I can’t believe I have been writing this blog for a year!!  This week, I was telling my eight year old great niece that one of my favorite books in elementary school was Harriet the Spy.  I wanted to grow up and be a writer, and in the book– Harriet wanted to be a writer when she grew up.  As long as I can remember, I have wanted to write.  I think God put this desire within me.  

When I was on staff with Cru, I would send out monthly letters to my financial supporters.  Writing that letter was one of the highlights of my month.  I loved trying to paint a picture in others minds of what had happened during the month so that they could “see” what I saw.

Then, when we left staff, I would send out a yearly Christmas letter to family and friends. I looked forward to staying in contact with others through this yearly letter.

This week, we were cleaning out our storage area, (one of the best motivators for cleaning and sorting our own house, was cleaning and sorting my mother-in-law’s apartment.  Someday, our kids will be cleaning and sorting, and wondering—why did mom and dad hang onto this?)

Anyway—I found some old Christmas letters in the sorting, and I think in future blogs, I may share some of them with you all, so you can get a picture of our family life—way, way back then.  (Then again, if no one responds to this idea, with interest, I may not. 🙂 )

All this to say, thank you for reading this blog for the past year.  My goal was to encourage you, but in reality, I have been more encouraged by you than anything.  So—thank you for the encouragement!!

This is the first blog I wrote:  Julia’s Gift.   I wrote it to speak of the wonderful gifts God gives us—-Julia, if you are reading this—you are one of those wonderful gifts!!  We love you sweet girl!!

To those of you who read this blog, I hope to share stories that encourage you for another year, and I hope to be encouraged by your stories as well!! Happy Anniversary to us!!