"But the Angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord."
-Luke 2:10-11
Jonathan Reite
5 3/4 years old
Chloe Reite
3 years old
Yes this is the most wonderful time of the year but it also seems to be the busiest! Christmas parties, programs and activities can take up most of our time. It is also a time to take a few moments in between all the busyness to reflect once again on the amazing gift of Christ and the wonderful blessings God has given us. The kids loved decorating for Christmas this year and are enjoying advent. Santa actually seems to have taken a backseat this year and the kids are excited to celebrate Jesus‘ birthday! We are also looking forward to celebrating Christmas with both our families this year.
But on to our update...this fall was a busy one for us! Jonathan started Kindergarten at Valley Christian Academy but the weekend before he started school was Labor Day so we took off for a 4 day trip to Newport Beach and Balboa Pier with our dog Sandy. We had a great time playing at the beach and visiting the pier. We also took a boat trip around Balboa Island and Sandy was able to accompany us on the boat! It was a wonderful break before Jonathan started school.
When we returned, Jonathan had his first day at VCA with Mrs. Conklin who is a wonderful teacher. He really seems to enjoy school and has made some good friends.
Andrea started as co-coordinator of MOPS with her friend Ambra and it has been lots of work but a great challenge to organize the meetings and see our group grow! Andrea also started as a Core Group Leader with her Community Bible Study group. She has a group of 15 women that she leads in bible study every week after meeting with bible study leadership. She very much enjoys this challenge as well and has a great and encouraging group of women!
Erik is still staying very busy at work as Medical Director for the clinic. He enjoys his work and has also formed a mountain biking club with some of the other guys in our Sunday school class!
Chloe turned 3 on November 9th and stays busy accompanying her mom to MOPS and CBS where she learns bible stories and does crafts. She also has several good ‘girlfriends’ and loves play dates!
Sandy graduated from intermediate training this fall and is such a wonderful family dog. We also still have our hamster, Lightning, and now have two lizards and several beetles. We also added two betta fish to the family several months ago.
At the end of September, we were excited to take another trip with our good friends, the Walkers, down to Palm Springs! We stayed at a beautiful Westin resort (for a discounted price!) and enjoyed the pool, water slide and hot tub with our friends. We also took the Palm Springs Aerial tramway up to the San Jacinto Mtns. and enjoyed hiking and the spectacular views!
October saw Jonathan starting Youth Arena Soccer at the YMCA! It was an eight week program with a practice during the week and a game on Saturday mornings. He had a lot of fun and really seemed to enjoy participating in the soccer drills.
We also had a visit from Aaron and Sarah and Anneli in October and went to Disneyland. It was Anneli’s first visit to Disneyland and California Adventure and we had so much fun with all the kids. They did great and were such troopers going to the parks three days in a row! Aaron and Sarah also got to experience the beaches around here and do some four wheeling on the dunes.
We had a wonderful Halloween party with some friends from church and their families and enjoyed trick or treating with our little Princess and cowboy. Jonathan and Chloe both relished trick or treating and went for almost two hours!
In November, we visited CO for Thanksgiving. Erik was originally scheduled to deploy this month so we wanted to go and visit his family before he was supposed to leave. Thankfully, he was not tasked for deployment but we still had a great time visiting with all of Erik’s family and visiting the mountains. Erik and Andrea got to go skiing and Jonathan and Chloe enjoyed the snow!
We have had a wonderful fall season and are looking forward to spending Christmas and New Year’s with family. We hope you are enjoying a blessed Christmas season!
Much Love and God Bless,
Erik, Andrea, Jonathan, and Chloe
