New Year's letter 2009/2010

New Year ‘s greetings from the Elderton’s

Well another year has flown by and we want to share with you all that God has blessed us with this year.

We survived the big snow of Christmas 08 just barely! It missed being a record breaker by just ½ cm but the 60cm that fell put a wrench into living in the lower mainland for sure. Just trying to keep up with all that digging and clearing of our parking spot and guarding them with our lives!

The big event this year was a move from our rental home of 16 years. It was a bitter-sweet event for the whole family but through God’s grace we landed in a great place just 5 blocks away (no moves of schools required, etc.). You can see some of the move excitement by going to our youtube link and seeing how the large trampoline was moved (without taking it apart). There are a couple of photos in the slideshow at the right as well.

Leah continued working at the daycare this year and is saving up to go back to school. She was very busy, especially at church where she is singing on the worship team, teaching Sunday school and being a leader in the teen’s group. She has been dating Matthew for over a year now and was overjoyed when he got baptized.

Kayla graduated from high school and a few days later got to go to China for a 19 day missions trip with our church youth group. It was a momentous trip for her, the 1st time on an airplane and also going to a different continent. She enjoyed the shopping and sightseeing and especially learning a lot about serving others as they worked in the orphanages and foster homes for disabled children. She is working at a clothing store and the Keg restaurant saving money for another missions trip she is hoping to go on.
She also learned to drive this year… with a few lessons from a teacher and lot’s of practice with dad she was off and driving!

Josh is growing older and at 10 years old he’s the tallest boy in his class!
He loves playing soccer and tennis and is always busy playing video games and communicating to his friends over the internet.

I celebrated a milestone 50th birthday with a big party for friends and family at home. My favourite saying is that “50 is the new 30!” Another milestone this year is going back to work after 20 years of being a stay at home mom! I started work at McDonald’s restaurant as a cleaning person! The job is perfect for me as it is close to home, has great part time hours and I enjoy working with the other mom’s and grandma’s that work Monday to Friday with me. It is also pretty well stress free and I especially enjoy chatting with all the regular customers who come everyday.

This year was mostly a routine one for Wayne. Not too much travelling except he was asked to be on a tennis task force by the International Tennis Federation. They scheduled the meetings at Wimbledon and he got some great box seats to take in some of the action on opening day. He has been diagnosed with some non life-threatening heart issues and is learning to live with that and to trust God in the everyday.
He’s also celebrated his 50th this year and the honeymoon has not worn off quite yet!