made a commitment to training hard and doing whatever his coaches told him to.  This commitment paid off in a big way, and he raced varsity at the end of the season, with a season PR of 16:06, and joining the varsity team as they traveled to the Nike Northwest Regional competition, where they earned a first place finish.  First place qualified them to be flown by Nike to the National competition, held in Portland.  Their team finished a fantastic 3rd place, and Gabe had the experience of a lifetime being "wined and dined" by Nike while at their campus.  Jon and I were able to drive down and watch the race, and being there and being a part of the excitement was very fun!  Gabe also still is playing the saxophone in the school Wind Ensemble and playing drums with us at church each week.

Bethany (14) is now a freshman.  She has adjusted to high school with ease.  She is so silly, sweet and friendly that she makes friends super easily.  She is enjoying choir and is taking French as her foreign language.  Even though high marks do not come as easily for her, she works hard to understand all her subjects.  She also caught the running bug this summer, and joined the girls' cross country team.  As a freshman, she has some talent and ran most of her season on varsity, except for when she was injured.  A hip injury kept her out of the Regionals meet, but she followed her doctor's orders and is back to running a few days a week now.  She is very happy when she is allowed to run.  She also helps with our children's ministries at church and has become a favorite babysitter for a family from my work. 

 Michaela (11) is now a 6th grader, and is still attending Holmes, which is also where I teach.  We enjoy our short morning and afternoon drives together.  I will miss her company next year, when she will possibly be joining her brother and sister at the high school through a pilot program for 7th graders.  Micci is at the top of her class, excelling in reading, writing and math.  Her favorite books are the Harry Potter series.  She ran cross country this fall, and achieved her goal of qualifying to run at the All-City meet.  She is also still very involved in Irish dance; she literally bounces all the time!  She just had her Winter Dance Recital, and Jon and I were very impressed to see how far she has come since last year.  She has made some good friends at school and continues her close friendship with girls at church as well.  Micci is a regular helper with children's ministries and loves planning fun events for us at home.

Jon (I won't say his age) has had an exciting year as well.  He completed his first full marathon in October!  The church is going well.  Last year I posted that we were outgrowing our facility, and I'm happy to announce that we moved into a new facility in August.  We are enjoying our new temporary home in a community center not far from our house.  We are working on building deeper relationships with other churches in both the UK and Mexico, and this led to Jon being able to take a trip to Dubai in November.  This was a very exciting trip for him.  Jon is continuing with Guitar Club and teaching private lessons this year, although he has scaled back a bit.  This has been nice because it has meant that he has been more free to come to cross country meets with me this fall!  We both keep very busy trying to balance the different events that our children are involved in.

As for me, I seem to consistently find myself in new situations and with new challenges.  I am now working full time, teaching music, which is fun and exciting, yet creates challenges for our family schedule.  I am also now a Certified OULA Instructor, and teach 3 classes a week, developing and building a fun community around OULA that encourages people to have fun and move their bodies.  I love it!  Also, as a part of my teacher certification for the state of Washington, I am now in the process of working through the National Boards candidacy process.  This is a big endeavor, but the program has recently been restructured, which allows me to complete it over 3 years, in smaller chunks, rather than trying to do it all in one year.  Jon and I both try to make it to every event for our kiddos that we can, but sometimes we have to miss out.  This makes for busy schedules all around, but we enjoy what we do and we recognize that we only have a few years left with our kiddos at home, so we are making the most of this time with them.  

We wish everyone, near and far, a very merry Christmas and a happy NewYear! We hope our year end letter for 2014 finds you joyful and well, and looking forward to 2015 with anticipation of good things to come!

'til next time,

Becca, Jon, Gabe, Beth, and Micci