We hope the Lord is blessing you in many ways throughout this holiday season and upcoming 2008. We also hope that we can be a blessing to you whenever our paths cross. As you can see from the picture above, we are busy raising a family and trying hard to teach wisdom, compassion, contentment and responsibility to the four wonderful children with whom God has blessed us.

Eric's business, Cernotics, is still growing while Eric is working hard to not be such a workaholic.  With a busy family, it's so important for him to commit to being a more dedicated and attentive husband and father.

This summer we planted a garden with green beans, peas, tomatoes, red and orange bell peppers, pumpkins, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Everything did pretty well this year except that we didn't get any of the cantaloupe because the local deer got it before we did. On a good note, using our grass clippings for weed control in the garden was very helpful again this year. And Lauren won a 235 lb giant pumpkin at a local farmer's market, so we saved some seeds and are looking forward to a BIG pumpkin crop next year!

Daniel turns nine next month and is in third grade this year. Lauren started second grade and is now seven years old. Natalie is five, Sarah is three and they really enjoy playing together when the big kids are away at school during the week. We've all been healthy this year and didn't have any major illnesses or injuries the entire year and that's a blessing all by itself for the six of us!

Fortunately, we were able to make some trips to visit the grandparents this year and we even got to take a fantastic trip to Disney World (Epcot, Magic Kingdom), Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach. Our good friends and neighbors, the Prillers, hosted us for a week at their vacation home in Kissimmee, FL. On the way back from that week-long trip, we dropped our kids off at Becky's parents' house in Georgia for a week. We met halfway in Virginia for the return trip the following weekend. And this was the year for the every-other-year 3-day Engle reunion with Becky's extended family at Kenbrook retreat center. The kids also spent lots of visiting time with Grandma Mary as well as a long weekend with Grandpa Steffy and Grandma Joy. We enjoyed several visits with college friends this year too.

Overall, it was a satisfying year of learning, growing, stretching and trusting in God. We continue to marvel at God's faithfulness and appreciate being plugged into a wonderful church where we can experience all the earthly benefits of God's love and caring through other believers. If you ever doubt that God loves you, please talk to us and we'll share the many ways that He's blessed our lives!