December 12, 2009
Dear Friends and Family,
We are so thankful for all that God did in 2009. He provided opportunities for us to travel to Germany and the East Coast, provided a place for our church to meet, provided abundant grace for all the tasks and blessings in our life, and most of all, provided peace with Himself through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
Carl - Carl continues to pastor Grace Church. He is busy finding workers and making decisions for the new campus that our church owns, studying, preaching, keeping up with our busy family, and meeting with people. He finished installing all new windows in our house (yay!) and occasionally gets to go surfing or dirt biking. He is thankful for the Lord’s constant provisions and faithful presence.
Kerstin - We have taken a different path in our homeschool journey as we joined a new program and are doing more classical education. It has been a challenging but great experience to choose all our own curriculum. Little glimpses: yesterday the girls performed a play about the discovery of Uranus, recited 15 weeks of memory work in all the core subjects, and today I read to them in German as they ate a snack and colored a picture of a grasshopper and caterpillar. I really enjoyed taking the kids to Germany to see family and make new friends, and to NJ and NC as well. I continue to paint and am getting interest in prints of my paintings, which is fun. There have been really stretching moments for me this year that caused me to grow in wonder how deep God’s love for me is and how unworthy I am. What a Savior!
Johanna (12) - Hanna just celebrated her 12th birthday and gave us all gifts. She has grown so much in maturity as she serves and thinks of others more highly than herself. Hanna continues to pursue ballet, violin, and piano. She and Maggie taught 3 little girls (one was Lily) ballet this summer. At the end of the summer, they choreographed and performed a ballet show with the little ones. Hanna usually has her schoolwork done by 9 a.m. and really has a knack for Latin. She looks for ways to encourage and help. We often see a message from Hanna on our white board in the kitchen: “I love my family!” Hanna really loved going to Camp Iroquoina (the camp in PA that I went to growing up) because it caused her to grow in her faith. She would like to have a farm some day--definitely some horses and chickens. “I don’t mind hard work,” she says. I especially appreciate when Hanna tells me, “I have a cleaning bug today!”
Magdeline (10) - Maggie has such a gentle spirit, although she is also full of energy. She loves the little ones and thinks of fun things that they can do. She also gets them ready for the day or nap. The only problem is that when she demonstrates how high she can climb in our huge tree Trey tries to be like her! Maggie absolutely adores babies. If there is a baby anywhere nearby, she longs to hold it. Hanna and Maggie are always pretending that they have many babies. They have plans for Maggie to have an orphanage someday on Hanna’s farm. The more babies, the better. Maggie also plays the flute, piano, and rides a dirt bike with Carl. She says things that make us laugh like, “I have fingers in my head that I count” (doing math in her head), “stored in my brain” (remembering things), “my tooth is on one dangle” (loose tooth), or “at least I don’t have leprosy or cholera” (when she was sick). Maggie dreams of being an ice skater--she has started some lessons and may get to perform in a competition. She loved Camp Iroquoina, saying, “The Bible has been all cloudy until now--it is like it is cleared. I didn’t know for sure that I was going to Heaven but now I do. This is more important to me than ice skates, or ice skating, or getting a Nintendo DS!”
Lilyana (5 1/2) - Lily is doing well physically--the only scare was when she passed out again in reaction to pain (it has happened about 4 times so far). She started kindergarten this year, but mainly soaks in life from wherever she is. Lily is sensitive and intuitive. When we pass a bird on the side of the road, she muses, “I wonder if it’s the same one I saw a minute ago.” Lily prays for people faithfully after she hears that they need prayer. Both Lily and Trey are scared of going to jail, so Lily prayed that she wouldn’t go to jail and that “Paul [the apostle] would get out of jail so he can preach more” (we’ve been reading Philippians). When we read about Paul’s thorn in his flesh, she called it “his prickle under his skin.” Lily heard Carl preaching when she was in the nursery and commented, “He REALLY knows what he’s talking about!” She loved coloring with Grandma and telling her, “Good job, Grandma!” Trey calls her “Lilyana Wilfred Fletcher!” She makes gifts for her siblings from her stuff because “I have so much, and they can be happy.” Lily wants to bring me breakfast in bed every day and comforted Maggie after Maggie had been teased by a boy, saying “Boys are rough!”
Carl III a.k.a. “Trey” (3 1/2) Our little guy is full of life and joy. His favorite outfit at the moment consists of his pjs, a bow tie, and his shades. He LOVES ties (unlike his Papa) and does not like his hair messed with, except sometimes by his sisters. He makes my day with his comments. “I love you, Mama. You soooo cute. You the best thing that I like. I love my sistas and my Mama and my Papa.” Trey is doted on by his 3 sisters, but he is all boy--racing around on his balance bike or scooter. He does not like food unless it has a considerable sugar content. When complimented, Trey replies, “Why thank you!” He loved coloring with Grandpa this summer, and talks longingly of camping, birthdays, and Christmas (he cried at Thanksgiving when there were no presents). Trey plans to be a ice hockey player (like Tim McAdam), race car driver, or motorcycle rider when he grows up. Trey has a wonderful, infectious chuckle. He loves to be chased down and tickled--a living, breathing toy for our family to play with!
We wish you a very Merry Christmas, and God’s peace in 2010.
Because of Christ,
The Fletchers
We love to keep in touch. We love visits too!
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