Christmas Letter 2009

Dear Friends & Family,

It's unbelievable to us that it's Christmas already! We hear everyone say, "wow, time flies", or "this year has gone by so fast", but we really feel like the year has been a quick one. Probably proof that we keep busy and usually have a lot going on in our little Kaeb household.

This past summer Tristyn enjoyed a fair amount of traveling, camping, weddings and spending time at the pool. She moved on up to the second grade in the fall and enjoys her teacher, classmates and art. She does extremely well with her school work and we've seen much improvement in her reading and math skills this year. She's participating in Girl Scouts again and has a lot of fun earning patches and attending meetings with the other girls in her troop. Tristyn is also doing a fair amount of indoor swimming this year to prepare her for a swim team sometime in the spring. It's a sport she enjoys for fun as well as competition. Basketball season has also started and she's excited to play another season with her team. This year Tristyn started our local BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) program and she's getting an extra look at God's Word each week. She's studying the Gospel of John and it's incredible for us to see the in-depth study reveal more of God's truth to her.

Maelyn has seemed to pass through the toddler phase into a preschooler right before our eyes this year. She still enjoys reading her books and playing with dolls, but she's recently taken an interest in dress-up and playing school. Good thing she happens to have an excellent "teacher" here in the house who is eager to direct her! Maelyn anxiously awaits Tristyn's arrival home each day to engage in pretend play and various activities. She had her first gymnastics class this fall, which was a huge hit for her. Each week she looks forward to her class and her excitement and determination are fun for us to watch. Maelyn has also started to learn how to count, her colors, the alphabet and always enjoys figuring out how something works. She's still very independent and spends most of her day doing things her own way.

Troy still keeps busy at Honeywell during the weekdays and enjoys the group of co-workers he has there. Outside of work, he keeps busy with the BSF study as well and teaching 6th grade boys at church on Sundays. He's looking forward to another year of coaching Tristyn's basketball team and always enjoys spending quality time with his girls. The highlight of his year was turning 30! He bid farewell to his 20's and is now trying to look ahead to his "adult" life, while bragging about his younger wife!

Amity is staying busy this year as well. Seems there is always something to do, volunteer for, or clean! She's been involved with a ministry at church and enjoys serving others each week. She's also a small group leader for Tristyn's Sunday school class and it has been a great way for them to spend some time together on Sunday mornings. Amity is also participating in BSF this year and has been amazed at all the things she's learned from digging deeper into John.

From our family to yours...we wish you all a Merry Christmas, a wonderful New Year and the security in the Lord our God for all provision.

Praising God for His son Jesus this holiday season,

Troy, Amity, Tristyn & Maelyn