For the first year…ever…I sent out Christmas letters to our grandparents, aunts & uncles. To save money, we figured we’d post our letter on our webpage and share it across our social media platforms.
Without further ado:
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays
from
The VanLonkhuyzens
I considered not sending a Christmas letter this year – partially because I’m terrible at actually sending them out – but 2018 has been a FULL year so I figured I’d try to condense it for you. Here are the highlights.
January: I (Lisa) had the amazing opportunity to spend 11 days on an immersion trip to Israel/Palestine with Western Theological Seminary. Those 11 days hold fond memories of bonding with classmates as well as difficult truths of the situation in Israel/Palestine. “You don’t know what you don’t know” was an oft-repeated phrase of the group with which I traveled. This particular picture was taken on the top of Mt. Arbel, overlooking the area in which Jesus did most of his ministry, as well as the Sea of Galilee. In January, I also started at a church plant in Grand Rapids as Pastoral Intern & Worship Director. That was a learning experience, for sure.
February: Bob celebrated his second anniversary of working with the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) on Calvin College’s campus. He still enjoys working there and loves the work he does. He’s finished some pretty big projects this past year, and he is excited for this upcoming year. In his last review with his supervisor, he received some wonderful words of encouragement along with the news that he will be handling some pretty huge projects (including learning how to do things he’s never done before!) in this next year. We are so grateful that God has given Bob a stable job doing what he loves to do.
March/April: This spring was an interesting one, to be sure. April brought Spring Break from seminary, so Bob & I decided to take a week and travel to Kentucky to see Susan, Bob T, & Leo. Because of the stress of the semester, I ended up getting pink eye on the way to Kentucky and then croup on the way back from Kentucky, neither of which I’ve ever had before. The picture of us at the top is actually in Gatlinburg, TN, a day trip we took from Wilmore, KY. I may or may not have been still dealing with pink eye. We’ve decided that at some point in time, we’ll be able to laugh about it all, but I personally don’t know when that will be. Maybe next year.
May/June: The entire month of May for us was spent preparing to move in June as well as finishing up a semester. Finals, packing, and finishing up my work with the coffee shop had both Bob and I stressed out and busy. When June 1 rolled around, Mom & Dad R drove up from Illinois, helping us pack our house into a moving van and then drive up to Grand Rapids to help us move into our new apartment. Bob loves taking the bus to work now that we live 3 miles away from Calvin by city streets instead of 30 miles away by highway. We’re both enjoying living much closer to friends.
July: We started July off by going down to Chicago to celebrate with the VanLonkhuyzens the joys of Bob’s younger sister, Ana, coming home from her first year teaching in Shanghai, China, and Bob’s youngest sister, Catherine, graduating from Chicago Christian High School. We spent the day on a lunch cruise on Lake Michigan and then watching the city from the Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier. We then moved Ana in with us for the month, were home for 10 days, and then all three of us went on a vacation to the Northeast. We spent 10 days on a road-trip, camping in New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, while also just driving through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. We spent our time laughing, eating campfire-cooked meals, hiking through gorges, driving up mountains, swimming in lakes, admiring the Atlantic, and being able to
see the Milky Way from our cabin in Maine, as well as enjoying a LOT of lahbsta (lobster) and other various sea foods. We came home at 4am on our 2nd wedding anniversary, tired, but ready to keep moving forward.
Bob & I spent a lot of time in discernment on that vacation as well. We came back and decided that I would take a year-long leave-of-absence from Western Theological Seminary to spend time working on my mental and physical health. In November, I found a wonderful physician who diagnosed me with Major Depressive Disorder and placed me on antidepressants immediately. Bob & I have noticed a huge difference in my mood and mindset and I couldn’t be more grateful for the wonder of modern medicine. I also left my position at the church plant and am taking a much-needed rest from church leadership. This year is our Sabbatical of sorts, as we’ve been doing this exhausting dance of full-time work, school, and church leadership since we got married. It’s good to take a breath.
As I write this, it is the day after Bob’s 28thbirthday (12/19), where we celebrated at our favorite Mexican restaurant (which just so happens to be our downstairs neighbors) for $1 taco night. We have been blessed to get to know the owners, Eva & Oswaldo, and they were kind and gave Bob a free flan (a traditional, Mexican custard dessert) for his birthday. They are wonderful and kind people and we love living above their restaurant.
2018 has been a full year. It hasn’t been easy in any sense, but we keep on being reminded that God is good and has held us this far; we trust that God will continue to hold us into 2019, when the big item includes Lisa turning 30. We also recently found out that Lisa will be starting a new full-time job on the 7th of January. For this we are SO so grateful
We love you and are so incredibly grateful to have such wonderful family in our life. God has richly blessed us with your presence.
May the peace of God follow you throughout this season and into the next year.
Love forever,
Bob & Lisa