Merry Christmas!
Below is the text of our Christmas letter for 2008. Attached is a pdf document of the same but with lots pictures and formatting.
As I was making the mailing list, I was in awe of all the people who have impacted our lives. Thank you and may God bless you this Christmas season!
Love,
Tanya and crew
Pedrick Family Happenings - Christmas 2008
I know that year after year you have waitied and longed for the Pedrick newsletter and year after year you felt a deep emptiness due to its absence. J
Finally – after 5 years of adventures, delays, and time crunches, the Pedrick family newsletter resumes. It may be flawed, full of typos, but perfectionism will not stand in the way of this newsletter.
As we think about the many people who helped us on our journey, we want to say hello and let you know where we are and what we are doing at this moment in the journey.
May the God of peace bless you as we celebrate the Savior's birth!
Our kids' favorite
Christmas joke:
What's a horse's favorite Christmas carol?
Deck the Stalls!
2008 Highlights
• Move to Powers, Oregon
• Purchased an old Catholic church to renovate into a home
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Has it really been 5 years since I last found the time and energy to compile a Christmas newsletter? Time flies . . .
Back in 2003, we had only 3 kids, no dog, just took a trip to Greece, and were looking to buy some land to build a house.
Five years later we now have 4 kids, own a very big dog, bought the land – built the house – sold the house and moved to Powers, Oregon and took a vacation in Northern California.
I will make an attempt to fill in the details as time and space allow. God has been gracious – we have been through deep valleys and stood on mountaintops in the last five years.
Powers? Where is that?
While we were building our house in Nehalem, God was already setting in motion a chain of events that led to our move to Powers, Oregon.
Powers is located in southwest Oregon. If you find Coos Bay on the coast then head inland on Highway 42 to Myrtle Point, then south on Powers Highway for 18 miles, you will find Powers. Nestled in the Coast Range on the South Fork of the Coquille River, Powers boasts a population of about 700. It's not Remote – that's a place on the map a few miles south, and its not Rural – that's a place on the map farther east on hwy 42.
The school is small so Kayne gets to teach PE to all levels – including Aaron and Kathrynn's classes.
The valley is beautiful and the people are friendly. We found a church home here. We add our voices and instruments to the worship service on occasion and help with a new youth group they started this past summer. There is a long and proud history in this valley and we are happy to be a part of it.
The year 2004 – through the valley
The year 2004 deserves its own little story in this catch-up edition of the Pedrick Family Happenings.
In 2004, we purchased a beautiful piece of property near Nehalem where we though God would keeps us for many years – or maybe forever. We are so thankful for all the people who helped us on the journey of house building.
Also in 2004, Kayne travelled to Uganda to help with an evangelistic crusade. While he thought his job was to play bass guitar, God had other plans including speaking at a school where hundreds of students heard the gospel.
On October 11of 2004 we welcomed Michael to our family. Like big brother David, he was born gently and peacefully at home with a caring midwife team.
Tanya spent the last month of 2004 in the hospital with ulcerative colitis (for gory details visit: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ulcerative-colitis/DS00598) and after medications were not effective, had surgery (again, if you want gory details on the surgery visit: http://www.j-pouch.org/illustratedpouch/index.html).
While medical issues do not make good reading (unless you like gore, I guess) this event is included as it demonstrates God's abundant grace that brought us through the valley and changed our lives.
So many people became Jesus' hands and feet for us – doctors, nurses, friends, family – each meeting a need or sharing their love with us.
The result was a deeper trust in God's goodness – that all things work together for our good and for God's glory.
There are too many stories to retell here of how God worked during this time – but ask us. We love to tell of His greatness!
Our Catholic Church Project
Being built as a logging town in the early 1900's, most of Powers houses are small – 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. With 6 in our family, we wanted to find a house that could accommodate us. Our search seemed in vain until the Catholic Church building was put on the market. It was love at first sight.
The church was built in 1918 with stained glass windows and beautiful fir floors. As it stands, it has a sanctuary room and a room and half bath off the back. With some creative designing (thanks Jack!) we will remodel the sanctuary to include a loft for another bedroom. Under the loft will be another bathroom and the kitchen. The rest of the sanctuary will be kept open.
The process has been slow, but lessons learned from our previous house building experience made challenges easier. the 2009 newsletter should contain pictures of the finished project.
So what about 2005, 2006 and 2007?
Now to fill in the rest of the missing gap since my lapse of letter writing.
2005 begin with Tanya getting out the hospital. We finished the Nehalem house and moved to it in May 2005. We had two very happy and fun years with forest trails, snow storms, wind storms, and many other adventures . Kayne continued to teach at Neah-Kah-Nie and coach. The kids attended school at Nehalem and New Discoveries Preschool.
By the start of the 2006 school year, we could no longer ignore the tugging on our hearts that our time in Nehalem was coming to an end. Kayne sent out applications and was hired at Powers for the 2007 school year. Rentals in Powers are rare in our experience so until one was found, Tanya and the kids staying in Butte Falls and Kayne commuted back and forth - sleeping on the coach of a very gracious family then acquiring a 5th wheel rental parked at a trailer park. Tanya schooled David, Kathrynn, and Aaron with Oregon Connection Academy with Michael's job being comic relief and chaos.
Finally in January 2008 we found a house to rent and at the same time a buyer found our house in Nehalem – God is good! It was not and easy season of live, but the lessons learned while relying on God and waiting for His timing – priceless. While the rental house itself has been an adventure, we were very happy to be back together
The most difficult part of leaving Nehalem was leaving behind relationships with people with whom we had experienced so much. Our church family in Rockaway, the friends and colleagues at school, family, neighbors – but those experiences and relationships gave us new tools and excitement about building relationships in our new home.
Each person we left behind impacted us and made us into people ready to face our new adventure in Powers. Thank you! We love you and miss you!
Torch – our big dog
In December 2005, Kayne had knee surgery (oh no, not medical stories again!) and while the expected and realized result was a not-hurting knee, the bonus result was a new puppy. While waiting for surgery, he saw pictures of puppies that another patient was selling.
A few days later we bought Torch. He is a Mastiff-St.Bernard mix. At 3 years old now, he weigh bout 170 pounds, but doesn't eat as much as you might expect. Kayne's parents have his brother from the same litter and the two boys love to play together – which is fun to watch when that much dog is involved.
The kids use him as a giant, warm floor pillow while watching cartoons and Torch takes his job of watching out for us very seriously. Especially when Kayne is not at home, Torch maintains a watchful eye.
Kathrynn would be sad if I didn't mention that we added a kitty to our house in 2006 and David wants you to know that we have 4 goldfish too.
Aaron
What can I say – it amazes us that 12 years ago, we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy on Christmas day and now he is a couple inches shy of passing both of us up in height and can no longer borrow shoes because his feet are bigger than ours. Aaron is growing physically ,but watching him mature into a young man with compassion and kindness gives us the most joy. He played basketball for Powers junior high last spring and this past fall played football – with pads and everything. He blossomed as a player this year and started several games at center.
Last spring he won second place at his school science fair then entered his project in the county fair. The project – about dry ice and metals – received first place at the Coos County fair and 3rd place at the Oregon State.
As the oldest, he continues to lead our kids – both in fun and mischief – but is a responsible and gentle big brother to all of them.
Kathrynn
Our precious y2k bug will turn 9 this year. She enjoys making friends. What she lacks in sisters, she makes up for in girlfriends for playing dolls, Pet Shops and make up.
She started guitar lessons and plans to play basketball this winter. As the girl of the family she makes sure her brothers do not forget that she is around and keeps them busy. She enjoys stuffed animals and makes up games for her brothers that involve the animals.
She is in 3rd grade this year .in a class that has both third and fourth graders. She enjoys having Mr. Dad as her PE teacher and is quite strong and agile as well as beautiful .
David
David just turned 7. He is in 1st grade in and 1st and 2nd grade classroom. His reading skills are blossoming.
He helped both the junior high and high school teams as ballboy and was a very dedicated member of the team. He is a real student of the game of football and can talk strategy in a way that amazes us. At home coming he was selected by the senior class as the crown bearer.
He has a quick wit and keeps us on our toes by the big questions he poses. He still loves cuddle time with mom. School ends as 2:30 every day for him which gives him an extra hour of time at home with Michael and mom.
Michael
Michael – God knew we needed him in our family. He constantly cracks us up with his jokes and facial expressions.
Being four and an October birthday, he won't start kindergarten for 2 more years. Even so, he insists and having a backpack with "mo-work" to do while the older kids are doing their homework.
The people in Powers rarely see him not dressed up like a red dragon or Spiderman. He keeps mom busy all day with games and adventures that only a 4 year old imagination can think up.
His favorite sayings at the moment are "Oh! My tenders!" and "He's a mad man! Run away!"
Kayne loves his job in Powers. Knowing that the conditioning that he instills in the grade-schoolers will help the high school teams in a few years, he enjoys watching the kids learn and grow. His hair style changes for homecoming and he readily agrees to referee basketball games or help with school projects as time allows. The football team this year was young so it was a tough season as far as wins and losses were concerned, but the growth in the team makes the future look bright. Hopefully more kids will be out for track this spring, but last years team made great improvements and an athlete participated at the state meet. His outside-of-school passion is still music and playing bass guitar at church gives him an outlet. He also takes a turn leading youth group at church with the help of other awesome couples who all have a heart for the kids in Powers.
Tanya stays busy trying to keep tabs on school schedules and keeping all Pedrick family systems running as smoothly as possible. The church remodel is her current big project, but she also works on the database for Biola University from her office in the grade school "dungeon." She redid the Powers School District website recently and tried her best to keep all the youth group helpers up to date with lessons and food for the activities. She is also pursuing a teaching credential in case she is bored after Michael starts school in a couple years.
