Christmas Letter 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen…..We are pleased to announce that Todd is a GRADUATE of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary! He received a Master of Divinity in Theology on December 11th, and we are so excited! If you count the semester he took a class in Tennessee, this has been an 8 year long process. Todd has persevered through so much and worked so hard, and we are so proud of him. Also, Todd was ordained as an elder/pastor this past March. It was a great service and celebration, and he is currently serving as an elder at our church in New Albany, Indiana. He also continues to work full time in the IT department at Baptist Hospital.

Brandon turned 9 in June and celebrated with a Ben 10 party! It’s hard to believe that in another 9 years he’ll be all grown up! He is in 4^th grade this year and is studying Rome to the Reformation in history. We recently had a Roman feast and ate fish, figs, artichokes, etc. while reclining on the floor. We have been happy with our homeschool curriculum, called My Father’s World, and we enjoy these fun little projects that make history come alive! Brandon is still doing karate 2 days each week and still enjoying it. He will hopefully be able to test for 2^nd degree black belt next year! Brandon’s blood sugars were running a bit high for a portion of the year, so he got to wear a continuous glucose monitor for a week. It provided us with some helpful information, and we made some changes and his numbers have been better. Brandon continues to be very brave for all he has to go through.

Bekah turned six years old in November. She had another sleepover like she did last year, but this year it was a Barbie themed party. She is in first grade this year, and she says math is her favorite subject. She really loves the art classes that the kids take from another homeschool mom. She is involved in a Keepers of the Faith club that is similar to Girl Scouts, and she has earned lots of badges. She had her first dance recital in June, and of course she looked beautiful and did a great job. She is continuing to dance this year and is getting better at tap and ballet.

I am busy, as usual, with homeschooling and church activities. And I continue to try to make it to the gym as much as possible. I finally ran my first ever 5K in October! It was a great experience, and I hope to do it again next year! I have been looking into getting certified as a personal trainer, so we’ll wait and see what happens with that. I also graduated this year from the Seminary Wives Institute at the seminary. I received the Advanced Certificate during the graduation ceremony for Boyce College in May.

In August of this year, my Pap Paw died, just a couple of weeks after his 95^th birthday. It is a reminder that even with 95 years on this earth, life is so short! We need to spend our days thinking about where we will spend eternity instead of focusing all our thoughts on this brief life we have on earth. In 1 Peter 2:11, we are called pilgrims or strangers or sojourners on this earth. It is not our home; we are only here for a little while!

Todd took a class over the summer, so we did not take a vacation this year. We are saving up his time off to spend some time in Tennessee over the holidays, so we are really looking forward to that!

Many people have asked us what is next now that Todd is finished with school. At this point we are planning to stay right here where we are until God leads us somewhere else. Todd is excited about having time to spend with our family and to be able to spend more time ministering to our church family at State Street Baptist Church.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas celebration and a blessed 2010!

Love,

Todd, Heather, Brandon and Bekah Young