A Year In Haiku
Two years in a row... doesn't that make it a tradition? Continuing the spirit of last year, here is our Year End Letter in cryptic, Japanese poetry (with a little explanation for each below):

One bathroom, now two
Entertaining multitudes
Luke est Magister

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One bathroom, now two
Finally settling into our house more, we got busy painting and painting and painting... but for the bigger jobs we needed someone with a little more knowhow! So we hired a contractor to add a second bathroom in a preexisting closet. Losing storage space, we had him add another closet as well as some shelves for a pantry. And if that wasn't enough, we had him install a new front door... whew! We are enjoying home ownership a great deal, and it's great to have things more and more how we want them to look. (more photos on the way)

Painting the bedroom

Painting the kitchen red

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Entertaining multitudes
One goal of fixing up the house was to spruce it up for the many guests that we hosted. In July, 70 people joined us to celebrate Luke's 28th birthday with Kansas City style barbecued brisket. Thankfully the weather cooperated so everyone could play in the backyard; otherwise, where would we have put that many people! For Thanksgiving, we hosted 15 for dinner, and then a few more joined in for games and dessert. In addition to these larger gatherings, we welcomed many other guests, including a monthly Young Adult Bible Study, our "adopted" students from church, and Luke's Mom and sister, Rebecca. (One side note, Luke's Dad was unfortunately not able to make the trip to South Carolina this year due to an unexpected appearance of blood clots in his lungs. He has recovered well, and the doctors will monitor his progress over the next year to decide what the next step will be. Thank you for your continued prayers.)

Blowing out the candles

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Luke est Magister (translation from Latin: Luke is a teacher)
In addition to his continued studies at Erskine Seminary, Luke took on a number of jobs this year, including teaching. He learned Latin over the summer in order to teach a class of 11 students for the local home school co-op. He also began teaching piano lessons to 7 year old twin brothers, Will and Sam. At church, he continued teaching the Young Adult Bible study, and added substitute teaching for Sunday School and preaching twice for the evening worship service. All of this in addition to his work in music at the church and at home, including transcribing music for the latest releases from Indelible Grace Music and Sandra McCracken. These added experiences help to confirm Luke's desire to work in music and teaching for the church, and help him narrow his focus as he begins to look for a job to take after graduation.

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Other highlights of the year:

• Sarah continued in the same position that she's had the last two years as an executive sales assistant at The Cliffs Communities. This job puts her in contact with many interesting people and . A highlight of the year for the company was to have Tiger Woods announce that he will be designing his first golf course in the US at one of The Cliffs Communities.
  
• We didn't travel quite as much as last year, but we did make it to Kansas City for a DeBarger family reunion over Memorial Day weekend.
• Not as many weddings this year, but the babies have begun! We became godparents to Annabelle Johnson, Nick and Jen's new arrival in Kansas City.
• A highlight of the year was to have our friends' Amy and Michael Parks moved in next door in January, and then welcomed their new baby Will over the summer.
  

Wishing you Tidings of Joy this Christmas and in the New Year!