Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 In Pictures


In the grand scheme of things one year isn't very long, yet, when we reach the end of a year and think about all the things that have happened, it is easy to see why countless year in review lists are done at the end of each year.  Well, why should my blog be any different?  While I am pretty busy, I don't really consider my day-to-day life as being all that exciting or eventful.  However, there are several things that stick out to me from the past year, most of which has been documented on facebook and/or twitter, here are some of them;




 

  This year I was fortunate to baptize two of my three children.  More than just the fact that I baptised them, I am so excited to see them choose to follow Jesus, and even more so to see Jesus in their lives.





 




In the summer my son, JD, and I were able to attend a Mariner game with friends of ours and got to witness our first no-hitter which was thrown by 6 different Mariner pitchers.
 
 
 
 
 
 

One of our favorite places to camp as a family is on Orcas Island.  This year we went the week of the 4th of July for some hiking, bridge jumping, swimming and fireworks

This is just a picture of a burger and fries simply because I love a good burger.  I enjoy good food (usually in the form of burgers and pizza) and love to go out with others to eat.  This picture is just a reminder of the good food eaten throughout the year, particularly that which was eaten with friends and family.

 





 
2012 was a big year for Crosswater as we celebrated our 5th anniversary and added a third full-time pastor when we hired Josh Moser as our Worship Pastor.  It is an amazing privilege to work with Aaron and Josh and I look forward to what God wants to do in and through us.
 
In the summer, my family took a road trip to Yellowstone National Park.  It was great to get away with some good friends and see some of God's amazing creation.  It is a little weird though going out into nature and seeing a huge crowd waiting for "nature" to happen (like this picture, on the left, at Old Faithful)
 
 

Before we got to Yellowstone, we were able to spend a couple of days with good friends near Boise, ID which included floating down the river.
Football is one of my passions, particularly college football and most specifically Husky football.  I was able to go to two games this year (both UW wins) due to the generosity of friends and was able to take my youngest, Halle, to her first game.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In November my wife surprised me with a trip to see a good friend of mine in Hawaii.  I hadn't seen him for almost a year and as it turns out, he moved to the Philippines just a couple of weeks after I left.  The warning signs to the right were at the start of a hike that we did but they are also a greater analogy for life.  We are faced with many hazards, obstacles and difficulties but if we let all of those stop us on our journey we won't get to experience much of the amazing things that happen.
 
 
 
 
This is my amazing family.  I am incredibly blessed  to have the wife and kids that I have and I look forward to the time that I have ahead of me with these four amazing people and wait with anticipation the addition of our 5th family member.