Merry Christmas 2008!
Dear Family and Friends,
It is that time once again to update you on the happenings of our year, and to look forward to updates from many of you also! We can’t believe another year has gone by. Here are some highlights from our year.
January - We were privileged to take the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class at our church for 14 weeks. We have continued to try to utilize all we learned in the class and live on a realistic budget, pay down debt, not go into debt any further, and prepare for our future. We keep in mind that God is in control over it all.
February - Ethan turned 4 years old on Feb. 3rd! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/02/ethan-turned-4-years-old.html It still baffles us some of the things that Ethan comes up with . . . even his teacher at preschool this year will tell you that he sometimes surprises her with what he says, meaning he seems older than his years say he is! He is a very deep thinker and processes things meticulously, does things in an orderly way, and tells you when you haven't done them to his liking. Hmmm, wonder where he gets this personality trait from? (There could be many in our family to attribute these characteristics to, actually, but Mommy is one of them! :-) One new interest Ethan has this year is everything Star Wars. (Hmmm, this one is from Daddy! :-) In fact, because of the deep thinker that he is, if he had his way, he would think only and always of everything Star Wars. So, we have to often limit when he plays and watches Star Wars, to be sure that he makes room for many of his other interests in his world as well! Ethan also loves music and singing, especially in his 4K choir this year and in his music class at school. He also loves running races outside against his brother, friends, and Mommy and Daddy. He continues to accept his role as "big brother" with flying colors, and is always nurturing and taking care of Caleb.
June - Jill ran her first 5K race in over 10 years. No record time achieved, but getting back into the "running" thing again! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-finished-5k-race.html We also enjoyed a week long vacation with Scott's parents to Surfside Beach, staying at a good friend's town home only a few blocks off of the beach. It was a much needed, relaxful vacation, the first week long one we had taken in quite a while. http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/06/day-at-surfside-beach-sc.html
July - We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! Scott and Jill's Dad worked on putting in a new wood laminate floor over the 4th of July weekend in most of our house, replacing the prior 7 year old carpet. The floors look great now and are so much easier to keep clean! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-new-wood-floor-is-finished.html Ethan took swim lessons for the first time for a two week period. He learned what his teacher and our good friend, Miss Melanie, said she called "safety swimming". When he started, he wouldn't put his head under the water . . . but by the end of the first lesson, he was! He learned how to jump in off the side, swim back to the side, float on his back, dive for toys in the water, and not have a fear of putting his head under. We only hope he remembers everything when the weather gets warm enough to go swimming again next summer! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/07/last-day-of-swimming-lessons.html
August - Caleb turned 2 years old on August 30th! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/09/happy-2nd-birthday-caleb.html Caleb continues to bring a lively energy to our lives, just as he has from day 1! He is talking more and more, loves playing trains, knows all of his letters by sight and name, and can even write some letters already. One of his favorite activities is wrestling with his brother and Daddy. We often wonder where he learns his "moves" from, but the wrestling "holds" seem to come naturally to him! He still loves playing with any kind of sport involving any kind of ball. He definitely keeps us on our toes 24-7! Megan, Jill's sister, married Mike Cox on August 17th. Jill was a bridesmaid, Scott played guitar in the ceremony, and Ethan and Caleb were ring bearers. To see some pics from the wedding, go to http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-wedding-pictures.html Ethan started playing Upward Soccer for the first time, and had a great time! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/09/ethans-first-upward-soccer-game.html Ethan and Caleb both started 3 day a week preschool (Ethan's 4th year attending, and Caleb's 1st year attending) at our church's preschool. They both are enjoying their teachers and classroom friends very much! Wednesday night church activities also started up again in August for the new school year. Jill is helping out again in Ethan's children's choir and both Scott and Jill are Mission Friends teachers in Ethan's 4K class.
September - Ethan made a special decision to ask Jesus into his heart and become a Christian! We are still rejoicing with him on his decision, and helping him to understand what it all means on a daily basis. To read the full story from Jill's point of view, see http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/09/ethans-special-decision.html We also enjoyed a quick weekend get away with our family, Jill's parents, and our friends, the Wileys, to North Myrtle Beach.
October - We welcomed our first neice, Wendy June Whalen, born to Stacy and Zach Whalen on October 22nd. Ethan and Caleb are excited about having their first cousin, and the whole family is excited about welcoming a girl into the family! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-have-new-niece.html Caleb qualified to receive services through our county's Babynet services, for children birth - 3 years old. We had some concerns about his speech and had him evaluated. He did qualify for play therapy services, that he receives once a week at preschool, and he will be tested for actual speech therapy in early January to see if he will start that service. We also discovered Ethan and Caleb were not using their right eyes to see! They both are wearing glasses now to help correct their vision. This started out as quite an ordeal to get them to wear the glasses for any length of time, especially Caleb, but now they both will wear them pretty regularly when asked. It is still a work in progress! http://blogworthymoments.blogspot.com/2008/11/wearing-their-new-glasses.html
November - We traveled to VA to celebrate Thanksgiving with Jill's sister, Stacy, and her family, Zach and Wendy, as well as Jill's parents, and Jill's sister, Megan, and her husband, Mike . . . we were planning to spend the whole weekend at Stacy and Zach's new house. However, we found out Thanksgiving morning, that Jill's Grandpa Watson had passed away. Our plans changed to making a trip up to Ohio for the funeral over the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend. Grandpa Watson was a month away from turning 91 years old. He will be greatly missed on this earth, but we look forward to when we will all see each other again one day in Heaven.
December - We look forward to spending time visiting with family and friends here in SC over Christmas. We are adjusting to a new schedule of Jill's parents not living "full time" in Spartanburg. After Jill's Dad searched for the past 2 years to find a job, career, or schooling that fit him in this area of the country to no avail, he has just recently accepted a new job back in the Northern VA area, near to where he used to work before moving to SC 4 years ago. As it has been Jill's Mom's full time job to watch the boys for us while we both work, Scott still at Huttig Building Materials as an Inside Salesman, and Jill still at Wolverine Coatings handling Accounting duties, we weren't sure how all was going to play out with this new job. However, for now, Jill's Mom says she doesn't want to leave the boys anytime soon, and so she and Jill's Dad are working out an every other weekend 7 hour commute back and forth to see each other. While this is not an ideal situation for all, we are thankful for this new job opportunity for Jill's Dad, and also thankful we have not lost our full time childcare provider just yet.
It is because of our Lord and Savior’s birth, Jesus Christ, that we celebrate with you this Christmas. We pray that you and your families are enjoying a healthy and happy holiday season, and we look forward to reconnecting with those we haven’t heard from in a while, and staying connected through the New Year.
Please sign our Guest Book before you leave to let us know you stopped by!
With Love,
The Brisken Family
Scott, Jill, Ethan, and Caleb
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