Cribbs Family Christmas Newsletter 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so excited to be writing another Cribbs Family Christmas letter…filled with highlights of the past year. Looking back over 2008 has allowed me to remember the many joys and challenges we have faced. But the reoccurring themes of the past year are God’s faithfulness, love and mercy. He blessed us with wonderful memories and He never left our side during times of heartache.

I must start off by saying; there is not a day that goes by when I am not thankful for my wonderful husband. He is in the middle of pursuing his master’s in Engineering at UNT. Not only is he doing extremely well with his grad school classes and teaching his AP & Pre-AP Physics classes at Ryan High School, he is able to spend quality time with his family. He also recently wrote and submitted several grants at RHS. He won three: one for the Physics department, one for the Robotics club he heads up and one for grad school. I could not be more proud of him. He also participated in his 4th adventure race in September. He and his team competed for over 24 hours and covered many miles via canoe, trekking and biking. Unfortunately they weren't able to complete the entire biking segment but Dave was well prepared. He had been riding his bike to and from work for a total of 34 miles...exercising and saving money on gas.

In April, Dave and I, along with my sister, Erika, and brother-in-law, Josh, went on a week-long cruise. Zoey stayed with my parents and all of us had the best week ever. It was such a wonderful time of rest and relaxation before the craziness of preparing to go to kamp. That’s right! We packed up our family and spent another wonderful summer in Missouri working at Kanakuk Kamps, K7. This was my 8th summer, Dave’s 15th and Zoey’s 2nd. Unfortunately, this summer began with a very great loss. We found out we were pregnant on Mother’s Day but then I miscarried at the end of May while at kamp. I had a difficult time finding a doctor that would see me and Dave was still in Texas finishing the school year. This was our second miscarriage since being pregnant with Zoey and it would have been so easy to be utterly discouraged. Thankfully I was surrounded by my kamp family who helped me get through this very difficult time.
The great news is that the Lord is faithful to expand our family. Right before we came home from kamp, we found out we were pregnant again. We are currently 25 weeks along (about 5 1/2 months) and due April 2nd, 2009. We are so grateful that this pregnancy has continued but it's a daily reminder that we are not in control and the Lord is the giver and taker of life. Every day is precious...count your blessings.

Our little Zoey Michele has had a full and wonderful year. Although, it did start off with a minor surgical procedure in January to repair her supra-umbilical hernia. I think it was more traumatic for Dave and me than it was for her. She was back to new in a couple of days. She had the best summer of her life at kamp. She enjoyed swimming, boating, going down the Kamikaze Cribbs (the twisty, waterslide named after Dave), the lake, the trampolines, and playing with her kamp friends. And, of course, she couldn't get enough of her two favorite babysitters: Katie and Olivia! Zoey will be 2 years old on December 28th and she is the funniest and smartest kiddo I know. She loves being outside, reading books, her family, spaghetti, Pooh Bear and her baby doll (she's going to be a great big sister!). And according to her pediatrician, she's going to be one tall lady.

Well, we are less than a week away from another Cribbs Family Christmas Roadtrip Extravaganza. We will be heading north to celebrate Christmas with Dave's dad in Pittsburgh and stopping along the way to see many friends and family. We've done this trip twice before but this will be the first time with Zoey. I think we're well prepared, though. We've got lots of snacks, new toys and the most important thing...we borrowed a DVD player. Even with two weeks set aside for this trip, we're sad to admit we're unable to see everyone. We're just hoping and praying for safety on the road and pleasant weather.

Thank you so much for stopping by our blog to read the re-cap of 2008. We hope you swing by from time to time to see what we've been up to and see pictures of our growing family. We wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that whatever you do to celebrate the season, you are reminded of the reason we celebrate...the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Dave, Jenni & Zoey

click here to see pics from our family photo shoot