1 Peter 1:3-8
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
The days, weeks, and months keep getting away from me and I'm hoping to recap the end of 2013 with a quick photo review before moving on to 2014 since we are now an entire month into it already! I am so thankful for our Sunday school class and working with our teenagers to memorize the book of 1 Peter, because it has been so very good and challenging for our family, not only to read and memorize together, but because of the depth of encouragement in the book. The Bible really gives us perspective when we look back over the years of our lives and look ahead to the unknown (on this earth) and, as believers, to our known and anticipated joy in eternity with Jesus.
We spent a joyful Thanksgiving Day with extended family, enjoying sweet new baby cousins and then went on to the lake for a quiet and cold weekend with Grandpa & Nana.
Serena's Dance class performed to "Mary Did You Know" at a local mall! This is my favorite dance/song they perform to all year!
We decorated and enjoyed family Christmas festivities at home (with lots of baking!) before traveling to see family.
Corinn celebrated her 9th birthday on December 23rd with a trip to a nature center with Grandpa Loren and all the Olson cousins. The lesson was on birding and she absolutely loved it! It is so fun that 3 Olson cousins can celebrate December/January birthdays together! Even while many were sick for her birthday and the cupcakes were cancelled, she never once complained! She is a joy and a delight and we pray that God would continue the good work He has started in her life.
An Olson Christmas:
12 Olson grandchildren sang "Away in a Manger" for the Christmas Eve service at Grandpa Loren & Grandma ChaChi's church. Even while many were sick, sick, sick! In all, 17 of 20 Olsons shared a memorable stomach flu for the O-for-Not-So-Fun Christmas 2013. Thankfully we have now all recovered.
We spent hours out on the extra large ice rink that Grandpa Brandt made for us on the lake.
While my personal preference is figure skating, I enjoy a round of hockey every now and then.
My favorite part of the holidays is taking extra time to play piano.
We hosted our 2nd annual 2:42 Broomball event in January with 50+ people in attendance. We are so thankful for our church family!
In mid-January we had the opportunity to get away from all this cold weather...and we traveled to Michigan with Nic for work where the temperature was in the double digits ABOVE zero! Heat wave! It was a sweet opportunity to homeschool by the pool and pretend it was summer! We also enjoyed a visit with our friends Mr. and Mrs. D. who work at a camp in nearby MI, reaching out to kids from hard places.
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