Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dearest friends and family, 

I can’t believe it’s already been a year! I think I say this every year, but truly where does the time go? This time last year, we were still in the throes of unemployment and wondering just when God was going to provide the right job for Peter. We were growing weary, but in all honesty, I think 2016 prepared us for 2017.

When I think back to all that our family has been through this past year, it feels overwhelming. Even I have a hard time keeping up with all the changes and transitions. In February, we flew to Ireland to celebrate Peter’s sister getting married and what a beautiful celebration that was! In April, 18 months of unemployment came to an end, and Peter was offered a job with an organization he loved. In June, we found out we were having another baby! In July, Peter summited the Brothers, slid 150 feet down a snowfield, suffered a concussion, and he was airlifted to Harborview. And just six hours later, he caught an Uber home. A few days after that traumatic event, I had a miscarriage. There is so much more we could say about these events, but let’s just say God taught us a lot about letting go and fully surrendering to the story He is writing.

In September, after just six months, Peter was unexpectedly let go from his job, but by God’s grace, that season of unemployment was extremely short-lived. In early October, we flew to Ireland yet again to celebrate another family wedding – one of Peter’s brothers got married! In late October, Peter started his new job with CDK Global doing digital marketing, and yes, that is a complete career change, but we are so grateful for it!

Truly, what a year of sheer joy and celebration, a year filled with waiting and anticipating, surrendering and laying down. This is what life is all about friends. Life is full of trials and tribulations and we all walk through grief and hard things. Yet within those hard moments this past year, we found ourselves loving deeply and laughing hard (our kids are hilarious and Peter is funny!), trusting that beauty would come from the ashes.

So here we are in December wondering what story God will write in the year ahead! Our hope and prayer is that we can live each day fully surrendered to Him, trusting in the story that He is writing for our family, and for each of you, knowing that it will not be without pain and suffering, but it will be good because He is good.

May you see and experience the goodness of Christ this season and always!

Love,

Peter, Malia, Jack, Ryan + Baby #3 (Arriving July 2018, but I’m sure it will be June!)