Christmas Letter 2015

I was terrible this year about getting out Christmas cards. I wrote our Christmas letter, printed [not nearly enough] pictures, stuffed envelopes, remembered to take them to one Christmas party, forgot them for the next, never got around to the last group of people... Anyway, I have decided that it's probably just... not going to happen unless you are part of the Pritchard family, and then your name is already on an envelope and I might get it to you sometime in 2016. Maybe.

So for the rest of you, who I really did intend to send a Christmas card to... Here's what you would have gotten.

The Pritchard Family

Christmas 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow! What a year! As we speed into this Christmas season, we are approaching our eighth month as an “official” family. Two-thousand fifteen brought with it joy and heartache and fun and so much more, but above all, it has brought love.

To share some highlights of the year, we would definitely have to start with April 26^th. Our wedding day was perfect. We took an 11-day honeymoon to Naples, Florida and the Florida Keys, and we were able to see and do a lot of exciting things.

April 26^th is not just the day that we became husband and wife; it is also the day that the three of us became a family. Rachael thinks she’s pretty special to have Mama (Amber) and Mommy (Heather). She is still a Daddy’s girl, but has plenty of love to go around… and it’s a good thing because she has a lot of people to love!

This spring was very eventful for Rachael as she also gained a step-father and step-sisters in March. She thinks her collegiate step-sisters are really cool and has picked up phrases from them like “I know, right?!” and the over-use of the word “like” (Amber may also be partially responsible for that one). She is a very loved little girl.

Amber is working part-time as a dental hygienist in Hickory and she is giving piano lessons to Rachael and a friend’s son. Brian recently left Polychem Alloy to start a new job at Bernhardt as a data systems analyst, which means he makes all of the data of the company more easily accessible.

Rachael started kindergarten this year and Amber is homeschooling her with the help of MawMaw Mary when Amber works. Rachael is excelling in math and language arts and performs above her age/ grade level in both. She enjoys doing fun things for science and getting to do her math on the computer. Rachael attends a homeschool group at a local church, is involved in the Adventure Club at church, and takes piano lessons and gymnastics.

We did a lot of travelling this year. Our family, or part of our family, has been to Jacksonville, Naples, Orlando, FL, and the Florida Keys; Hilton Head; Myrtle Beach (3 times); China; Louisville, KY; Roanoke, VA; Blue Ridge, GA; Pigeon Forge, TN; Cades Cove, TN; Austin, TX; and probably a few other places that we’re forgetting. We hope to be home a little more in 2016!

Through the joys and trials of this year, we have learned so much about love. Loving unconditionally. Loving sacrificially. Loving extravagantly and deeply. As we enter this Christmas season, we pray for a deeper understanding of a God who loves us so much that He would send His Son, who knew no sin, to become sin for us. We pray that in the coming year, each of us come to understand the deep love of God more and that we can each model it to those around us. We love each and every one of you and feel so blessed to have you in our lives.

“And now these three remain: Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

Love,

The Pritchard’s

Long time, no posting

Wow! Lots has changed since I last wrote a blog.

Brian and I got married on April 26, 2015. I am working part-time and homeschooling Rachael for kindergarten. On my two work days, my mother-in-law does school with her because she's awesome like that.

So that's it in brief. I love being a wife. I love being a mom.

I decided that while Rachael works on her journal for school that I will start trying to write more as well.

Her journal prompt today is the following:

Write about the best day ever. What would you do?

Rachael's answer: I will play with samwan [someone]. We pretend to be cats.

She actually spelled "pretend" BY HERSELF!!!!!

My response is:

On the best day ever I would wake up around 7:30 AM (after getting plenty of sleep), roll over, kiss my husband (who would miraculously also be awake and ready to get up), and get out of bed. I would make a cup of coffee and go sit on the deck of my uncle's vacation rental in Blue Ridge, GA with Brian. We would wake up slowly while enjoying the quiet stillness of the morning. We would talk about what we wanted to do that day, hopes and plans for the future. We would read the Bible and talk about what we read. I would sip my coffee and he would sip my coffee while pretending to not like it, although he would drink at least a quarter of it. Eventually Rachael would wake up and come join us.

Rachael would help me make pancakes and we'd eat breakfast as a family and then get dressed and to to Mercier's Orchard. We'd buy apples and peaches and maybe even pick some ourselves. Then we'd eat lunch there at the cafe. Afterward, we'd go tubing and after tubing we'd enjoy a snack of some of the fruit we picked.

Later, Rachael would have a babysitter and Brian and I would go on a date. He'd take me to dinner at one of the nice restaurants in Blue Ridge. Then we might go see a movie, or maybe get so caught up in conversation over dinner that we don't want to go see a movie. We'd stay out late, then get home and read books to Rachael and say prayers with her and tuck her in and then we'd play some pool together. After spending time together, we'd end our evening sitting together while I read a book and he plays a video game for a few minutes. Eventually we'd go to bed and fall asleep in each other's arms.