Life continues with the normal ups-and-downs at our place, but we do love this time of year because it's a fresh reminder that Jesus came into a dark world and that we still need him to shine light into the darkness that surrounds us today. We find that every day we need his mercy and forgiveness to help process everything going on in the world around us. With the internet and constant news streams, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that inner peace, hope, joy and love are always available in God's deep and unchanging love for us, in spite of our goof-ups, job stress, bad decisions, etc.

This past year didn't include any fantastic milestones or great events, but we are all hopefully a little wiser and definitely one year older… which for Dan means that he turned 16 and got his driver's license. All is well, he's an excellent driver, and we're starting to experience the relief of having a third driver in our busy home. We got a 2004 Mazda 6 (stick shift) for him to zip around to various places. Becky is still home full-time keeping our household running smoothly and Eric is still working as an engineer with autonomous mobile robots for factories and warehouses.

Dan is now a junior in high school and starting to think seriously about the next stage of his life. It seems like college is on the horizon and as a potential fourth-generation Messiah College student, there is some pressure for him and his sisters to attend Messiah. But we'll be supportive whatever he chooses and know that God has a plan for him already. Dan is also enjoying physics and chemistry this year and continues to play sax and bass in the marching band, jazz band, and orchestra as well as drums in the church youth worship band. He also loves doing stuff around the house and has done some wood-working projects recently too.

In our local paper this weekend, Lauren was on the front page as a featured recipient of an annual Student Community Service Award from the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce. She was recognized for her regular volunteer work at the Keystone Opportunity Center here in Souderton. But beyond her community service involvement, Lauren is a busy sophomore this year at school. She's in marching band for flute, indoor drumline on cymbals and chamber ensemble for viola. Lauren is also a diligent student who makes a great effort to excel in all her classes.

Natalie is in seventh grade at the middle school now and has connected with a great group of friends that she can pal around with outside of school too. She loves to read, make friendship bracelets, play Scrabble and is always willing to chip in and help around the house with laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. Natalie was selected this year to come in early to school once a week to help mentor violin students who need some additional help. And she plays violin in the middle school orchestra and chamber ensemble as well as clarinet in the band. Natalie is always ready for a new joke, doesn’t mind being silly or laughing out loud at something that she finds funny.