Merry Christmas from the Patton family!
Another year has passed, and we are so thankful for the ways that God continues to bless our family.
Julie is now 5 and we jokingly call her our shy one. She is always talking and definitely keeps us laughing. This year Julie began kindergarten, and she is definitely a smart little cookie. She has recently discovered that she can breeze through her chapter books very handily, and she thinks that is pretty awesome. This was also Julie’s first year to play organized soccer. She has been waiting for her turn for two years now, and really loved it!
Meg is now 7 and is in 2nd grade. She is my girlie who greets the world with a smile. She is full of laughter and never in a hurry (for better or for worse!) She is also still our “skinny minny” who is perpetually pulling her pants up. Unfortunately, Meg’s year has been full of tummy pains that we are still wrestling with, but it seems that we are making some progress in that area and we are very thankful for that! One milestone for Meg this year was that she scored her first goal in soccer! She was super excited about that one!
Emma is now 10 and in the 4th grade. She continues to be our athlete. Given a choice, she will always choose playing outside or helping dad out in the garage over reading or crafting. This year she celebrated her 10th birthday with a Hawaiian themed pool party, and she loved that! She would happily swim every day during the spring, summer and fall. (It doesn’t bother her if the water is too cold – or too hot.) Right now Emma and I are reading through the Percy Jackson books together, and we are both enjoying that!
Ali is now 11 and is in the 6th grade. She continues to be our bookworm and our artist. This year she took a fashion design class at a nearby church, and that was one of the highlights of her week! The other highlight of her week has been youth group at our church. We welcomed a new youth pastor and his wife this fall and Ali is crazy about them both (So are Aaron and I!) It has been such a joy to watch as Ali absorbs and applies the teaching that she is sitting under on Wednesday nights!
Aaron and I celebrated 12 years of marriage this spring! (I’m not sure where time has gone.) At the end of May we took a family vacation with our good friends (the Alligoods) to the mountains of North Georgia. It was such a treat to vacation with some of our favorite people! In September we were also able to take a week and go to Wisconsin for a visit with my extended family. I continue to home school our girls, and (most days) I really love that. Aaron has now been working at Boeing for 8 years. This year has included a lot more work-related travel for him. That’s definitely not his favorite (or mine) but it should be a few months before he has to go again. The Patton family was in 7th heaven with the sporting world this year! A Packers Super Bowl and a Cardinals World Series were the perfect package!
All in all, it has been a great year, though I’m not sure how it managed to fly by so quickly. As we are in the middle of Christmas craziness, we purpose to focus on what we are truly celebrating. "Fragile finger sent to heal us, Tender brow prepared for thorn, Tiny heart whose blood will save us, Unto us is born, Unto us is born." May your Christmas be a true celebration of our Savior!
Aaron, Andrea,
Ali, Emma, Megan and Julie Patton
