CHRISTmas 2008

I can’t believe this is our 6^th year of writing our family Christmas letter!  This year has been full of trials and blessings.  The biggest lesson we’ve learned this year is “God’s timing is perfect.”  Chris’ phrase for the year has been, “It’ll be alright! God will work it out.”  
          One of our greatest trials this year was waiting patiently as God revealed His ministry to us.  Chris started applying to church positions in October 2007.  In anticipation of “quickly” being called to a church, we moved in with Chris’ dad and step mom.  We thought it would be just a couple of months but ended up being there for ten.  They were very gracious to us in opening up their home for that long and for soon having to live with a newborn again! In October 2008 (a full year later), Chris was called to Reston Presbyterian Church (RPC) as Assistant Pastor of Assimilation in Reston, Virginia.  His main responsibilities include being in charge of the Home Fellowship Groups and getting people involved in the life of the church.  This position is part-time for now, so he also works part-time at Fairfax Christian School as an ESL teacher. The school is right next door to the church, so he doesn’t have far to commute between jobs. If you know where Reston, VA is, then, you will realize that this is a HUGE blessing!  God worked it out that the school needed a part time ESL teacher the same time the church was trying to fill a new part time staff position. What seemed like forever to us was God putting all the pieces of his perfectly timed plan together.  Chris has an amazing ministry at the school.  He teaches five different classes everyday in four hours. The kids are from all around the world, but mostly from Korea. They are very honest about their spiritual lives and many have shared that they aren’t sure about the claims of Jesus. They have been challenging Chris with their questions and he has been working hard on communicating the wonderfully good news of the Gospel without using all the “Christian” words we’ve all become so accustomed to.

As many of you already know, we welcomed Josiah Potter Greenwood into our family on June 28^th – our BIGGEST blessing of the year!  We are truly honored and blessed to be called his parents.  Each day is new and exciting as Josiah learns how to do something new or as God reveals his unique personality to us.  We still have his website for you to visit (Go to www.babysites.com, type in Josiah Greenwood to read our journal entries and see pictures of our family), which might be better than filling up our entire Christmas letter with stories about Josiah!  We do want to say that when he laughs and smiles it seems as if the room grows brighter and the stresses of living in a busy culture fade away. We wish all of you could experience the joy he has brought into our lives.

Well, I’ve finally “retired” from the public school system to be a stay-at-home-mom!  When Chris and I went on our first date back in December 2000, he asked me what I wanted to do with my life.  I told him I wanted to be a stay-at-home-wife and mom.  I felt like my calling was to raise children in a Christ-centered home and to support my husband in his calling.  Well, eight years later I am FINALLY able to start my ministry!  One of the hardest things I had to do this year was to step back into the classroom.  Things had not been finalized with RPC, so Chris and I thought it would be foolish for me to quit my job and try to live off his part-time job at Target.  Chris quit his job to be a stay-at-home-dad while I went back to teaching. The first day back, I cried the whole way to work and kept asking God, “Why?”  A few days later, when I was willing to listen to God, He revealed to me that situations in my life aren’t done in vain.  He helped me realize I will be able to minister to other women who have to go back to work after having a baby, and FULLY know what they are feeling.  On September 26^th, I taught my last lesson at Eastern Wayne Elementary School.  I traded in my lesson plan book for some cook books, work clothes for some blue jeans, and washing hands because of germy kids to washing hands because of dirty diapers, and I’m thankful for it!  I’ve enjoyed setting up our home here in Centreville, VA.  The most exciting room to set up was Josiah’s nursery.  It brought my heart great joy to finally “nest.”  We made sure to have a guest room for any who would like to visit us.  We are about 30 minutes from Washington, DC, so there is LOTS to do!

We could write tons more but we realize you have more to do than read all about the Greenwoods. May the Lord grant you a wonderful Christmas season and a wonderful New Year!