Roger made up this song the other night before he went to sleep.  Drew wrote it down really quickly.

I love my Jesus
And He is my very best friend
I can't see Him but He is always there
And I care and love Him

And He will forgive sins
And He will forgive sins
And He will love me forever, forever

I love my Jesus forever
And I will never let go of Him
And Jesus is God then He died and came back
And everyday He loves me

Grace and Peace to you in the Lord Jesus Christ!

     Greetings our dear family and friends, may this letter find you doing marvelous this holiday season. I would encourage all of you to take some time during the business of life at Christmas to reflect upon the numerous, overflowing and abundant blessings of the Lord in your lives. Life is good because the Lord is good.

     It has been quite a year for the R. . .  family! The motto for our state is ‘Nebraska the good life’. We think that this is a good description of our time in the Cornhusker state thus far. Drew officially began duties as pastor at TVC on Jan 2^nd. The congregation is hungry for the Word, extremely friendly and really walks in faith even through hard times. Drew feels like he really doesn’t have a job 95% of the time and must wrestle with the psychology of unemployment from time to time 

     May 26^th Drew and Teresa celebrated 7 incredible, wonderful and amazing years of marriage. It just keeps getting better and better as we come to understand more and more the one-fleshness of marriage (husband and wife are referred to as one flesh in the Bible). Teresa is multi-tasking in an incredible way as she presses on with her masters in Christian theology and has the hardest job of all, being a stay at home mother.

     August 1^st was the day our beautiful, sweet, tender, priceless and precious baby girl, Reina Linda, was born to us. She is the easiest baby we have had so far and the boys were pretty easy. Reina cries when she is hungry or when Reid is messing with her. She is a big girl that smiles and coos so much!

     Roger and Reid are almost daily the dynamic crime fighting duo of Batman and Robin. They are action packed everyday and love to play almost anything with Daddy. Roger is attending pre K for 3 year olds at a church school just down the street. His teacher says that Roger is the best singer she has had in 27 years of teaching….that is when he wants to sing J Reid is just, well, his usual exuberant self! Big smile, big eyes, big crashes, big laughs, big bruises and life at full tilt 100%.

     We would like to close this letter with one last thought. The long awaited promised child that we all know in the manger is the righteous King that will return someday!        

 

Lots of love the R. . . : Drew, Teresa, Roger, Reid and Reina

   2007

Life Altering Highlights

• February - Received a call from friends of Drew's parents to tell us they had been in a car accident and Drew's mom broke her neck and might have to have surgery within 24 hours.
• April - Thoroughly enjoyed going to a friend's wedding in Indiana who married her first sweetheart 30 year later.
• April - Found out about a situation with people at church which Drew believed required church discipline.
• July - Went on vacation to Indiana where we got to see my grandma for the last time and celebrated Reid's first birthday.
• August - Drew decided to resign from his position as pastor due to being forbidden to continue any church discipline proceedings.  His finished working the end of August and started working at WalMart while applying for a new position.
• June, August and October - Drew's parents came to visit us twice and my parents came once and "happened" to be with us during key moments.
• September and October - Received "out of the blue" loving and encouragement from a dear friend and friends in Texas and some dear friends in Illinois.
• October - Candidated with a church in Nebraska.
• November - Accepted call to pastor church in Nebraska.
• December - Found out we were pregnant, bought a house in Nebraka, moved and celebrated Christmas with my brother Tony who stayed with us over break.

Lessons Learned

• February - Surrendered Control to God's perfect will in the life of our parents.  Praised God for sparing their lives and then making the broken bone in Mom's neck so perfectly aligned that surgery was not needed.  Found Peace in the process of spending a week with them in Indiana.
• April - Had fun with friends and family and in sharing the joy of happy people.
• April - Entrusted ourselves to God's care and wisdom and determined to do what is right no matter the outcome.
• July - Rested.
• August - Grace recieved to see people as God sees them and love them.  Trusted and Surrendered to God's care and provision and sustainement.
• June, August and October - Grateful for godly parents who can be siblings who come along side and lift you up.
• September and October - Overwhelmed by God's loving care and provision through our friends and siblings in the Lord.
• October - With great trepidation tried to allow ourselves to trust and care for people as we got to know our newly met family in Nebraska.
• November - Quietly Confident of God's call and will.  Praising Him for the quickness and timeliness of job provision.
• December - Exhausted yet Rejoicing Exceedingly for the new member of our family, the quick provision of a perfect house and a great time remembering with family the greatest gift - Jesus Christ.

 

The rest of the pictures will come soon - kids can be demanding! :))