2017 Reflections
I usually write a Christmas card letter…I just couldn’t get
it done for some reason. I have lots to
be thankful for and as I continue to move through life I only know in part when
one day I will know fully, as I am fully known.
We got to see some amazing things, we had great family adventures, we
unplugged, we lead, we cried, we hurt, we healed. Here’s where everyone is because I don’t want
to have a year when I can’t read our summary next Christmas…so here’s the
Christmas letter that almost never was…
Karson (11) my conscientious perfectionist-he’d play video
games or read books about sports or trade sports cards with any of his free
time as long as we would let him. He is
a leader who enjoys leading his siblings to construct amazing lego cities and
star wars battles (sprinkled with his sister’s Lego princess castles in the
battle for the universe). He entered 6th
grade (middle school) and began learning to play the trumpet (which we’ve
discovered is a very loud instrument).
haha When he walked in the first
day he was ready and confident. We’ve
had conversations about words and I’ve defined more words that I really want
him to know…he’s flirting with the balance of culture’s way of living life and God’s
best way of living life. He is
navigating friendships that are changing and little boys trying to understand
the grown up world much too young in my opinion. If I ask him what he is thinking he often
says nothing, but every now and then he will be chatty and want to teach me all
about what he is thinking about. I love
those moments. This year he loved the thrill rides at Disneyworld…the bigger
the drop and the faster it went the better.
He acted like meeting characters wasn’t that big a deal but he was
pretty excited to meet anybody from Star Wars and Big Hero 6. He mastered the wake board this summer and
continues to snow ski faster than I am comfortable watching him do through the
trees. 
Karis (9) my joyful song-A 4th grader this fall, she
is my living doll. She hardly ever forgets
to change her earrings and match her outfit.
She can be alone with her imagination and creating colorful glittery
projects while music is blaring and she is
singing along. She enjoys
volleyball and piano but really likes the time with her friends and her kind
piano teacher…she is highly relational and loves people. She has lots of friends and recently told me
about a conversation at school where the girls were discussing if God makes bad
things happen or not, to which she told her friends all good things come from
God he doesn’t make us sin that’s our choice.
She hears from God. I’ve prayed
this for her since she was named, her middle name is Hannah, a woman of prayer
in the Bible. She is sensitive and
caring and sees people, I mean really sees people. She has women in our church she calls
friends, though they are in their 20s.
She hasn’t learned her multiplication facts because she just doesn’t
mind not knowing them, She doesn’t worry much at all. She liked white water rafting for the first time
this year and would say that meeting Ariel, Mary Poppins, Belle, and Tinkerbell
were her highlights of Disney…though she also enjoys the thrill rides and the
fabulous shows with singing and dancing.
She now wants to be a Disney princess and perform at Disney when she
grows up. We delighted in the sights at
Glacier National Park together talking about God’s creativity for us to enjoy,
but also really loved that Aunt Jana was with us! During family dance parties she makes up her
own routines and always has a costume change.
Karter (6) my rambunctious cuddler-He began all day school
as a big Kindergartner this Fall. He
tells me all the 3 digit numbers he can add and all the words he sees that he
can read; he’s pretty proud of his academic accomplishments. His sister has taught him a lot in their many
sessions of school in her room. He
continues to strive to keep up with his big brother athletically and closely
follows with unending effort. We went
mountain biking this summer on a real mountain and he was brave through it all
keeping up and leading us at times. He
lives life to the full with unabashed risk as long as he feels safe and in
control haha. His summer goal was to
fish with real worms and he caught many fish doing so during our lake vacation. He says winter is his favorite because he
gets to sled and snow ski. He jokes with
sarcasm well beyond his years (where does that come from). He is a happy helper when chores are issued
and quickly adheres to the cause/effect world around him…unload dishes then go
play. He makes us laugh often and keeps
us parents on our toes. He likes music,
but not the slow ones and has a surprising ability to sing lyrics to
songs. He does many fly by “pats” (hits)
as he runs through the house (much to his sister’s chagrin). At the end of every dinner he climbs up on
Keith’s shoulders until we all are done.
Yes, not cool for much longer but we know this will inevitably end so
for now we let it happen. He likes
riding his bike and played basketball this winter. Karter’s goal at Glacier was to see animals
and was not content with that being eagles or squirrels so when we saw big horn
sheep and mountain goats that topped out his must see list rather fully. He did not tire of the thrill rides at Disney
and was often the youngest in line for them.
He was mesmerized by meeting the Star Wars characters and maybe a little
worried when the storm trooper approached him.
Our church, Resonate Church, which Keith continues to be
lead pastor, planted another Collegiate Church in Oregon and additional sites
in two of our existing towns (in order to reach community outside of college
students too) as well as one internationally.
Across our sites we have seen 140 people come from Death to Life,
choosing Jesus in 2017. That is what life is really about…being asked by God to
do the seemingly impossible and then God actually doing the impossible…choosing
to use us along the way. Resonate turned
10 in August and we’ve begun a look back over the first decade, filming
documentaries we are calling “Only God”
part 1 https://vimeo.com/235370407
part 2 https://vimeo.com/240242345
part 3 https://vimeo.com/245768488
part 4 https://vimeo.com/251558027
…because we greatly recognize that we have lived through so
many only God moments and it has been crazy to think and remember so many of
them.
We are on an adventure to plant 21 collegiate churches by
2021 here’s a video for that https://vimeo.com/230215942
Resonate was invited to share our story of our 3rd
generation church plant at a large gathering for our denomination…we have now sent a team to church plant that has sent out a team to church plant.
Possible only because of God, things we
didn’t even know to dream about 10 years ago!!
Keith and Paige both turned 40 in 2017, so we ran our 2nd 1/2 marathon and lived to tell about it...we’d like to say we
feel wiser and more mature but we continue to prefer late nights over early
mornings…which we used to equate to being immature and wondered when we’d grow
out of that…maybe we won’t. We read
something that said “How am I about to be 40, I still feel 20…but then I hang
out with 20 year olds and I’m like no never mind I’m 40.” In some ways our
environment keeps us young. Keith
mastered wakeboarding this summer, mostly motivated by the desire to not let
our oldest kid outdo him. Just kidding,
or am I? Keith continues to spend free time researching golf clubs or playing
golf inside our garage swing clinic or outside as soon as its warm or close to
it. In the summer, we had a car accident and this
resulted in Paige having back surgery and has lived to tell about it and hopes
to resume life as close to normal as before one day. As our third kid began full time school,
Paige continued multiplication beyond her biological kids to her spiritual
kids, those in our church. She continued
to explore a great passion of hers, to invest into the lives of women in our
church, namely those who are church planter wives. Being able to spend time and lead our ladies
has been a joy this year as this continues to be a group of women that expands.
What a blessing we count our days…we have rough days raising
a tween and teaching our daughter about friend drama and our youngest to use
his words not his hands haha but for as long as God sees fit for us to breath
on earth we rejoice in His goodness even when life isn’t always just as we
expect.
We thank God with blessing us with these.
