Merry Christmas from the Whalen's!!!!

Whalen Family Christmas Letter

     Merry Christmas from the Whalen family!  Sometimes I feel we get bogged down in our mundane and everyday life.  We forget that there is a bigger picture being painted by God who has great plans for us. We seem to focus our eyes on what is happening now and we judge the situation as if we are not getting anything extraordinarily big accomplished in this life.  But is that what we are here for? ? .  .  .  to attain certain feats?   What happened to just living our lives so that our lives glorify Christ?   He is the reason we can celebrate Christmas.   May we realize our lives are to be lived out for Him. 

     Both Mum and Dad turned 51 this year.  Ya, they are getting old.  Keeping their gardens growing and producing healthy produce for the family has kept their attention all year long. Even in the wintertime they are looking at seed catalogs!  The greenhouse took up a lot of their time when they were watering everything inside of it every day.  Dad is still working at Elwood Quality Steels and Mum is working on a program that will enable her to help kids who struggle with dyslexia and learning problems.

     The first birthdays of the year was celebrating the twin boys 19th year of life. We have always said it was a miracle when they had reached their 5th birthday but their 19^th? Wow!  Jared is currently working extensive hours with a welder on the gas pipeline.  He is officially a “welder’s helper”.   Keep him in your prayers because the pipeline can be a physically dangerous place to work.    The pay is awesome but pray for strength as the job involves long hours. 

     Nathan is still working down on the river. He’s practically the supervisor down there, making sure the trucks get filled in a decent amount of time. Recently he put in a 36 hour workday.  This makes a 19 year old feel like a 36 year old! 

     Jeremiah turned 26 this past March.  He loves people and is always visiting the retired folks near us. He loves to read the paper. He constantly prays for people who have befriended him so watch out!  Once Jeremiah’s your friend he’s your friend for life.  This past year he has been to various doctor appointments due to his declining health problems but he always faces it with a smile on his face because this gives him a chance to make new friends!

     Levi turned 12 in May.  He always throws the family off kilter when he acts differently than the other boys when they were growing up.  Instead of the outdoors type of personality we are beginning to see a guy who’s probably going to work computers and engineer work. Instead of engines torn apart and forts going up all over the Whalen plantation, our house gets littered with thousands of paper airplanes that are all different shapes and sizes. Also, the library books brought home include books with titles such as “aerodynamics”.

     June brought Sarah and Naomi’s 21st birthdays.  Sarah was able to finish up her Sophomore year at college majoring in Music Education.  Right now she is rethinking her approach to music and hopes to use her gift by encouraging local audiences along with her sisters’ help.  The Das Dutch House in Columbiana, Ohio has greatly benefited from her hard work and perseverance.  She is learning all aspects of the restaurant even though it comes at a cost of waking up mostly at 5 many mornings to get to work.

     Naomi joined her sister down in Florida for a semester this spring. She focused mainly on core classes and greatly enjoyed the History of Civilization and Interpersonal Relationship classes. She was able to work at Molnar Farms in Poland Ohio this year making it the 4^th year she has joined this company for a farm season. Right now she is putting in applications for any available jobs.

     Susanna turned 24 in August.  She was working at the Das Dutch House the beginning of the year but soon wanted to try something new so she put in an application at an assisted living and promptly got a job cleaning for the patients. She also helps the residents in everyday chores that are hard for them.  She hopes to teach music full time this coming year.    Jon continues to work as foreman at Cardinal Welding.  Both of their work schedules enabled them to take a 3^rd trip down to Mexico to relax. They are expecting a little one this coming August!  The family is soooo excited!

     Uriah turned 17 in November.  He is close to passing Jeremiah up in height!  Right now he is working on his senior year in high school and hopes to graduate in May.  He hopes to attend a welding school in the fall of 2014.  Right now he works for a pig farm that is located down the road and he was able to put in long hours during harvest for this farm. This made him real happy!

     I realize our family hadn’t done a real Christmas update in a long time and wanted to get everyone up- to- date. We grow up way to fast and it is hard to keep track of what is happening!   We wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope that you will relish in the joy the Savior will give this New Year!

                                                             With love,

Dave, Beverly, Jeremiah, Jon, Susanna( and Junior J), Naomi , Sarah,  Jared, Nathan, Uriah and Levi

Aunt Kathy's fantastically, fun and hilarious game . . . .

 

Ok, so here's the deal.  Who ever can get to  the present first, wins, but you have to wear mittens while trying to unwrap it. Also multiply layers of wrapping paper and wrapped boxes inside of already wrapped boxes make it even more complex.

 

 

Nate

 

uh-oh, Jared rolled a 6 . . . . he gets to give it a try

 

Onlookers

 

Sarah

 

Riah

 

Levi

 

He got it!

 

Grandma Whalen, up next

 

Nolmes

 

Grandpa Whalen

 

Grandma Veon

 

A fun time was had by all!

Christmas Day 2013

 

Levi was the first kid to wake up. . .  .

 

At 4 in the afternoon we had the extended family down for dinner and presents

 

Opening gifts

 

Levi, excited to be a soon-to-be Uncle Levi!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas . . . .

 

Sarah

 

Levi

 

Our "Construction Snowman" ;)

 

Our "other snowman"  complete with hatchet and crowbar for arms!

 

The tree

 

Tis the season to bake cookies!  Sarah making Choco chip cookies

 

Naomi making cut-out sugar cookies

 

Soon it will be Christmas Day! 

Merry Christmas!!!!!

 

Hot chocolate, tea,coffee or mocha. . . what will it be?  Loving the comfort that winter brings!  Bring on the comfy socks, warm drinks, blankets and warm fires.

 

 

Thanksgiving was at Grandma's this year.  Dad's cousin, Julie and her family were able to join us.  It's been a long time since we've had little ones around so Grandma ended up pulling out some toys from when Jonathan was little.

 

I'm hesitant to post these next pics.  I don't think they wanted their pictures taken.

 

Nate

 

 Jared

 

 

Riah

 

Grandma's pumpkin pies . . .  . nothing compares!!!

 

The cutest lil man, Josh!

 

We armed ourselves with games, hoping to play some over the course of the evening, but all we ever got around to was more talking and a movie.  Oh, well.

 

******************************************

 Susanna and Sarah had a recital for their students this past Thursday.

 

 

 Prepping programs

 

We have missed singing and playing like we did in the past so Sarah and I were so excited to sing "Still, my Soul be Still" accompanied by mandolin and harp.

 

 

Levi was taking pictures left and right.

 

Sarah with her students