Christmas Letter 2016, December 1

Happy December 1st!

With the arrival of December come the start of the official Christmas Season. We hope you enjoy our Christmas Letter with updates on all 8 of us! Besides adding another paragraph to our Christmas Letter we also updated our vehicle to a 12 passenger Nissan NV. I had the same reservations about driving a big van as anyone might but I LOVE IT!

2016 has been a year of interviews for Jonathan, 5 in total.  We started the year with thoughts of moving to a smaller town. For now we are continuing to enjoy our home in Delta but we are not sure what 2017 will bring. In June Jonathan scored the winning goal at the final soccer game of the season and we were actually there to see it. He has also been making a real kick in Karate completing his first grading in August and receiving his yellow belt in September. We recently enjoyed having him home for 2 weeks and are looking forward to him taking some parental leave in the New Year.

David completed his first Karate grading and earned his White Stripe Belt in May (the kids move up with stripes in between colours). He completed Grade 4 with all A's and B's and at his portfolio meeting his teacher was especially impressed with his Minecraft Biome Project which he came up with entirely on his own. Another highlight from Grade 4 was attending Nature School, spending 1 day a month in the woods. Once Grade 4 was complete he somehow turned 10, which I am still trying to figure out. He made an early start to Grade 5 at the beginning of August and has done really well learning French with the Duolingo App. It seems he would be a good candidate for late entry French Immersion so that is something to explore in the next few months. He also recently graded for his Yellow Belt in Karate and we are waiting for his results.

Angeline turned 7 in March and soon after lost her first tooth. She is continuing to do well with school and enjoys attending class 2 days a week at HomeQuest's new location, Annieville which is just a few short blocks from our house. She continues to enjoy Ballet and Swimming Lessons. She also enjoys mothering Joshua and will often read him bed time stories and has even been known to change a diaper or two. She is looking forward to having a baby to help out with soon.

Samara graduated from Kindergarten and is in full swing in Grade 1. She is very clever in Math and enjoys English as well. She is progressing in her reading and also learned to ride her 2 wheel bike while we were camping this June at Rathtrevor Beach. She recently joined her sisters in the "stitches" club, having fell and split her chin. In a weeks time she turns 6!

Rebekah turned 4 in August and really wishes she could have started Kindergarten this year. All the same we give her "school work" to do and have been working with her speech. She loves going swimming and we are talking about starting her in swimming lessons next month. She is really looking forward to her Ballet Class in January. She loves to colour and makes us lots of sweet pictures.

Joshua turned 2 in November and has been busy developing into a little boy. At the beginning of the year we were pulling our hair out a bit, forgetting just how busy little boys can be but he has really come around and is able to be curious without causing so much trouble. He loves to listen to stories, play trucks, cars and trains, sing and play the drums (he is actually surprisingly good for a 2 year old!)

Baby #7 is due to arrive on Christmas Day! We are expecting him/her to arrive in 1-2 more weeks seeing as all of our kids have been about 2 weeks early. When I first started the draft for this years Christmas Letter I had planned to delay posting it until after Baby arrived so that I could include our news in the letter. I have since decided to keep with tradition and post on December 1st. We will post a separate announcement after Baby arrives later this month.

I started the year continuing with Zumba and then being introduced to "Refit" which is a Christian dance workout. I loved Refit so much that I even looked into becoming an instructor. In April I was finding myself all of a sudden exhausted and then discovered we were pregnant with our newest bundle of joy. In April I also attended a Women's Retreat at RockRidge Canyon and was happy that I could finally try zip-lining (usually I am pregnant when the opportunity presents itself). It was lots of fun and as it turns out I was pregnant (but just barely). That leaves me almost 37 weeks along and planning for our first (and last) home birth.

As far as an actual Christmas Photo goes we are waiting to include Baby. If Baby arrives too close to Christmas we will just make it a Happy New Year Photo.

As much as this can be one of the busiest times of year we have worked hard to simplify life as much as possible so that we can enjoy this season of Advent. The kids are enjoying a break from school work and I am enjoying a bit of calm as we continue to anticipate the arrival of our youngest child.

We want to wish you all a Happy Christmas.

Love,
Melissa & Jonathan
David, Angeline, Samara, Rebakah, Joshua & Baby