Merry Christmas 2023

Each year, I share our Christmas card digitally with my followers here! From my family to yours, we hope you experience renewed faith and hope from this special season that magnifies the birth of the Savior of the world.

“We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.” ¹

The Noble Christmas Card

Hello dear friends and family!

Each year we send out a Christmas card and update you on highlights. Like you, we love opening cards that come our way. We hang them on the wall just inside our front door.

This beautiful tradition of sending and receiving cards and updates is all because of the birth of a child – Jesus. Though this is just a “card,” please accept it as an offering of praise to God who stabled in Bethlehem.

Because of His giving heart, we also have another birth to celebrate this year! Sam and Sidney delivered John Shepherd on October 30. Carolyn is Nannie, and Jeff is Captain. We’re thankful to be grandparents.

That’s huge news for us, but God seemed determined to lavish blessing and grace upon us this year.

Just a glimpse of the grace:

• Spoons Shaved Ice truck has become a seasonal staple in the New River Valley, and it’s a welcome addition to all home VT football games! Carolyn and her sister stay busy with it during the summer and fall. When she’s not serving snow cones, Carolyn is fishing. She caught some doozies this year.
• Carolyn got to go to Hobbs to see her family for a few days, and Jeff went to Little Rock to hang out with his dad as his mom took a trip with her college friends.
• We went back to Arkansas in October to visit with family, and then we were excited to attend Tiger Tunes at OBU AND go to a reunion of the UAM BCM – all in a few days! It was a delightful whirlwind!
• Adelyn and Braeden became homeowners this year, and we had a blast helping them paint, decorate and fix up their new home. They also adopted Ziggy! She’s our second grand dog in the family. She and Hank met over Thanksgiving, and Ziggy is not sure she’s a fan of being licked.
• We went to Outer Banks again this summer with all the kids – our last kidless family vacay!
• There’s so much more from this year – but one last thing to mention is the joy of our church family. This fall, we celebrated Northstar’s 20th year. You can watch the highlight video at dontgo.be/20th. The year started with the opening of Northstar’s admin building, bringing the construction project to a close – and Jeff is loving having an office again.

We, like you, know that not every year boasts of such excessive joy. We are confident that for some of you, 2023 has not been a happy one. It’s humbling. And so this Christmas we simply claim this verse for us all – in the beauty and in the bad:

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son..” ²

God’s Son makes all the difference for us all. He is Savior, Comfort, Helper, Life-Giver, and Death Defeater. He is the Manger Messiah that came for us.

1. John 4:42[↩]
2. Galatians 4:4[↩]