Merry Christmas 2023
I actually contemplated sending Christmas cards without the Christmas letter this year! Can you believe it? It feels as we get older, life tends to maintain a certain homeostasis, but then I was talking with one of our kids who said, “I really love reading letters from people!” So here it is the annual Christmas letter, Volume 30 from all estimated accounts.
Andrew and I are repeatedly asked if we are empty nesters yet? No, not yet, but we have definitely made some strides in that direction. In fact, this has been a year which saw some major chapters of our lives come to a close. For the first time in 25 years, we did not renew our foster care license. While life has taken us past the time for directly caring for kids in our home, we remain committed to foster care but hope to focus on encouraging the next generation of front liners. We also ended our 18 year “experiment” of homeschooling with Moses’ graduation this spring! This means no more co-ops, no coaching or correcting kids’ work! We look back on both of those ministries of our lives with great thanksgiving to God for sustaining us and giving us joy in the journey.
Andrew is grateful to be working with a full staff in his 10th year at Christ Church, and we give praise for the people God has brought to Grand Rapids. A highlight for us this year was a trip that we were blessed to be able to go on to Israel. It was so impactful to experience the events and places of the Bible come alive to us.
Lisa (going 3rd person here ….) rejoiced to graduate her 8th student and gratefully retired from being a homeschool mom! Little did she know that new adventures were around the corner. In March she began working for Covenant College becoming their recruiting representative for Michigan and Illinois. It is a fun new adventure and a great place to put her efforts into.
Josiah, Morgan, and Eliza: Morgan had yet another surgery but seems to have no cancer growth at the time so we are praising God. There is a new little human growing inside her however, so we are beyond thrilled to expect Baby #2 in May. Eliza began Spanish immersion preschool a few days a week and loves to come to play with Bubba and Grandma on Thursdays. She keeps us all laughing with her incredible vocabulary and recollection skills!!
Malachi: Continues to work hard, is finding some grounding and growing in his responsibility. It has been nice to have him as a regular participant with our family events!
Isaiah is still very loved but for now would like to go it alone. We pray for him much and miss him.
Lydia, Noah, and Tobias: In Aug. little Toby came into the world forever putting an end to the question, “What will this baby look like?” Now we know the answer is “adorable” and with a smiley, sweet personality to match. These three are doing a great job juggling work, baby, church, and life in their cute little yellow house.
Sophia and Utah: It only makes sense in a family with a Josiah, Malachi, Isaiah, Noah, and Moses to add……Utah! (OK, not so much?) Seriously, we are thrilled that Utah asked, Sophia said yes (technically she didn’t because she was so surprised at the proposal), and the date has been set for next July.
Gabriella: It is hard to believe Ella has completed 4 years in the Army National Guard and continues to work on her psychology degree. She works as a behavioral specialist with young people with autism and helps out with the youth group at church. Only strike against Ella is her cat, with which she wards off any unexpected visits from mom and dad leaving her time with her books.
Zoe: this year found Zoe completing her first year at Covenant and then heading off with her class to Spain for a month-long educational immersion, back to GR, back to Covenant. She is a Biblical, Theological Studies major and Spanish minor and enjoys mentoring middle school students at her church away from home. The game of “Where’s Zoe?” continues on….
Moses: Became the final graduate of the Vander Maas Homeschool Academy and officially entered into the college arena. Somehow this kids has a knack for all things computers and is completing his associate’s degree from GRCC (in conjunction with KCTC) this spring all the while working for KR Technologies part time.
Writing this letter prompted some of our kids to get out the three ring binder of all the old Christmas letters which brought out a lot of laughter and remembrances. It was also a moment for us to remember God’s faithfulness to us through all of the chapters of our lives.
We laughed when we read from our 2013 letter that Josiah said, “Mom, you will now have a teenager in the house until 2023!” He was pretty accurate (though he did not foresee Moses who still has a year left in the teens!) I remember at the time, that sounded SOOO far in the distance and yet, here we are. As these chapters close, I have been thinking about how quickly our lives flow along and how quickly we will be gone. I stumbled across something on that pinnacle of all true information, Facebook, that said that in two or three generations our names will probably not even be remembered by our family members. I tested this theory with my kids and indeed, they struggled to name their great grandparents, as do I.
Put this into the context of Christmas, where the name of Jesus is never forgotten and will remain as the Name that is above all other names, forever! He is the King, our Savior, and the Ruler of the world. And then the amazing part of Christmas is really that he has come to earth to claim people as his own, to give them a name and an inheritance that, with Him, will never be forgotten. THIS is the joy of Christmas. THIS is the hope of all the nations and the people who feel like the chapters of their lives are closing and wondering if anyone will ever remember their story. Jesus has written us into his story of redemption and we now share in his glory. That’s something to sing about…Joy to the world, indeed.