Year-end update

We saw ten different states this year. We drove 1500 miles across country moving from Georgia to Colorado. We drove 1200 miles from Colorado to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. We flew from Colorado to North Carolina for Christmas. We moved three times and lived in three different houses. I think to say that this was the busiest year our family’s ever seen might be an understatement!

Ethan turned five this year. Along the way he left behind some great friends in Georgia but found some great new ones here in Colorado. Our multi-sport athlete had a busy year playing soccer (spring and fall), tee ball, flag football, and of course learning to snow ski! Our “little extrovert” quickly made friends at school, in sports, and by getting to know every kid (and most of the adults) on our block this year.

This year Andrew turned two. We watched him go from being our baby to being our little boy. He transformed from a mostly quiet (sometimes brooding) toddler into a quite talkative outgoing little guy. Always close on his big brother’s heels, Andrew watched (sometimes patiently) on the sidelines of all Ethan’s games demanding, “Me pway tooo!!!” Soon enough…soon enough.

This year Kate was the driving force behind the incredibly difficult challenge of moving a family of four people (and one dog) from Georgia to Colorado. She bravely faced the difficult emotional task of leaving behind great friendships in Georgia and a wonderful house that she’d made a home over the last five years for the uncertainty of life in Colorado – all the while making time to navigate her clients at Ronald Blue & Company through the worst financial crisis of our lifetime. She organized a house search of close to a hundred houses and persevered until we found the perfect one for our family. She was definitely the strength and glue that kept our family going this year. She also made time for people – visiting family and friends in Wyoming, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. She reached out to meet neighbors. Set up play dates for our kids and their friends. And she played hostess to a steady stream of house guests throughout the year.

This year Stephen learned that starting a church is way harder and way more rewarding than he ever imagined. He left behind the best job he ever had at North Point Community Church to be part of starting New Denver Church. He met constantly with people interested in hearing more about the church (drinking more cups of Starbucks than he can remember), helped get our first small groups started, developed relationships with local community service organizations, and helped share the responsibility for teaching in our worship services. He also discovered that all that time he spent building a career in I/T wasn’t wasted. He started working part time doing technical contract work and cut back his church salary in order to make the most of the support we raise. Of course this year wasn’t all work, and Stephen made time to get outside to enjoy all that our new home has to offer. Whether it was camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, hiking in the Flatirons outside Boulder, snowboarding, or just taking the kids to the park in our neighborhood, Stephen found the outdoor opportunities of our new home better than he even hoped for!

Of course so many other things happened this year. It’s difficult to summarize a whole year well. But if it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe the best way to share our year with you is through pictures. So we put together this video to share our year with you.

As always, thanks for keeping up with and praying for our family.