2008 Christmas News
Acrobat PDF version including photos
Christmas greetings from our growing
family. Newsworthy events here:
Jan.
We feel the call to bring home an orphan from far away. We start the paperwork to adopt a 15-year old
boy from an orphanage in the Ukraine.
Mar A generous
gift sends Ronda and Art flying to Loma Linda to visit David and Elissa. We squeal with joy when they announce a new
baby on the way. Hannah goes on a
mission trip to the Honduran island of Helene.
Taylor and Caleb are baptized at our church. Sierra falls off the zip line and breaks her
collar bone.
Apr Rylee learns
to write her name. Ronda paints the
rumpus room. Art takes the five youngest
children to visit grandparents in Montana. Theron draws faces.
June Bethani flies
to Wisconsin for a summer at Camp Wakonda. We mourn the passing of dear Aunt
Verlene White.
July Ronda gathers
her ample army of slave labor and together they pick 100 pounds of strawberries
in one hour. We camp at Lost Lake along
with Steve and Suzann Rose and their family.
Aug Bethani flies
to Honduras for a school year as a Student Missionary. Brenden starts his second year at Montana
State University. We mourn the passing
of our beloved Uncle Harry. We welcome
17-year old Tracey to our family. Tracey
is a Chinese exchange student attending PAA with Sierra and Hannah. At last the adoption paperwork moves
forward. Ronda and Art fly to the
Ukraine on Aug 26.
Sep Many kind friends
help care for our children while we are in the Ukraine. Sierra and Hannah do
heroic mothering. Taylor starts 8th grade at TVJA. Ronda and I meet
our new son Ian and his great-grandmother.
There are tears of goodbye and tears of happiness. Ronda flies home after the court date. David and Elissa present us with our first
grandchild (Sep 26)! Mossen James Green
Oct Art and Ian
fly home on Oct 5th, welcomed with joy at the airport. Ronda flies to Loma Linda and helps care for
little Mossen. Hannah turns 16 and gets
her drivers license.
Nov Caleb makes big advances on his violin. Willa turns 9 with many birthday celebrations. We enjoy Thanksgiving with Grandpa Frank and Grandma Lauretta and many other family members.
Wrap-up: Our adoption
of Ian was final and our new grandson arrived on the same day! We are so blessed by both boys.
Ian is making huge adjustments and fitting into our family much better
than we had hoped. Mossen will soon be
learning names of his many uncles and aunts.
How blessed we are!
Merry Christmas!
Children’s Read-aloud: Little House in the Big
Woods by Wilder
Art: Wormwood Forest by Mycio
Ronda: Do Hard Things by Harris
David: Lone Survivor by Luttrell
Elissa: Deception by Alcorn
Bethani: The Curate of Glaston by
MacDonald and Divine Nobodies by Palmer
Sierra: Tenant of Wildfell Hall
by Bronte
Hannah: Saving Levi by Bentley
Taylor: Kingdom’s Edge by Black
Caleb: Where the Red Fern Grows by Rawls
Theron: Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel by Burgess
Willa: Baby Island by Brink