Merry Christmas '07

Well it's certainly been a long while since we've blogged here! My Space and Facebook have taken over our blogging! (If you're on either though- please do add us! www.myspace.com/natenfamily and on facebook we're under the name Nate N Erika)




Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
What a wonderful time of the year! A time when we celebrate the coming of our Messiah. Our God who is all Powerful, Almighty, Completely Holy and to be Feared, came down to earth in the most humblest of circumstances to prepare a way for you and me to be able to spend eternity with Him! Wow! A love so great is beyond comprehension- it is truly Amazing!
A few weeks ago we were in Home Depot to buy a plant for my sister and brother-in-law's new house. Nate and Kelaiah went off and Kelaiah came back extatic! “Mommy come!” She said, grabbing my hand and pulling me, “Come Mommy! Oh! Christmas! Oh Christmas Tree! Mommy Come!” They had walked past the Christmas tree display and she was taken. Christmas has always been full of meaning, but Kelaiah has brought some of the warm fuzzies back again this year! Now she notices every pretty Christmas tree; she likes to look at Frosty -the- snow- man and lick candy canes; she will not sit near Santa nor will she believe that he will bring her prezzies (when a lady in the mall asked her a few days ago if Santa was going to bring her presents, she just shook her head and said “Not today.”!); Kelaiah is fascinated with snow and thinks that it's “so pretty” (she also thinks that it's blue!)! Our hearts are full of joy as she discovers so much during this season. Christmas is a Wonderful time of Year!

Our Highlights of 2007:
*The Global Impact Celebration our Church hosted where people from various nations put their culture and traditions on display- absolutely moving, and very exciting!
*Beginning to do some work on the Love Lives Here Bus- an old school bus that has been converted into a coffee shop on wheels. It goes out to the underprivileged areas in our city in the evening to offer love, support, prayer, a sandwich and a coffee to anyone and everyone from the ladies working the streets, to the children who just need a little attention, to the druggie who's hungry, to the teenagers who just want to say hi.
*Spending the night at a spa for our 5th anniversary-our first night without Kelaiah!
*Going on our week long camping trip/ vacation in the mountains of Montana!
*Taking on a new leadership role in the young adults ministry in our church
*Watching our house church grow and expand
*Nate got to go do some training in Edmonton for a new video series called “the Truth Project” he came back on fire and really changed by the Truth. (We will begin running this series in our house church in the New Year)
**And of course, watching Kelaiah grow and develop.

Looking forward to Change in 2008:
We're going into this year not really knowing what to expect. We've had a lot of plans over the last year and a bit that just haven't worked out the way we thought they would- and that's okay! So even though we go into 2008 with some plans, we're open to change! However, here are the plans at the moment; Life will run as per usual until the summer at which point in time Nate will pick up another job (as being a Teacher's Assistant doesn't pay for the months the kids aren't in school). In the autumn, Nate will begin university as a full time student! That's right, Nate is planning on going to uni for his teaching degree! This is very exciting and scary all at the same time! I will continue to baby-sit and have fun dabbling in some other home business opportunities. We'd love to make a trip to England at some point- sorry, no promises yet. And Hopefully before the end of the year baby number 2 will make it's arrival (no, we're not currently expecting).
God's got some great plans for us and we're excitedly and expectantly awaiting them!

We pray that 2008 is an awesome year for you and yours!
With Love, Erika, Nate and Kelaiah