Christmas 2008

Dear friends and family,

Wrapped up in the advent season, preparing for Christmas and the coming of Christ we are reminded of the joy and blessings the Lord has bestowed on us this year. Most especially our friends and family! This fall we have been trying to recognize and use the gifts that we have been given! Starting with Matt, who has been given the gift of joy to spread to the family around him.

My favorite Christmas’s have been the ones where I have a new baby in my arms, reminding me of how our Savior chose to enter the world. On May 20th the Lord blessed us with Matthew Lawton. He arrived in short order, with active labor lasting 2 hours. Unlike when Josh was born, this time we made it into the building. His arrival has once again shown us that our hearts capacity to love is constantly growing. Matthew looks much like Josh, enjoys eating sweet potatoes, carrots, and applesauce. He also loves his grandparent’s arms and the love that he constantly gets from them. On a daily basis he loves seeing and playing with his brother and sister.

Ellie has been given the gift of compassion and knows when you need a hug or some cuddle time and is always there for you. Elizabeth turned two this year and with that her personality has continued to develop. She is learning what it means to be the only girl around as she is loved by many! This year she has learned to count, recognize her colors, and sing the ABC’s. She loves cooking in her kitchen and Dora is her favorite. Ellie has found her independence this year has a new favorite phrase is “me do it, me do it”.

Josh has been given the gift of service and will help you do anything!! He is a big helper around the house, helping to put clean clothes away, wash the dishes, and shovel the snow. Josh will shovel sidewalks, driveways, decks, and even the grass! He is especially helpful with his new brother, reading to him when Mom is busy with something and loves to kiss on him! The phrase, “what a difference a year makes”, holds true this year for Josh. He LOVES his new preschool and his teacher Miss Becky! Jen is lucky if she gets a kiss at drop off! He loves the construction toys there! A highlight this fall was when he was a featured artist in the art show. He still loves baseball & football with a new found love of Spiderman! And when he starts laughing, beware…its contagious!!

To quote Josh “Mom is good at letting me not take naps and pancakes” so we decided that Jen has been given the gift of showing mercy. With three at home under the age of 5 much mercy is needed! Our hearts have grown in capacity to love and our minds are being challenged to grow in knowledge with all the new questions the little people think up. Jen has renewed her passion for crafting this past year. This fall she has been in 3 different craft shows were she features t-shirt quilts and juice box purses. Jen has also been a party planner extraordinaire for Josh’s classroom parties, but she has most especially enjoyed being part of MnM’s (her moms group). She is also thankful that bed rest is not something she has to do on a permanent basis! She has also loved blogging for those who aren’t around on a daily basis to live the chaos that is the Stickle family! See pictures and follow us around at: www.themainstick.blogspot.com

To quote Josh once again, “Daddy is good at bringing home the bacon.” While he knows this means that I go to work, he doesn’t really know what he is saying. We are blessed that PRIMROSE Homes is still building and growing in this crazy time! Something we thank God for daily! It keeps me busy and on my toes! I am continually thankful for the opportunity we have been given to live closer to family. We are blessed by our proximity to both of our parents. They have helped us in many ways over this past year from being with the kids when Matt was born to wrestling on the floor with them. I am also blessed to have the opportunity to be a husband and father that is surrounded by joy, compassion, service, and mercy on a daily basis.

In the new year, in addition to the anticipation of the children growing and changing more, pushing us to grow and change more, we look forward to the wedding of Jen’s brother Ben to his beautiful fiancé Danelle! May you find the gifts of those you encounter today and may the Lord bless you during the holiday season. For those of you we don’t see often we would love to see you during 2009 so please let us know if you are in the Pittsburgh area.

Love, the Stickle family