A Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I stepped out of my office building in downtown Seattle the other night to hear the sounds of a saxaphonist playing a jazzy Christmas tune. Ahh, Christmas in the city.

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the Christmas season. I am trying something new this year - actually writing a Christmas 'letter', but using my new blog to send it out.

A quick synopsis of the year gone by:

In April, my family joyously welcomed the birth of Isaiah, my nephew. My sister, brother in law and Isaiah live in Chicago, so late October I finally took a trip to see them. He's a cool little guy and pretty darn cute, I must say. Quite amazing to thinking about how a little person isn't there and then is there - wow. I am excited about the opportunity to get to know Isaiah better as he grows and grows. I will have to write more about him later.

Late May and into early June, I was able to travel with my Uncle Carter & Aunt Ellyn to China with a humanitarian relief organization called Heart to Heart International. Although the trip was composed of primarily medical professionals, us non-medical types worked on a couple of service projects. We helped construct a garden area at a senior's home, and then also did some construction at a school for deaf kids. I met some amazing people and tried some interesting food - chicken feet was probably the standout (I don't recommend it). Very interesting to visit the country - it would be nice to go back and see the countryside. We only visited cities while we were there: Beijing, Chengdu (Sichuan Province), and then Hong Kong.

The summer/fall was filled with many things, among them several outdoor adventures. I serve as a coordinator of outdoors trips for the Outdoors ministry at my church. I went on several hikes and backpacking trips this year - of course my camera came with. A few of the trips stand out: a wonderful 3-day backpack trip in the Olympic National Forest, with my church Outdoors ministry, where we hiked on a ridge with beautiful views of Mt. Olympus, saw two bears (the bears were a ways away, which was nice), had mountain goats running thru our camp one morning, and saw elk. We had a great group of people on the trip too. I took another backpacking trip to the Enchantments (almost) in early October. My dad was able to come on this one, along with a few other friends. It was very cold and we even had snow, so we decided to stay put at Lake Colchuck instead of hiking thru the normal Enchantment loop. Hopefuly next year we can get into the Enchantments proper. It was great to have my Dad along to experience what I experience on trips like that - I think he enjoyed it quite a bit, too, which makes it even more special.

I'm still playing soccer with a co-ed team called Mars Attacks (made up mostly of folks from my church). We play year-round. My ball handling skills still need work, so good thing I usually play defense!

Lately, I've jumped into a couple of new things. I am a coach for a peewee basketball team (4-6 year olds) at a local YMCA. We've had a few practices now, sometimes it's kind of like herding cats, but it's been cool to hang out with the kids and meet their parents. The other new thing I've jumped into is training for the King County Explorers Search and Rescue. I've made it thru a few training weekends, and will go thru a few more to complete the training. It's pretty intense at times, but it's been fun learning how to use a compass, tie some new knots and learn more about surviving in the out-of-doors. I've also met some pretty cool people in the group as well.

I continue to work for PND Engineers, Inc. here in Seattle. I have worked there for over 6 years now. This last summer I was able to travel up to Skagway, Alaska on a railroad bridge inspection trip for work. For those who may have taken an Alaskan cruise, the railroad bridge route is called the White Pass & Yukon Route. I worked on the design of the new installed steel girders for one of the bridges we inspected. (That's the bridge in the picture)

I also continue to attend Mars Hill Church, which continues to change and grow like crazy. I am blessed to be a part of this church and am blessed by the friendships I've made there. I help out with Children's Ministry a few Sundays here and there, and also attend a Community Group with other Mars Hill attenders. Because of my involvement with the Church Outdoors Ministry, I was able to attend a church sponsored teaching series for church ministry leaders and community group leaders, the first on 'How People Change', and the second was on 'People In Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change.' It was great to receive teaching on how people can practically work on their sanctification.

It's been quite a year. There are many things to be thankful for.

On this Christmas, I wish you hope that comes from knowing that Jesus will win in the end, I wish you joy that comes from rejoicing in Jesus' sacrifice to save us from sin, and peace that comes from resting in Jesus' promises.

Grace,

Lisa