The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling among us...
Tis the season to be jolly, and that means 'tis also the season to remember each one of you dear ones with our annual Christmas letter! So here I sit at the computer wondering how I can encapsulate the entire past year onto a page. It's a blessing to look back over the months and to once again see the faithfulness of God in our lives. He became flesh and made His dwelling among us - what an awesome truth! What a wonderful reason to celebrate!! What I desire to learn more and more is to live in that truth - that the Spirit of God came down to dwell in me and in my home and I can share that incredible gift with those I come in contact with. The only gift that will last throughout eternity...wow!
Well, I didn't mean to send you a sermon so I"ll get back to the life and times of the Engel family. We decided to do the "family thing" and bravely packed up Daniel, Patrice, my wheelchair, swimsuits, the video camera, Oma and Opa, Tante Hilda and Elsie and headed to the Hawaiian Island of Maui. I guess Daniel thought we were going off to some foreign land because he asked "do you know how to talk if we go to Kondolulu?"
Well, we did now how to talk "American" and we had an adventurous holiday there. We enjoyed the sun and the surf, (can you believe I even tried snorkling??) watching the whales which were often breaching in the ocean in front of our condo and the lovely scenery of Hawaii.
However following this experience I can't say that I would recommend travelling with an almost two year old. Somehow between her sunburn, ear infection and boundless energy, she managed to leave all of us feeling slightly unrelaxed and unrested. Maybe next time I'll be smarter and listen to the advice of those older and wiser than myself. (Who have lived through more 2 year olds than I have...)
We arrived home to enjoy a wonderful meal prepared by our nanny Josefina. She was an incredible help around the home and with the children and she stayed with us until the end of April when her 2 year contract with us ended. At that point I felt ready to try to manage the home-front on my own again with someone coming in to do the cleaning.
Little did I know the adventures that awaited me... Some people may say I'm brave to try to keep up on my own, but I'm beginning to think that I"m bordering on crazy. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my entire life! But exhausted or not, I would never trade my kids for anything. They are truly a gift from the Lord.
Daniel has always been a relatively easy child to look after and he continues to be a delight and joy to Ron and I. He has had an eventful year between learning to read and write in grade one, doing well at swimming lessons, playing road hockey, biking to his heart's content, winning the church fishing derby on his first fishing trip with Daddy, going to soccer camp, watching the Blue Jays lose TWO games in Seattle (we sure picked a couple of lousy games to watch!) and growing in his faith.
He's always been quite a serious little guy and in the spring he was watching some people get baptized in our church when he decided that he wanted to do the same. I initially discouraged him, saying he should wait and that we would do some more teaching. However, as I thought about it, the verse came to me where Jesus tells us "Let the little children come to me" and I felt that since Daniel had already accepted Christ as Saviour, he was also ready to follow in the next step. So in the summer when our church had a worship and baptism service down at the lake, Daniel bravely went forward and was baptized by one of our pastor friends and Ron. It was a very special time and I pray that Daniel will never forget the significance of what he did that evening.
As a remembrance gift for the occasion Daniel and I went to pick out a Bible for him. As we were looking Daniel informed me that he wanted a "holy kind of Bible" and he was very certain that he wanted one with no pictures. At one point when I showed him another beautiful children's bible he said to me "this is the last time I'm telling you that I don't want pictures in my Bible!" So we came home with a real Holy Bible with NO pictures. It blesses me to see Daniel diligently reading the book of Genesis and getting excited over things like "Sarah lived to be 127 years old!"
Meanwhile, if Daniel makes me think of a quiet afternoon of fishing in a canoe, Patrice makes me think of a wild roller coaster ride in an amusement park. Lots of laughter, screaming, jokes, dancing, singing and fun. Our home will never quite be the same but we love our little bundle of energy like crazy! She turned two in March and she has learned to talk very well, was easy to potty train, loves the water, is ready at any moment to dance and "worship and praise the Lord' and is a real social butterfly. Ron calls her our little blonde bombshell. That can be interpreted in any number of ways! Often the house does look like a bomb hit it after Patrice has worked her way through a few of the rooms. I don't know if we could have had two more different children, but we love the flavour that each little personality adds to our family.
One of the really delightful things about having a two year old around is the incredibly funny lines that she comes up with. Recently Patrice gave Ron and I a good laugh when she informed us "because I'm a lady I should have a monkey". Now, I don't know if she was looking for a date but she'll have to be a bit more flattering if that's the case! I've found that most men won't stand for that kind of talk. She also seems to have a slight mental block when it comes to naming musical instruments as she calls the piano a "panio", the guitar is a "ticar" and the violin is a "vio-in". And of course our favourite is the "dice-a-nor", meaning of course, a dinosaur. We don't dare correct her as we enjoy these refreshing little changes to the English language.
This fall Daniel entered grade 2 which he really enjoys and he has a wonderful teacher. He also chose to learn the violin so he and I are taking lessons together and the house is filled with screeching that at times causes Ron to roll his eyes and disappear to a quieter place. The teacher says that Daniel's musical ability is good, but he lacks a little in the technical end of things so we've got our work cut out for us. It's neat having an activity that the two of us can participate in together though. Someday maybe we'll even sound good.
This fall also saw Ron give up Real Estate as he didn't find that he enjoyed the pressure involved. We've still got the apple orchard which keeps him busy though and recently he's been doing some construction work with his brother. Play time for Ron involves hockey once a week and snowmobiling whenever he gets the chance. We recently bought a tiny and very "rustic" cabin by a little fishing lake which will be good for year round family outings. We're excited to start using that.
Our families continue to be a joy and blessing to us as well. Ron's parents are doing well and they kindly provide us with lots of dried fruit, apple juice, hand knit sweaters for the kids and delicious home-made buns and bread on a regular basis. We're blessed!!
We also see a lot of my parents as they live so close by. Patrice and Daniel have worn a path to their home with their frequent trips over there. I can't thank God enough for the wonderful family he has given to Ron and I. The older I get the more I realize what really counts in life and know that family is one of the richest gifts we have. On that note I will close this letter and wish you a Christmas and New Year which is full of the presence and blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
