Bring your Grandparents to School Day
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” I Thess. 5:18
Dear Friends:
The year 2011 has definitely been a time in which we have been learning to give thanks “in every thing”. It has definitely been a busy year.
Lynn continues to enjoy his job at WalMart, though he would much rather not have to work any Saturdays and/or Sundays. The opportunities missed because of having had his days-off split up (usually he has Sunday and another day besides Saturday or Monday) are both a reason to be disappointed and a reason to give thanks. We usually take advantage of every Sunday afternoon to have some family time, but long weekends are non-existent. However, it is a blessing to know that he has a job, and at his age it is no longer his choice to be picky about jobs. He recently (October) dislocated his shoulder but only missed two days of work, though he has had to work with his left hand a lot more than he would like. He is hoping to be released to do most of his regular work by the end of the year. Sometime before his injury, Lynn took some days of his vacation and went to Denver, CO to see his brother Aldo and family. It was good to be able to spend some days with them, and get to know his nephew and nieces as adults and meet their spouses. It was a joy to see that they have all formed very nice families, and that they are staying close as a family. Lynn was also impressed with the opportunities for ministry that are available, and he believes that Aldo would be much better able to take advantage of them if he did not have to work a full time job and could dedicate full time to the ministry. Recently, a neighbor of theirs, whose family was disintegrating, came to know the Lord, and they are praying and working toward a reuniting of that family on the solid foundation of Christ, their newly found Savior. Pray for that family.
Mary enjoys her responsibilities as a homemaker for Lynn and Michael. Since she has no outside job, she has become an expert couponer, and tries to do her shopping on Wednesdays, when she also gets 5% senior citizen’s discount at some of the stores. Friday is usually a special day for her, because she gets to spend the evening with granddaughter Rachel, and she thoroughly enjoys her one-on-one time with her. She has also had the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas to spend time with daughters Kathy and Lizzie, and from there they have had other trips to Ensenada, Mexico (Lynn went along on that trip) and to Hawaii with them. She also went out to help Kathy with a church banquet she was planning.
Michael has also had several opportunities to travel, most of them for study and certification purposes, through his job, but also a cruise on the Mediterranean, departing from Barcelona, Spain and a short but packed ten day trip to Argentina to introduce a friend to the land where he grew up. He has been very involved in the project he is working on at LCE (Life Cycle Engineering) and is now a Project Manager. He enjoys his job, and has a good relationship with his fellow workers. He is more than happy to let Mary keep house for him and Lynn repair a few things here and there which need a handyman.
Philip and Rosalyn and daughter Rachel are doing well. Philip turned 40 this year. He continues to work at LCE as a Project Analyst (though I believe he is now considered a Project Manager). His supervisor has become a dear friend of the family, and she tells us that he is highly respected and appreciated on the job scene. Rosalyn is serving as taxi driver for Rachel’s school activities, Homeroom Mother, and housewife. She has been dedicating time to collecting memories in the form of scrapbooks and picture albums. Rachel is busy with her activities at school (which include cheerleading and several invitations to birthday parties) besides a more demanding academic schedule as she is now attending a school which tries to keep a college prep level starting from grade school.
Though they live far away, Kathy and Lizzie keep in (almost daily) touch with us. Kathy keeps very busy at work, and has also become very much involved in their church, a small church plant close to their home. Lizzie has had opportunities to babysit, housesit (on two occasions this year) and dogsit. She also enjoys filling her time with relationships with the ladies at church and some of the children from church. Interspersed between these activities and housekeeping for Paul and Kathy, she has been able to make a trip to London and Paris with Kathy at Thanksgiving time (Paul did not go because he went to Argentina to visit his parents, Harold and Priscilla Goossen, who are missionaries there) and to Ensenada and Hawaii. We are constantly thankful for the example she has given us of what a godly widow should be.
Though we enjoyed the preaching and teaching we were getting at the Northside Baptist Church, Lynn especially felt the need to get into a smaller church where we could be useful. We had heard when we first moved to the area of an IFCA church plant pastored by a friend from Seminary days, so we decided to visit there, and we realized immediately that this would be a much better fit for our family, as we are used to being involved in church planting situations. We are now tied in with the Community Bible Church of Summerville, and enjoying it very much. Lynn has had the opportunity to substitute teach in Sunday School, Mary has filled in at the piano on one occasion, Rosalyn is in charge of the nursery, and Philip has had the opportunity to help with the audio recording.
We recently (I believe it was September) had the privilege of a visit from Lynn’s brother and sister-in-law Ivan and Kim. We realize that this was an exceptional stretch for them, as they were only in the States for a six month time of home ministries, and they had to make many visits. Nevertheless, it was a blessed time, and we are thankful for it.
We have also been blessed to be closer to Mary’s sister Judy, and have been privileged to have her in our home on several occasions. Since both she and Lynn work at WalMart stores, they both have only one guaranteed day off in the year, and that is Christmas. We are planning to spend the day with her at Myrtle Beach, (where she lives) and hoping to be able to spend the same time with Blaine, Jr. (Skip) since he, too, has the day off and lives in Myrtle Beach.
I’m sure that we could remember many other things to thank the Lord for, and every situation we are in is a reason for thanksgiving.
We thank God for His Unspeakable Gift, Jesus Christ, God’s answer to Job’s lament “He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us , to lay his hand upon us both,… l would speak up without fear if him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” (Job 9:32-35) As Hebrews points out, we now have such a man, who did not need to atone for his own sins, because he is sinless. He is also God (the creditor) and he became man (taking the form of a debtor) and was thus able to “lay his hand upon us both”, but even better yet, he did not cover up our sin, as the sacrifices of the Old Testament times did. He did much better, he became our defense attorney, pleading guilty on our behalf, and then, standing between us and God’s wrath, offered to be the full satisfaction of our debt, thus wiping our slate clean.
IT IS OUR PRAYER THAT ALL OUR FRIENDS WILL BE ABLE TO SAY, WITHOUT ANY DOUBTS, THAT THIS IS THE BASIS OF THEIR FAITH, AND THAT THEY, TOO, ARE THANKFUL FOR CHRIST, BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALLOWED HIM TO BE THEIR SAVIOR.
May you have a Blessed Christmas and a Very Happy New Year
Lynn and Mary Hoyt
