He was born to express the abundance of God's love, 

He lived to reveal the breadth of God's grace, 

He died to declare the depth of God's mercy, 

He rose to proclaim the promise of God's life. 

Christmas 2004

Dear Friends and Family,

We can’t believe another year just went by; it seems like just yesterday we moved to North Carolina. It’s been a blessed year in many ways, just once again assured us that it was a right choice to move to North Carolina.

We are thankful for families that live close by. We are a 5-minute drive from Caroline’s parents and her sister’s houses. Both her mom and her sister have provided us many yummy meals since we moved here. Charlotte and her cousin, Kathryn also quickly became best buddies. With only 6 months different in age and each being the only child in her family; they enjoy playing together 4-5 times a week. It was amazing to witness the changes in how they related to each other as the year passed. When we first moved here in November last year, Kathryn was less than a year old and was not even walking yet. Now when these two girls get together they are having a toddler conversation, running around chasing each other, and also being partners in crime, getting into trouble together.

This is certainly a year of changes, the dramatic changes of Charlotte in her toddler year has brought us a lot of joy and laughter. She is a very outgoing, one that never met a stranger and an energetic toddler. This year she enjoyed trying out all kind of new classes, including exercise, music, art, and swimming.

There’s also a big change in Caroline’s tummy! We are expecting our second child on Jan. 23rd, 2005. We are thankful that her pregnancy has been going well. Caroline has found it physically challenging to keep up with a toddler! But it does help Caroline to get some rest when Charlotte takes her usual 2-hour nap. We are also glad that Craig is able to work from home most of the time, this helps Caroline to feel more relaxed knowing that if she needs help she can call on Craig.

We are very grateful for how God provided many clients for Craig’s consulting business this year. Even though the general technical jobs in this area were not doing well, we were surprised to find that there’s a demand for the type of consulting work that Craig does. God certainly has His way of providing for us.

God also provided us a church home where we really enjoy the fellowship and teaching. The church is called Trinity Community Church, an Evangelical Free Church. It is a small start-up church with about 100 attendants on Sunday. Even with such a small congregation there is a very diverse culture and background, but yet very much united in Christ and the teaching of the scripture. We also joined one of the church’s weekly Bible study groups shortly after we arrived. It has been a great place for accountability, sharing prayers, studying the Bible, and building closer friendship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. While mom and dad really enjoy this Church home, it is also one of Charlotte’s favorite places to be. She has a wonderful group of toddler friends to grow up with. In September, Charlotte and three other toddlers started to attend the 2-year-old Sunday school. We are impressed with the effort the church puts into the Bible teaching for the little ones even with limited resource of teachers. Charlotte loves the teaching and the singing and we love to hear about what she learned every Sunday. One of the first lessons she learned was "The Bible is a special book" and now whenever she sees one, she says "The Bible is a special book." She loves to get her hands on it and flip through it! One day we were on the road and saw a yellow school bus, so Caroline told Charlotte it’s a school bus to take kids to school. Charlotte said, "Mommy I go to school too!" Caroline said, "Oh! No, you don’t." "Yes Mommy, I go to Sunday school!"

Craig, Caroline, & Charlotte

May Jesus – the source of joy we feel, the love we express and the hope we cherish – bless you at Christmas and always. 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) 

See more about our year and more at Bedward2000.