The following is the letter that we sent out to our friends and family (if we have your address) over the holiday season:
Season’s Greetings!
I hope this letter finds you doing well. Melissa has, once again, instructed me to write our family Christmas letter. So, I will try to recap all that has happened in our lives this past year.
Emily Grace continues to delight and amaze me on so many different levels! She practically runs everywhere she goes. She has two speed settings: Very fast and lightspeed. She loves to sing. Her current favorite songs are: Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and (you are going to love this one) Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Recently, she has really gotten into ‘pretend’ playing. She has a little dish set that she will use to play ‘home-maker.’ She will come up to one of us and ask if we want anything to drink. We’ll say yes, of course, and she’ll go back to her ‘counter’ and pour us something to drink. She has such a maternal instinct already. She loves to ‘mother’ her baby dolls, making sure that they are properly fed and put to bed. She makes sure they each doll is tucked in with a blanky and says: ‘Night night!’ It’s pretty funny.
Last year at this time, Emily would always want to play with Sherlock and Sherlock would never really want anything to do with her. Now, the situation has shifted a little bit: Sherlock is always wanting to play with Emily, but Emily gets much more frustrated at Sherlock than ever before; especially with food issues. They still do well together, but it’s been interesting to see their relationship evolve.
Emily has really enjoyed the Christmas season this year. She was so ‘helpful’ when we put up all of our Christmas stuff. Our Christmas village is probably her favorite thing, and that tends to be a problem when you want everything to look perfect. She basically thinks the village is her personal ‘play’ village. So, needless to say, our perfect Christmas village from years past now looks like it has been hit by a blizzard, mixed with a tornado, and finished off with an earthquake. Last week, Emily came running in to us very excited about something. Turns out that she had picked a present from under the tree and opened it up. It wasn’t even her present, but she was as excited as can be about it. Later, she asked Melissa for ‘More Christmas.’ So the next few weeks should be fun!
Melissa continues to teach at DuBray Junior High School. She teaches eighth grade special education math classes. Like any job, some days are better than others, but this has been a great position for Melissa. She has a very supportive principle, has made some good friends among her co-workers, and loves the school. Melissa has agreed to help manage the nursery here. (She is a glutton for pain, I guess) She has done a really good job of making some much needed improvements. As she has gotten involved in more ministries, she has built some very good friendships with a few ladies at church. She is starting to feel more and more comfortable here; to the point where it feels like home to her now. I continually thank God for her. She is such a great mother, wife, and ministry help-mate! It’s such a beautiful thing to be married to your best friend! That’s what I have in her. She’s the best and I love her very much!
Ministry has been a bit of a rollercoaster for me this year. Our church experienced what I can only call ‘the great exodus.’ About 35 people left the church in six months time. (Long story) It was very discouraging. On top of that, the senior pastor was stranded in Oklahoma for six weeks waiting for his pregnant wife to give birth. (Longer story) So, I received a small taste of what it might be like to assume the role of a senior pastor. My job description has shifted and changed over the past couple of months and it has really made this job much more fulfilling for me. One of the things that I have been put in charge of is our new children’s midweek program. It has been very successful. This past Wednesday night, we had 39 kids attend our program. For a church that is running about 150, that isn’t too bad at all.
On a personal level, this year has been a blast! With the Cards going to the World Series, you can imagine how fun my summer was. I was able to fulfill two life-long dreams by being at Busch Stadium both on opening day and during a playoff game. (Actually, I was lucky enough to be at two playoff games… one of which was game seven of the National League Championship Series, in which the Cardinals won to go to the World series. It was pretty awesome!) We spent a week at Disneyworld, we finished our basement, and Melissa’s brother, Kevin, came to live with us over the summer. It’s been a busy (yet fun) year for us!
We hope all of you have a blessed holiday season. Our prayer for each of you is that God would reveal Himself to you in a very powerful way this Christmas season. May His love shine brightly in your home. Praise the Lord! He has given His Son to be the Savior of the world! Merry Christmas!
Josh, Melissa, and Emily Howard
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