Missionary Update Christmas 2004 Letter
Dear Everybody,
This, is Ayden, the newest member, of the Thomas Family. It has been a while since mommy and daddy have updated you so I thought that I would help out since I'm all done getting all my toys out and putting them in the middle of the living room. If you hadn't heard about me yet, I was born September 24, 2003, at the same hospital that my sisters were born at. I was pretty active inside of my mommy so somehow I managed to wrap the umbilical chord around my neck. I wasn't able to be born in the same room as my sisters. Mommy had to have a C-Section operation and that meant we had to go to another room. Once the doctor cut that chord I was able to come out and it has been quite a year since.
Daddy was there when I was born. I have been told he looked pretty funny in that special blue hospital suite that was too short for him. I didn’t notice too much though. It has been a busy year for daddy. He has been working hard to provide for and take care of us. We had our busiest summer at camp ever. We had nine weeks of camp and most of them mommy, daddy, grandma and grandpa had to cook for. They were busy all the way through the end of September. Through out the year he has also filled the pulpit for four churches. He has also filled in for youth pastors who have needed help for a day. Dad has also spoken at AWANA clubs and Christian Schools and a Bible College during their chapel time. We have been to most of our supporting churches to give reports and to show me off. My daddy has also refereed several soccer games. He likes soccer a lot so this is a fun way for him to make extra money. He calls it his tent-making job, but I haven’t seen to many tents at the soccer games.
Mommy has been really busy this last year too. She recovered from the surgery really fast after I was born. She quickly got back to the routine of having a newborn. She has had a lot of fun with me because it is a new experience for her to have a little boy. Mommy is my sisters’ school teacher because she is teaching them at our house. Daddy does help when mommy asks him to but she does most of the work. This keeps her pretty busy through the fall, winter and spring season. I help to. While she is working with my sisters I go into the kitchen and get all of the things out of the cupboards. During the last summer camping season mommy and I pretended like we were Native American Indians. While she worked hard cleaning camp, cooking and working in the snack shop, I road on her back in a special back pack. I had a lot of fun doing it but after a long summer of camp, mommy has had to go to the chiropractor.
My sisters are a lot of fun. They were very excited about me being born. Alyssa told everybody I’d be a boy, I guess she’s pretty smart. Alyssa is now 7 years old. She is my oldest sister. She loves helping mommy with me. I don’t always like it though. She is in the second grade. Mommy is teaching her all kinds of things about math, vocabulary, spelling and reading. Alyssa is also working hard and having fun in AWANA’s at our church.
Adelyn wasn’t too sure about coming to the hospital and seeing mommy in that bed, but she was glad to have a baby brother. Adelyn is four years old now. Grandpa Thomas says that she has a New Jersey accent. But she sounds find to me. Adelyn is now doing preschool work with mommy. She really like doing her school work. She is learning about shapes, colors, how to use scissors and lots of other things.
My sisters have a lot of fun together. They share a room. I have my own but I have to share it with daddy for his office. Alyssa and Adelyn have a bunk bed that Grandpa Sheppard made for them and that mommy painted. They love to play dress up, thankfully they haven’t played that with me yet. They really like playing with their Pollies, some little dolls that I like to scatter all over their room. Outside they like to ride their bikes and scooters. Actually, a lot of the time Alyssa rides and Adelyn watches.
I am doing a lot things, too. I am starting to walk on my own now but I’m only taking a few steps at a time. Mommy says I like to perfect each stage of development. I’m not sure what that means but I do like to make sure I really know what I’m doing before I learn something new. I’m starting to talk a lot but nobody seems to know what I’m saying for the most part but mommy and daddy do seem to get excited every time I say “mama” and “dada”. I just started to use sign language. I said “Please”. I really do like to get into things around here. The most fun I have is to get into everything I can reach and toss it all over the floor. My daddy calls me “destructo”. I wonder why.
We are just getting back from our first family vacation. We went to Seattle, Washington. My Uncle Keith and Aunt Shannon live there. We went there last year to see them get married, but I don’t remember much because I was only three months old. I imagine that I won’t remember much about this trip either, so it is a good thing that mommy and daddy took lots of pictures. It was a long trip but I only cried hard when we got within and hour or so of our destination. Daddy said it was a lot better trip than last year when we went to Washington because we didn’t have any car trouble. Last year there was $2000 worth of repairs done on the trip. Mommy and Daddy saved their money for three and a half months to take us on this vacation. Daddy worked hard doing extra things to make some extra money. He even worked with Uncle Keith one day in Washington to make some money for the trip home. A really nice couple named the McCellroys let us stay in their beautiful home in Washington because Uncle Keith and Aunt Shannon have a tiny apartment. We did some neat things like take a ferry ride across Peugeot Sound, went to the ocean and a lot of other fun vacation things like zoos and aquariums.
We now have our winter camping season beginning. Mommy and daddy are also planning on taking some trips to their supporting churches to give reports of the year. They say we also need to make some trips to present our camp ministry so that some more people can have the opportunity to be involved in the ministry of Twin Peaks Bible Camp. There is also a need to see some more financial support come in, especially since mommy and daddy don’t have any health insurance right now. They have us kids protected but they need some.
Now we are looking forward to a blessed holiday season with family and friends. I always have fun with my cousins. I keep hearing about another baby named Jesus and all that He did for all of us. I am sure as I get older, mommy and daddy will explain what it all means to me. Until then I will just wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
