Elderton's 2014 Christmas letter

Hello all,

What a year we’ve had, full of joy, challenges and upheavals. But throughout was the knowledge that God was in control.

Leah & Matt

Leah and Matt celebrated 3 years of marriage in 2014, the same as the duke and duchess of Cambridge! Leah has continued working in the daycare that she’s been at since she finished High school. She is working with the older kids now and also she and Matt are in their 5^th year of leading the junior youth at church. Matt graduated from S.F.U. with his teaching certificate. He started being a T.O.C (teacher on call) but unfortunately for him the strike started at the end of June and into the beginning of September. He did get a half time contract at an elementary school, team teaching with an experienced teacher. Ideally, he wanted to teach middle or high school but this job is grade one and two. He knows it’s just good to get the experience so he’s committed to being there for another year if they ask him to.

Kayla

Kayla’s had the adventure of her life!  She saved up money waitressing  at the Keg and went to Barcelona for a semester of school! She left in September and will be returning January 3^rd. When she arrived, she stayed in a hostel and then had to find a flat (she had already found a roommate from UBC) that was near the school. She did find one but they had to find a 3^rd roommate to be able to afford it. They did find another local schoolmate. Once school started and she settled in, she got to travel throughout Europe on weekends. Her trips included; Meeting a co-worker that was back packing in London. Exploring many parts of Spain, Visiting Rome and Vatican city, Investigating Paris and Brussels Belgium. She was a little concerned about the end of school with all her school friends leaving and having 2 more weeks to stay there on her own, but she was blessed because her friend from church (Shelby who is doing missions work in India) decided to come visit her for 2 weeks! They are having fun exploring more of Spain and Portugal also.

Josh

Josh is doing well in school. He really enjoyed the teachers being on strike and wished it lasted longer! He has lots of friends at school and 90 percent of them are female! He finally has found the sport he likes the best and this year his Volleyball team won the District Banner (Burnaby/New West/Richmond) and even qualified to go to the provincials but didn’t  have the funding to go. In the summer he got to go to Pioneer Pacific for 3 weeks for a leadership program that combined work/study and fun and he has been accepted to go again this summer.

Janice & Wayne

While Josh was at camp, we decided to go to visit Wayne’s last surviving uncle Don in Penticton. We hadn’t seen  him and his wife for at least 20 years. The weather was the best and it was even Peach Festival time. I got to do something I’ve  wanted to do which was parasailing.   Wayne, not being a friend of heights, was happy to be in the boat watching.

We celebrated our 30^th anniversary this year and can’t believe how the time has flown by. The girls wanted to send us away to Long Beach where we had our honeymoon but we didn’t  want to go. The weather there is too unreliable and that wasn’t  on our list to visit again.

Then, Wayne was asked to be a speaker at an International Tennis Federation conference being held in Grenada in the Caribbean in October. He took me along and the clear water, sun, and sand was a definite upgrade from Long Beach. On the medical front, Wayne has had physical challenges as his hips are wearing out, he needs hip replacement at some point soon. I have issues with carpal tunnel and a bad back, we are too young to have all these old people’s health issues!

The major upheaval was that in June, our landlord told us we had to move!  She needed the house for her son who was expecting their first child. She felt bad to kick us out so she gave us until November. We have sooo loved living in our house and it was such an answer to prayer 5 years ago. We proceeded to look daily for accommodation online (Craigslist is a blessing). We thought, “Maybe we’ll find something and move in sooner than later”. We also wanted to use this opportunity to have Leah and Matt live with us. We had our work cut out for us to find the right type of housing, at the right price, in the same area (since we preferred Josh not to change schools). It turned out harder than expected and the months rolled by. Come the end of September, we still hadn’t found anything suitable. There was only one place on the radar, but we would have taken it reluctantly since it was very small and old. Our faith in God was tested, but the old adage is true, “ God is never late (but rarely early)”. Wayne decided to look at higher price range and we found this great house close by that fit all our requirements. Once we talked to the Property Manager we negotiated a lower price as well (a miracle in itself as there were many renters vying for the house and would have gladly paid the higher price, but she liked us). God had the perfect place for us but in his own timing. We moved in October 15^th and are all settled in now.

Those are the highlights of our 2014 journey. Blessings to you all for a great 2015.