Welcome to our first annual year end update! We’ve never sent a Christmas card or year end update before, but we would like to start making this a tradition. 2016 has been a very full year and whether we see you often, or not so often, we’d like to give you all an update on what has been going on in our lives.
QUICK LOOK AT 2016
- 5 year wedding anniversary
- Mike turned 30
- Seeds of Life Church 3+ years
- Mt. Hermon Senior High Year 10/11
- We went to Japan and Chicago
- Mike’s brother is engaged!
- Two years with Gizmo
- We joined a basketball league
WORK
Mike @ Liferay
November marked my ninth year working at Liferay. Work has been up and down throughout this year, but definitely more up than down. I still enjoy working with the technology and the people. My favorite part about what I do at Liferay is mentoring those around me and contributing to their personal and professional growth. I have a great team that I work with and I am surrounded by the best people. This year, Liferay sent me to Chicago for their annual Symposium where I had a great time meeting people who use Liferay and spending time with team members. Through the seasons where work is tough, I continue to remember God’s faithfulness and His calling for me here at Liferay. I am truly blessed to be a part of this company where we strive to make a positive impact on the world.
Carrie @ RUSD
This is my third year working as a school based speech-language pathologist at Rowland Unified and I am still loving it! I truly believe you should love what you do for work because you spend a good amount of your life doing it and this is definitely something I enjoy doing. Last school year, I was working at an elementary school and a middle school. This year I’m at the same middle school and helping out at the high school. Working at the high school has definitely been an interesting transition. I mainly work with students in the severe population at the high school, which was a little intimidating at first but is getting easier each day. I love the school setting and getting to help out with events outside of the special education realm. Before working for Rowland Unified, I never really had coworkers that I saw everyday. Now that I have coworker friends, I’ve been having a lot of fun being a part of our middle school’s social committee and planning events with my coworkers.
MINISTRY
Seeds of Life CHURCH
Seeds of Life Church officially launched on Easter April 20th, 2014, but we have been meeting as a church since late 2013. Carrie and I have been calling Seeds of Life our home church for over 3 years now. After these 3 years, I think I finally have a grasp on the sacrifice of church planting. Church planting is definitely not easy and you definitely spend a lot of time learning to crawl before you can walk or even begin thinking about running. It has been a slow and tiring process but the Lord has taught Carrie and me a lot over these past 3 years.
I have the privilege of being the worship director at Seeds of Life Church. This past year was pretty tough as we entered our 3rd year as a church. I had been leading worship almost every week in the past year. However, in August, Pastor Adam became a part of the worship rotation and started leading once a month. Pastor Adam, along with guest worship leaders, has allowed me to be able to sit in the congregation and just receive on the occasional Sundays. It has been a marathon of worship leading but the Lord has been faithful and good to us.
Aside from serving at Seeds, the church has been a great place for community. We have met a lot of wonderful people at Seeds and are able to share life with them through our married couples group, Life Group, Worship Teams, and the people who want to hangout after church.
It’s been a huge blessing serving on the worship team at Seeds. Never in my life did I imagine myself serving in this capacity. It’s definitely a huge change from youth ministry, but I’m enjoying it. Our greatest support and source of community comes from our married couples group. We also have a growing young adult community that we get to eat lunch with every Sunday after service and go on little adventures with.
Seeds of Life 2 Year Anniversary Video
MT. HERMON SENIOR HIGH
This was my 10th year serving at Mt. Hermon Senior High, 8th year as a cabin leader. I’ve been saying that it will be my last year serving for the last few years, but I can’t seem to get enough of this amazing ministry and keep coming back. I worry that I’m “too old” and don’t have the energy to serve, but every time I get to see God working in the lives of my girls, I feel so grateful for getting to be a part of His amazing work.
This year was my 11th year at Mt. Hermon Senior High. Mt. Hermon is something that I look forward to every year. I am thankful for the amazing staff that I get to serve with, talented and gifted pastors that I get to sit under, and awesome high schoolers that I get to worship with. Worship leading at Mt. Hermon is a marathon that consists of 13 worship sets with 6-7 songs each. It may sound a bit overwhelming for one week but it’s seriously one of the best weeks of the entire year. I love that I get to serve with people who I shared a cabin with as a conferee so many years ago. There are times that I also worry that I am getting “too old”, maybe I am, but until the Lord calls me out of this ministry… can’t stop won’t stop!
One minute look at this year’s Mt. Hermon
Mt. Hermon Senior High 2015 Worship Album
LIFE
Travel: JAPAN
This year we finally made the trip out to Japan! We were there for 8 very full days. We went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Naoshima, and back to Tokyo again. It was an amazing trip with some of our amazing friends. Each of our friends who went on the trip had something specific they wanted to do while in Japan, because of that, we were able to experience so many different parts of Japan. On our trip we took lots of photos and videos. Below is a playlist of all 8 days when we were in Japan. The video below is of Naoshima Island, one of our favorite places in Japan.
Japan Album
One of our favorite days from our trip to Japan
Travel: Chicago
At the end of September, we went on a trip to Chicago with our friends to celebrate Carrie’s birthday and to visit our friend Kyle. Our favorite parts of the trip included the Architecture Boat Tour, yummy meals with friends and THE PIZZA. Both of us love to travel and we are so thankful that we have such an awesome group of friends to travel with!
Chicago Album
Day two in Chicago
Gizmo
Our hamster, Gizmo, was a huge part of our lives these past two years. Gizmo loved to build mountains, sleep, and discover new favorite foods like bell peppers, celery, tofu, spinach, strawberries, and baby food. Some of our favorite memories of Gizmo are of him stamping his feet excitedly before getting a treat, running around the couch, and squeaking when he’s happy. Gizmo passed away on November 2, 2016. His passing has been hard on us. We loved him very much. One time he ate a hole in our couch when we accidentally left one of the pods in his home open. We will forever remember him by that hole (and a cactus we planted that we named Cactus-mo).
BuzzFeed made Gizmo his own page for his birthday
Basketball
Mike and I joined a co-ed basketball league with Sila Church this past fall. Basketball has definitely been a huge blessing and highlight for this year. This was my first experience getting to be a part of a sports team and I am glad that we made the decision to join. Basketball always seemed so competitive and scary to me, but with such a supportive and patient team it’s been nothing but smiles and fun.
Merry CHRISTMAS and Happy New Year!