08 Family Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

2008 has been a year filled with many joys and several sorrows. Shortly after Jeff and Angie were married they began the practice of sharing daily news with one another by way of their ‘joys and sorrows’. In this letter we’d like to highlight 2008 in that same way.


Our Joys
• Our marriage of 10 years January 2nd, 2009.
• Our children Caleb and Carissa bring immense joy and laughter into our lives. In November we celebrated their two year birthday. Each day they amaze us with their happy spirits and their love for each other, for us and our community. We cherish this time of rapid growth and development in their lives.
• Our faith community at Covenant Presbyterian Church continues to be rich. We have built some great relationships and are blessed to have such a caring and supportive church family—it’s all about relationships.
• Angie’s new eyes. She got Lasik surgery and now has 20/15 vision. Eyemazing!
• Our summer vacation in Breckenridge, CO – a week of fun, relaxation and reprieve from the norm of our everyday lives.
• Angie’s Voice Studio remains steady and allows Angie to work from home about 10 hours a week. Since June a neighborhood mom has cared for the tots while Angie teaches – a huge answer to our prayers!
• Jeff continues to enjoy and be challenged by his job at Covenant. Helping people grow in their faith and in their outreach to our community and the world. In June he led a team to Russia to visit the orphans we sponsor there.
• Angie enjoys volunteering in the music ministry at Covenant. She leads Sun. worship, organizes special music and directs vocal ensembles.
• Angie’s ‘mentoring moms’ class last year at church encouraged a freshening of spiritual disciplines in her. This year she is co-facilitating a class titled ‘Soul Care’; helping women arrange their lives for spiritual transformation.
• Grandparents – many special visits and quality time spent with us and the kids
• The arrival of our niece, Olivia Amina Kintner to Jeff’s brother Jon, his wife Jeannelle and daughter Kelci. A precious new soul in our family.
• Our Blog www.thekintnerclan.blogspot.com Angie enjoys journaling and posting pictures of our family on our blog. Check it out!

Our Sorrows
• Sept. 18, 2008, Angie’s mom Sharon was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. She began chemotherapy Sept. 19th and was hospitalized for 43 days. Treatment has been successful. Angie flew to AZ two times during her hospital stay and we also traveled as a family in mid Nov. The timing of this life change, the ramifications, and the heartbreak Sharon is experiencing is overwhelming. We continue to pray for physical and emotional healing, full remission, and quality of life. You can follow Sharon’s journey on her blog www.strengthofmysoul.blogspot.com
• Several people in our church have passed away this past year. We mourn the loss of those loved ones in our church community.
• We grieve the hardship of difficult financial times and the loss of jobs our friends have experienced because of tight times.


In the midst of our joys and sorrows we praise our Lord and Savior and have confidence that He is above all and in all things. We are thankful for the many blessings God has given us. We treasure your friendship to us and hope to hear from you in the coming year.


In the Hope of Christ’s Birth,

Jeff, Angie, Caleb and Carissa