So I'm 6 months behind on this blog, but life has been crazy with moving from India to vacationing in Hawaii, vacationing with our family in Idaho, living apart from Leonard for 4 months (and he moved to a new apartment in India), to moving in with family in Nevada to start the school year, to learning of my baby-in-utero's health concerns, to moving back to Canada and staying in an AirBnB, to finally moving back into our own home 5 days ago after having it renovated since our tenants destroyed it, and learning most of our earthly possessions were destroyed while they traveled from India back to Canada. Whew! What a run-on-sentence, and what a year! But tomorrow our two oldest children return after finishing their semester of school in the States, so our whole family will be together again in our home for Christmas and to start the new year. 2018 can only be better as it seems like we're practically in a brand-new home now, we'll replace whatever items we can, and do our best to move on with those that we can't, we'll add a new baby girl to our circle of love, and hopefully I'll get a chance to start blogging regularly again. Until then, here's our annual Christmas letter. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and 2018!!
Dear Loved Ones,
2017 has been a challenging year for our family, so we wanted to focus our Christmas letter on the things we are most thankful for.
We are grateful for the opportunity that we had to live in magical India.
We are grateful we got to celebrate 20 years of marriage with a family trip to Hawaii.
We are grateful that we love our family and friends in the West so much that it made us sad to leave them.
We are grateful that we love our family of friends in the East so much that it made us happy to return to them.
We are grateful for Leonard's work that provides for our family and lets him make a positive difference in this world. We are grateful for Jennifer's work that keeps our home and family life running smoothly.
We are grateful for our children's resiliency and that they handled 3 major moves in a year and a half with such grace.
We are grateful for modern medicine that let us learn of Macy's health concerns before she is even born, so we can prepare to give her the best life possible.
We are grateful for this festive season- the twinkling lights; scents of pine, pumpkin, and peppermint; delicious flavors of cookies and candies; glorious Christmas music; and the tangible feeling of brotherly kindness in the air.
We are grateful for this festive season that our family will be reunited back under our own roof again.
We are grateful for this festive season to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ who loves each of us so much that He made it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins, live again after death, and to be with our loved ones forever!
We wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year in 2018!
Love,
Leonard, Jennifer, Kaleb, Noé, Gavin, Teague, Hiram, Ali
(and coming soon- Macy) Reil
