MamaCez: 2012 Messenger

Merry Christmas to you! We usually send out an annual newsletter to family and friends updating them on what's been happening with us throughout the year. But if you follow this blog, everything will be familiar to you. And if it didn't get to you in snail mail form, then here it is for you!

Dear Family & Friends -
We are thankful for your presence in our lives, and we praise God for you. May He bless you and your family abundantly during this Christmas season and in the upcoming year.
We wish you a joyful Christmas!

Cezanne
My lovely wife has been very busy as usual: cooking and cleaning for our family; putting clothes on the kids and being a jr. tiger mom with their school work; volunteering in the girls’ classrooms; scrapbooking; co-leading a Bible study at church; planning women’s ministry events; subbing at the girls’ school; being our travel agent/concierge for all of our ‘field trips’ and vacations; stamping beautiful handmade greeting cards; reading lots of books (primarily young adult fiction); and of course, blogging. She really enjoys writing, and very much appreciates her readers! Check out mamacez.blogspot.com and subscribe if you like. She loves reading all of your comments. Weddings are always special, but it was an especially proud moment for both of us to witness our former Sunday School student exchange wedding vows. Cezanne even came out of retirement to coordinate Crystal’s ceremony. We were also privileged to be able to visit with extended family in Canada, to celebrate the wedding of Matthew's cousin Stacy to Terry. It was a fun time of reconnecting with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Cezanne’s desire for the new year is to continue to build and deepen friendships of old and new. [Update: I have read 62 books this year.]

Mother's Day portrait at church

Crystal & Michael Drane

Matt
Matthew has been very busy at Legacy Partners where he’s going on his 17th year. So busy that he can count on one hand the number of times he’s been able to play basketball at lunch. Business is ok but there’s less people doing more work. Morale is low with pay cuts and layoffs. Matthew commiserates with his coworkers but also realizes that he is called to work as if for the Lord and not for men. In the winter he does make it a point to take time away from work for snowboarding days with his friends. This fall he started a men’s small group studying the topic of stewardship. He continues to play guitar in the worship band and teaches in Emily’s Sunday School class once a month. He says he’s not a very good musician (too lazy to practice) but it’s fun to worship God with music. He also says he’s not a very good teacher (too lazy to prep, see a common theme?) but he loves being involved in our girls’ lives. We love spending time with family and friends, and we also love to travel! We look forward to seeing some dear friends in Hong Kong at the end of the year. It’s been a blessing to be able to visit with some of you this year, and we hope to see more of you next year. Please drop us a line if you are ever in town!

Daddy & Emily at Mt. Rose

Daddy & Hannah at Lake Elizabeth

Emily (12 yrs)
Emily grew significantly this year: 3.5 inches and now over 5 ft tall which means we are constantly buying new clothes for her! Ironically she couldn’t care less about fashion, unlike her little sis. Emily’s strength is academics and she was especially proud to finish 2nd place in the Math Olympics. Another school highlight was her service project where she made lanyards and sold them to raise money for orphans. Entering 6th grade, she continues to play clarinet in the school band, diligently going to band practice 3x a week before school starts. This summer Cezanne and Emily went away for a special mother-daughter weekend retreat; to celebrate Emily’s birthday and also to help prepare her for her teen years. Emily’s #1 passion is still wild birds. She loves to see birds in their natural habitat so we’ve ventured to marshes and mountains to see shorebirds and raptors. Can you believe some of her favorite places to shop are hardware stores? Because they sell bird supplies. Even better are the bird stores. Besides reading, she also enjoys anything creative, especially origami, nail art, and making home videos. Of course playing with her baby sister is on the top of her list of fun things to do! Her favorite memory this year was seeing new and more wild birds. Her desire for the new year is to... see more wild birds!

Bird Sculpture in Canada

2nd place ribbon at ACSI Math Olympics

BFFs... best friends forever

Hannah (9 yrs)
Our little baby struggled with separation anxiety through her 2nd grade but she persevered. We were a little worried as 3rd grade approached in the fall, but so far she has been doing really well! This has been a total answer to prayer. Now she rarely complains of tummy aches and has never said that she doesn’t want to go to school. Hannah loves to talk and will tell us all about her day in detail, including what her friends were wearing (this girl loves fashion). A new thing this year is playing with her friends... online. She can’t wait to finish her homework so she can play on Animal Jam. She started piano lessons last year and after 6 months stated, “I already know how to play good.” Unfortunately the move to learning how to play black keys increased her anxiety to a very unacceptable level, so we (and the teacher) decided she needed a break from piano. Hannah’s favorite memory this year was going to Hawaii for the first time. Her wish for the next year is to go on more vacations!