Christmas Newsletter, 2015
Merry Christmas!
"There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel"
Numbers 24:17
"There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel"
Numbers 24:17
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| David and Amanda's wedding, March 17, 2015 |
From Lynn
Greetings from the Wallens!
2015 has been a wonderful year. The photo you see above is from David and
Amanda’s wedding on March 14th. It was a lovely North Carolina wedding and we
are so blessed to welcome Amanda into our family. With the children moving to different parts of
the country, Jade and I have had new opportunities for travel. We have been to Tampa four times to visit
Katie’s family. It is best to visit
Florida in the winter months when the weather is perfect. We spent a week in North Carolina for the
wedding, though we were a little too busy to do any sightseeing. In August, Jade, Micah and I visited David
and Amanda in Colorado. We enjoyed some
great hikes in the Rockies and other parks near Denver. In June, Tom and I were privileged to travel
to Israel and Jordan for two weeks. What
a life-changing trip! We will never forget
the experience. But in case we do forget, we have a few thousand photos to jog
our memories! You can view our photos on
this blog site. Just scroll down past
this Christmas newsletter. Last month, Tom,
Jade and I went to Washington, DC, to visit Micah who is doing an internship
this semester with the Heritage Foundation.
It was Jade’s first visit to the capitol of her adopted country. In late August, we sold our home in Atlanta
and moved back to our farm in Tennessee.
Moving gets more difficult as we get older, but it always feels good to
weed out unnecessary “stuff.” God bless you and your families this Christmas
and in the coming New Year!
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| On the Sea of Galilee |
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| Tom floating in the Dead Sea |
From Tom
Coming soon!
From Katie and Roberto
The Diaz’s year was full of family, friends, travel,
homeschool, and lots of local fun! We decided to embrace all of the typical
Florida entertainment and spent quite a bit of time at Disney and Busch
Gardens. That is...until the heat hit in March. After that, we enjoyed a lot of
travel time, beginning with my brother David’s wedding in March. It was a
beautiful wedding. In May, we traveled to the Dominican Republic for Roberto’s
sister’s wedding. Again, it was a great week of fun in the sun with the Diaz
Family. We took a whirlwind trip across the country to make sure we had the
chance to greet as many friends and family as possible! This summer I escaped the crazy heat and took an adventurous
trip with the kids up to Michigan! We were able to spend some wonderful times
with family, and even made it to my cousin’s graduation party and another
cousin’s wedding shower. In the fall, I again escaped the crazy heat and spent a week
in Tennessee. The kids had a super fun time with their cousins and Jade. The kids enjoyed their regular activities this year. Celeste
and Abigail both take ballet and are doing very well. Celeste takes drama also,
which has been a perfect fit for her personality. They will both be in a
production of Peter Pan Jr. this spring. I can’t wait to see the show. Robbie
is excelling in his martial arts class and just broke his first boards last
week. Abigail is the same spunky, fun-loving, people-loving sweetheart. It is
her first year taking actual classes in our homeschool group and she is doing
so well! Katherine is a happy, stubborn, imaginative child. She definitely has the
same love of people that her siblings have, and is often the first to run up
and hug any visitor, even if she has never met them before. She is talking up a
storm and I am constantly laughing at the statements she comes up with! Roberto continues to enjoy his job. We have joined a great
church, which makes Tampa seem a lot more like home. We are looking forward to
spending Christmas and the surrounding days with both of our families, and we
pray that you are blessed as well with time spent with your loved ones. Merry
Christmas!
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| Celeste |
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| Katherine |
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| Abigail |
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| Robbie |
From Tony and Rachel
Hello, and welcome to another episode of T&R Travels!
The adventuring started early this year with Tony going to South Korea for work
in February. Though he had only one day for sightseeing in Seoul, he enjoyed
the non-touristy aspects of Korean culture while working for more than a week in
an engineering test lab. Tony took another trip without me in the summer to
Colorado. He did some rock climbing and
visited David and Amanda. At the same
time, I backpacked in the Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho, with a friend who had
just moved to Boise. While Tony battled rain in CO, I basked in sun and low
humidity. Finally, we traveled together
for our biggest trip of the year, driving all over New England. After a wedding in Massachusetts, we visited
Boston, and then camped and hiked in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New
York. Hiking up Mount Washington was a major highlight of the trip. Valuing
solitude over ease, we chose the least frequented and most physically challenging
route up the mountain, the last couple miles of which consisted of a steep
scramble up a boulder-filled gully. However, somehow we finished all of our
food only half way through an 18-mile hike, which included a 5000 ft gain in
elevation, along with rain and early darkness.
Going down became even more difficult than going up. Sore, exhausted and famished, we finally got
back to the car. What a way to end a
good day! Lastly, speaking of doing
things together, at the end of last year I accepted a job at Link Engineering,
the same company at which Tony works. You may not believe it, but Tony and I
have truly enjoyed working together there. In gratitude for the many blessings
of friends, family, and each other, Merry Christmas!
From Rose and Michael
Hello from Michael, Rose, Aniya (19), Nakiya (18), Rosalind (4), Asher (3), and Calem (1). This has been a wonderfully eventful year for us. In February, Katie and I took 5 kids plus Jade to Disney World for a couple days. That was Rosalind’s and Asher’s first time, so it was a wonderful experience for them. We are planning an encore this coming February. About a month after our trip to Florida, we all headed to North Carolina for David and Amanda’s wedding. We rented two beach houses, so there was lots of Wallen-fun mixed in with wedding prep for a few days. Rosalind loves everything girly and pretty, so she was thrilled to be a flower girl in the wedding! We are so glad to have Amanda as an official sister/aunt/daughter in our family. Asher found his love when he saw Jade’s electric train last Christmas. His life continues to revolve around everything “train,” including pointing out and shrieking with excitement whenever he can spot a train or tracks, whether they are in a book or out the window. Calem has just started walking ands for the moment his daddy walks in the door. We enjoyed a nice summer in which many changes began for our family. Michael began the process of becoming a contractor, and has obtained his license! It was a process full of paperwork and red tape…but we are so excited for this new chapter in his career! We are utilizing his new license to build our next home, about 4 miles from Mom and Dad’s farm. I’m really looking forward to the process of building a house. We hope to move in in early spring. We just spent a wonderful Thanksgiving week as a family of 7. Aniya and Nakiya were both able to come to visit, so our week was full of fun, laughter, games and good food. God has blessed us immensely this year, as I know He has you. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
From David and Amanda
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| In Jamaica |
Happy Christmas from the Wallens out West! Amanda and I are loving
the married life, as well as the great state of Colorado! I will try not to use
too many exclamation points, but just know that the last year has been nothing
but exciting adventures as we began our life together. To start the year off,
our wedding was an amazing experience to share with our close friends and
family. We are truly blessed to have each other as such loving and awesome
companions to spend the rest of our lives with! :) After the wedding, we had a
nice long honeymoon in Jamaica where we enjoyed Dunn's River Falls, sailing,
snorkeling, kayaking, shopping, and relaxing at our resort. My favorite part
was, of course, the unlimited buffets and delicious restaurants, while Amanda
couldn't get enough of sailing the little catamarans. Though it was fun while
it lasted, we immediately got back to work by moving all our possessions to
Colorado and starting our new jobs. After moving twice, we are now settled in
Loveland, CO. Amanda is managing a brand new apartment community near the
mountains, the same community we live in. I am working in the logistics
department of a food company. We are absolutely in love with Colorado and all
of the adventures that surround us! Just to give you an idea of how we put
30,000 miles on our car in the last year, we have been to the Red Rocks Easter
sunrise service, Grand Canyon, Garden of the Gods, Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Backbone,
the Royal Gorge for whitewater rafting, Custer State Park to see their huge
herd of Buffalo, Four Corners, Badlands, Wall Drug Store, and many more parks!
That has only put a dent in our bucket list, so we are very excited to see
where our adventurous spirit takes us in 2016! May God bless you and keep you
safe in His hands this upcoming year! Watch your six, and Semper Fi, from the
Wallens!
From Christian and Rebecca
Another year gone by, and what a year it has been! Rebecca
has continued to teach English part-time to adult international students at
Kennesaw State University. This has been one of her passions for years, and
teaching just part-time has allowed her to have time to invest in relationships
with the women at our church. In fact, we have been very involved at Ikon
Community Church in East Lake since its launch in September 2014, and God has
taught us many things about pursuing His kingdom within our community. Our
genuine relationships within that church family and the spiritual lessons we
have learned there have been very formative in this stage of our lives together.
By God’s grace, I have made significant progress in my doctorate program at
Emory University as my research took an exciting turn this spring. I was able
to present my work at a conference for oxidation chemistry at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison this summer. It was an
exciting career opportunity but also a nice break from the scorching Atlanta heat.
Additionally, my advisor and I have written two publications on my research,
and both were accepted into peer-reviewed journals this fall semester. If all
continues to go well, I will be on track to graduate in the spring of 2017. Other
highlights from the year include a wedding for Rebecca’s sister in January, a
trip to North Carolina for David’s wedding (see above) and a trip to New York
to see Rebecca’s brother graduate from the United States Military Academy at
West Point. After the graduation ceremony and celebrations, we decided to take
an extra day to see New York City with Rebecca’s family before heading home. We
explored the city, seeing Freedom Tower, the September 11 Memorial, Wall
Street, Rockefeller Center, Battery Point and, of course, Times Square. The
trip was a memorable experience, but Rebecca and I were both glad to escape the
city that never sleeps and come home (and sleep). Despite our busy schedules
and living in a big city like Atlanta, we have found time to enjoy the outdoors
and spend time with friends playing disc golf and hosting game nights. Recently,
Rebecca and I reflected on God’s blessings to us as we celebrated our 2nd
anniversary. Indeed, it has been a year full of new friends, new experiences,
and new perspectives. We are excited to see what other things God has in store
for us in this New Year. May God bless you and keep you this Christmas season.
From Micah
Coming soon!
From Jade
Hi, this is Jade.
This year, I turned 10 and am in the 5th grade in
school. Some of my favorite books I read
this year are the Anne of Green Gables series and the complete works of Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle. In February, Mom and
I went to Florida to see Katie’s family.
While there, we went to Disney World.
Rose and the children went with us.
I love being around all my nieces and nephews. My favorite ride was the Magic Carpet
Ride. My brother, David, was married
this year to Amanda. We all went to
North Carolina for the wedding and stayed in a house on the beach. It was too cold to swim, but we had fun
collecting shells and running on the sand.
Mom bought me a small weaving loom and I made a pink and purple scarf on
it. It was fun. The summer was all about packing boxes for
our move back to Tennessee. Most of my
books and toys are still in storage; I can’t wait to see them again. But, I am happy to be back living on the
farm. Dad bought a new chicken coop and
we will buy some chickens soon. In
August, we went to Denver to visit David and Amanda. The Rocky Mountains were amazing, though it
was sometimes hard to breathe up there.
On one of our field trips this year, we went to a show called, The Days
of Knights. We learned about chivalrous
knights and their armor and weapons. It
was fun trying on chain mail and watching the jousting. In November, we went to Washington, DC, to
visit Micah. Mom said we actually went
to “feed” Micah, as he does not have the opportunity to eat much as a student
in Washington. I loved visiting the
museums and memorials, especially spending time with Micah. Well, I hope you all have a Merry
Christmas. I will, because all of my
siblings are coming home to see me!
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| At the National Gallery of Art |
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| A beautiful view with Micah |
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| At the American History Museum |
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| At the Ford Theater where Abraham Lincoln was shot |
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