As is tradition at the Ireland cabin I’ve written a Christmas letter and most of you have probably received it in the mail, but we’ve lost contact info for many of you or keep track of you through Facebook (and other less personal ways), and so as is also tradition, here is the Ireland family Christmas letter for 2014…
Merry Christmas from the Irelands!
December 8th, 2014
Dearest family and friends,
Merry Christmas, We’ve moved again! That has been our big story for the last couple of months. Chris and I were just talking in the car on the way back from Christmas shopping with the kids about what a huge blessing our new house has been and how excited we are to share it with you all. Wait one minute you might say, you wrote in your last Christmas letter that you had just bought a new house out at Lake Lawrence… you would be rightJ However early this summer I noticed a for sale sign on a house that I had actually worked on in high school. I remembered the 17 year old me standing in the unfinished great room thinking about how great this house was going to be when it was finished and how neat it would be to live in a house like it someday. So you can imagine that I simply couldn’t resist the temptation to ring the doorbell… and the rest as they say, is history. We moved in at the end of August and have been having a great time adjusting and settling in.
One of the many things we are blessed by in our new house is a room dedicated to homeschooling the kids. Esther has been plowing through the second grade. We are very proud of how she is learning to work independently on her lessons and on her Bible studies. She is still working away at her dance and piano lessons (and is coming along nicely in piano I might add). Jadon has been enjoying his first year of preschool this year. He surprises us with how much he is learning. He is even spelling occasional words on his own. Jadon enjoyed his first year of soccer and T-Ball this spring and had a great time learning our great past time (he had fun kicking a ball around too). I will also give a warning that Jadon has become a little bit of an UNO ringer (He is so good he might own you if you give him the chance). Rahab continues to tag along, learning and working alongside her older siblings. It should be noted at this point that she runs the place…
We’ve been busy this year as usual traveling the country and the world. This past March I was blessed with an invitation to join in a trip to Kathmandu, Nepal to celebrate and encourage the recent graduates at the Rescue, Training and Development Center (otherwise known as RTDC). I was amazed and encouraged by what I saw the Lord doing in the lives of the girls at RTDC along with their leaders. RTDC accepts young women who come from difficult backgrounds (we’ve had several classes with young ladies who don’t know how old they are or who have been sold into slavery to pay debts) and teaches them everything from basic hygiene and meal preparation to business skills and small business development. It gives these young women a chance at a life with dignity and along the way introduces them to the saving gospel of Jesus. I was very blessed to spend two weeks with these young ladies and their leaders.
Additionally, Chris’ cousin and Aunt honored me tremendously when they asked me to officiate their weddings this spring and summer. We packed up the children and headed to Walker, MN for Aunt Annie’s wedding this spring and then again to Hot Springs, AR for Zac Ruth’s wedding this summer. Along the way we had a wonderful family time vacationing as a family together. It really is part and parcel of our life that we spend a lot of time traveling. We also spent time cruising the coast of California with my brothers and their families, camping along the Snake River in Eastern WA with some dear friends, and celebrating our first ever Bar Mitzvah in Salt Lake City, UT (Congrats Asher!) Recently we’ve just returned from a wonderful week in Phoenix, AZ where we were blessed to spend some wonderful time by the pool for Thanksgiving with Chris’ parents.
Over the course of the year we were blessed by much happiness however we were saddened by the loss of my Grandma Ireland in March. She was dear to me and a wonderful example of a life lived in devotion to our Lord, so much so in fact that we named Rahab “Rahab Elaine” after Grandma Ireland. We wanted Rahab to have that heritage in her name as she grows in her own faith. We’ll miss Grandma however we know that she has entered into the heavenly city and we will see in just a short while…
Chris continues to do a wonderful job making a home for us. She made a momentous decision to resign as the Children’s Ministry Director at Crossroads this year. The Lord was laying it upon her heart that as our family was changing and growing so was her area of service. She has focused a large part of her effort on schooling the two older children (and if you ask me, has excelled greatly). As for me, well I just try and keep up with all that’s going on around here. I was excited to learn that I had a December flying schedule this year that allowed me (without any tricks, step trades, bribes or other skullduggery) Christmas eve and Christmas off… After contemplating all of the places (and by places I mean hotels) that I’ve spent Christmas over the last ten years (Oakland, Anchorage, Albuquerque, Chicago (twice), Kona, Vancouver BC, etc, etc) I feel truly blessed to simply be present with my family this year. As we do our advent calendar, host our second annual gingerbread house competition, go shopping, hunt for a tree, sip eggnog, play family games, and all of the other myriad of activities that make up the season, I’m trying hard to see Christmas through the eyes of my children and to remember that their faith is what the baby king said I should strive after…
“May the Lord God bless you and keep you; May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious towards you; May the Lord turn His face towards you and give you Peace”
Love,
Greg & Chris, Esther, Jadon and Rahab
The Ireland Cabin
