2017 Year in Review

Here is our 2017 letter, with a synopsis of the year that ends today! Wishing God's blessings on you in the year to come. So thankful for your place in our family's life.

Dear friends and family,                                                                                                                                      December 2017

We will recap this year with highlights for our family. We love hearing from you and appreciate your keeping us connected with your lives!

Isaac loves to slide home!

Isaac is currently a senior at Thompson High and has enjoyed more community involvement this year through job skills coaching. He had a few weeks of work at the petting zoo at Oak Mountain State Park this summer, which he really enjoyed. Isaac always finds great satisfaction in sports and continues to play softball with our church team, and baseball with the Challenger League, where he excels. He enjoys school but is looking forward to graduation in May (while we are a bit incredulous that this is reality)! We are praying that doors will open for job opportunities that will best suit his abilities and needs, and appreciate the great help his teachers and job coach have been in educating us and guiding him. We are so glad God has given us a wonderful school system with resources to help him achieve goals, and support his unique needs. 

Isaac worked here at the Oak Mtn petting zoo this summer

visit to a gorgeous sunflower field this summer was a highlight for sure!

Abi practicing her ballroom routine

Abigail is in 10^th grade, and juggles her schoolwork and extra commitments well. Despite her parents’ genes, Abi has even comprehended material fine in Algebra 2 this year, though she really excels at the creative arts.  She’s a member of a ballroom dance exhibition team and they perform their swing style routine in local assisted living and nursing homes. She loves experimenting with photography, painting, and drawing, and also still sings with our youth praise band. Abi works on eBay some with James and has been saving money this past year toward her first car. Her teen years so far have been so enjoyable and a gift to us as parents. She’s a great sister to this household of boys, and we are thankful for the joy and music that Abi brings to our home.

sweet cub scouts

baseball playing boys!

Elijah is in 4^th grade now. He is enjoying reading more than ever, and is fascinated with rocks, archaeology, and discovering in nature. This boy knows animal facts like no one I’ve ever met. He’s also the most tender-hearted kiddo we have. E has been in a big growth spurt recently, so he’s long and lanky, which is very evident on the court, as he and Owen have just begun their third season of Upward basketball. Owen, our 2^nd grade baby boy, isn’t much of a baby anymore. He is a go-getter, and such a busy kid, always building with LEGOs, or wanting to play a board game, or football, baseball, or basketball with his brothers. Most of all, Owen loves people, rarely stops talking, and thrives in social settings. Both he and Elijah stay busy with many activities - between scouts, church, baseball in the summer, basketball in the winter, school field trips and playdates, there is always something going on. I am very grateful for the area in which we live, that provides such wonderful options for extra-curricular education and fun.

spring with my family (-James who was working)

African sunsets are breathtaking

James, Abigail and I traveled to Africa for the third time for them/fourth time for me this summer. We spent about two weeks in South Africa and Swaziland. The CarePoint we are connected with is doing well and seeing those precious kids was a huge gift after a several year absence. We had time with our friends who serve as staff and missionaries there as well, and soaked up good conversation, sweet hugs, and were again awed that we got to see firsthand how God is working. Kids at Lesibovu are healthier than ever, progressing in school, and receiving regular medical care and grief counseling (because of the high mortality rate due to HIV) as part of the CarePoint’s goals. I am so thankful for how God sustains the Swazi people.

the lovely city hall in Hannover with Julia's family

After our missions trip, we were able to stop in Germany for a couple of days to visit our former exchange student Julia, in her hometown of Hanover. She and her parents Alex and Susanne were wonderful hosts, and we packed as much as possible in a short time. Abigail turned 15 in Germany, and we toured Marienburg Castle on her birthday. We ate delicious food, had wonderful conversation, and made beautiful memories with this extended part of our family. I love how God has knit together our hearts with people in different countries that feel like homes away from our Alabama home.

we helped to build a playground in Swaziland and here is James holding a J-shaped piece :-)

Near the end of 2016, James was happy to receive a phone call to begin his new job on Christmas evening as a flight nurse. Resuming this type work has brought him great joy and we are excited he can use his passions and put his vast experience to work in the field of critical care transport with Haynes LifeFlight. He and our friend Marlena still work several days a week with the eBay business he started over a decade ago.  I am still homeschooling the three younger kids, and administrator of our cover school which serves about 200 families in central Alabama. We appreciate that we can use our strengths to serve others and provide for our family.

Other special treats for our family this year were visiting dear friends Autumn in Indiana and Jenna in Illinois this fall, plus a bucket list item checked off for me as James surprised me for our 20^th anniversary with tickets to see U2 in concert in Indianapolis. Taking our first road trip with all four kids was really special, as we saw a few new states, Lake Michigan, Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, multiple other landmarks, a thousand windmills and so much corn. 

Marking the milestone of two decades of marriage is no small thing, and while we both mess up plenty, James and I both are very willing to say that God has been gracious to preserve our relationship through the ups and downs of life. We love each other even more deeply, maybe since we’ve spent about half our lives together.  Some days we feel too busy and miss the quieter, simpler days but are happy to still be on the same team, figuring out how to raise a family in a day and age that sure seems more unfriendly and complicated all the time. We rejoice that God granted us the ability to make special memories with our family this year and that they included many loved ones around the world. Through travel, world events, some family struggles, and many joys, HE alone has remained constant. We pray you see His unwavering, unconditional love in your life. You are special to us, and we wish you a wonderful 2018.  

With love, the Vines family