2008 Christmas Letter
Merry Christmas friends and family,
2008 was a wonderful year for our family. There were no major changes – no births, deaths, marriages, moves, or job changes, but lots of little blessings and adventures for our family.
Our family got season passes for Disney this year, so we made lots of trips over to Orlando. The kids are at a great age for that and really loved it. We also took what has become an annual summer trip up to Helen, GA with the extended Steinbrueck family. We had a fun weekend at the Nickelodeon Hotel in Orlando with Jennifer’s family, hosted our 11th annual Oktoberfest, and enjoyed countless visits to our local parks.
Aryn will turn 2 on January 26. She is talking a lot now, and is very independent. She desperately wants to do everything the “big kids” do. She enjoys music, singing, and dancing. She is fearless on the playground, and also likes playing with her Little People and babies. Other things she likes include shoes, puppies, Minnie Mouse, and Dora the Explorer. Her favorite phrase right now is “No way!”
Aidyn is 5 and started kindergarten. He’s doing a great job learning to read. His real passion, however, is for anything related to sports. He’s in his second season of soccer and usually scores several goals a game. On any given day you might find him in the backyard playing football, baseball, hockey, or golf. He’s a real sweetheart and loves to laugh, cuddle with Mommy, and wrestle with Daddy.
Ainsley is 7 and in second grade. She’s very responsible and an excellent student. She enjoys reading and writing stories. Ainsley seems most passionate about signing and dancing. In the spring she took tap dancing lessons, and in the fall she gave ice skating a try. She serves energetically on the Kids Connection worship team at church.
Jennifer continued her job as a full-time mom this year and continues to work one day a week as nurse on a diabetes research study. Jennifer also continues to serve in the early childhood ministry at church. Jennifer enjoys time with family and friends and scrapbooking when she can. Recently she and Aidyn have started playing tennis together.
Paul is entering his 13th year as CEO of OurChurch.Com. He loves being able to use his gifts and passions to help churches, schools and ministries communicate better using the Internet. Paul continues to serve as an elder and coach of small group leaders at church. Paul also continues to play soccer most weeks, and completed his first (and likely only) marathon in January.
We truly are loved and blessed way beyond anything we deserve. So, this year our family decided to try to share the love and blessings with others. We sponsored a boy (Miller) and girl (Luma), helping them to get some food and an academic and spiritual education at our sister church in Haiti. We are also supporting an orphanage our church is building in Kenya for children who have lost their parents to AIDS.
Most of all, though, we are grateful for the amazing gift of Jesus. Through Him we’ve been forgiven and reconciled with God. Because of Him we have peace and joy and purpose in life. We wish you a blessed Christmas with Jesus at the center if it.
Love,
Paul, Jennifer, Ainsley, Aidyn, and Aryn
P.S. If you’d like to stay in touch with us throughout the year, see videos, pictures, etc, look us up (Paul, Jennifer) in Facebook.