Dear Friends and Family,
Chances are you are here after Christmas since it wasn't until after the new year that we finally got our "Christmas cards" out - haha. But sure glad you're here! It's been a wonderful year and we're so grateful that you are in our lives and that we are blessed with this fantastic technology that lets us keep up with what's going on with you!
A lot of exciting things happened this year. Let's start with Dwight.
Dwight began his "Master's Adventure" just a few months before Becca was born back in 2010. Aside from spending time with the family and work, Dwight spent the majority of his time this year finishing school and we are so happy to announce that he graduated early December with his "Master of Science in Space Systems" degree! A lot of blood, sweat and literal tears (mostly mine) went into this degree and his 4.0 GPA was well deserved. Amid working so hard to get that finished, Dwight also transitioned to a new division within NASA. He enjoyed his 5 years in Logistics and feels that he gained valuable knowledge that will help him along his career path. This new opportunity brings him to Avionics Engineering for Expendable Launch Vehicles with the new job title of Aerospace Technologist in Aerospace Flight Systems/Avionics and Flight Control Engineer. It's some pretty crazy stuff and he absolutely loves it! In the next year we expect he'll be doing more traveling but also spending a lot more recreational time with family since he'll be taking at least a year off from the crazy study/homework hours he puts in while in school. He talks about camping with Jonah, and dinner dates with Becca and lazy nights in the backyard around the firepit with me. We haven't had a chance to spend much time at the beach this last year either so expect to being hearing all about that in our next Christmas letter!
I (Peggy) have had my share of busy-ness this year. As always, the majority of my time is spent playing with my babes and I'm so grateful and blessed to be able to do that. I still sing with a couple of singing ensembles and have been relatively active in the local community theater performing in 4 productions this year! I also started working one day a week at a massage establishment to help me upkeep my massage license. I really enjoy the work I do and am overjoyed to have found such an uplifting place to work that allows me to continue to be a stay-at-home mom for the most part. Watching the kids grow up is bitter-sweet for me. I love each moment as they grow and I look forward to seeing what amazing things they'll do with their lives...but starting this next year I'll have to begin my journey of letting my babies go since Jonah will start school followed closely behind by Becca. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself when they're gone part of the day. But in the meantime - and always - I do my best to enjoy every moment!
Jonah has grown into an even more handsome little man. He's tall and lean and always has a smile on his face. Almost overnight, it seems, he began talking very clearly and really understands what is going on. He'll be 4 in January and likes to tell everyone how he's going to grow up big and strong like his daddy and his daddy will grow up big and strong like him. He enjoyed his first soccor season at the YMCA this past fall. At first he was more interested in the butterflies than in the ball, but by the last game he was running up and down the field with the rest of his friends. He even ended up making a goal! He began doing a lot of drawing this year and many of his sketches really amaze us. He's developing a very vivid imagination too. He loves to build things with his mega blocks and tells us great stories about them! They are almost always food related buildings. He's made his first imaginary friend but would much rather spend his time with his real friends and making new ones. He is a very sweet little guy. He's always ready for some cuddle time. He likes to help out with cooking and is getting better about being kind to his sister. He has the kindest heart and seems to be loved by everyone he greets. We sure love our little man!
Becca has just blossomed this last year. We gets comments quite often about how beautiful she is. Many people say she looks like a little porcelain doll. Aside from being a gorgeous little 2 year old, she's also very sharp. We always thought Jonah was so smart (and still do) but Becca just blows us away! She basically taught herself how to potty train much earlier than we were planning on tackling it. She knows her abc's and counts almost as well as Jonah does. She also loves to play with blocks, but her favorite thing to do it play dress up, especially with hats. She spends a good portion of her day changing from one hat to another. We keep a good supply of hats around because if she doesn't have a real one, she will make one out of whatever she can find. Often times a dinner plate with dinner still on it will end up on her head accompanied by a very proud smile. She is a great smiler as well and always seems excited about what is going on. We call her our little sunshine and just love having her in our family!
As a family, we made a very special trip this year. Dwight's 10 year reunion from the Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island in New York was this last September so we decided to make it an extended vacation to include a week in New York and a week in Boston. It was a wonderful trip! We were blessed with beautiful weather, happy kids, and plenty of socializing with old and new friends. You'll have to check back on the blog in the next month or so when I finally get pictures up of the amazing adventure.
This next year is one we really look forward to. The kids are a little older. Dwight and I are a little less busy. We have nothing major planned other than to just spend a lot of time together. We plan to spend more time outside working on the square foot gardens that I've been prepping this past year for and we hope to be adding 5 chickens to our family in the next month or so. A big change that we've been gradually making is our health habits. We've been choosing much better options when we grocery shop and are much more aware of what effects our bodies and how we can avoid the things that adversely effect our health. We are no where near where we want to be with that -- there are a lot of habits we have to wean ourselves from, but we're looking forward to being even better at that this next year.
This year, and every year, I'm so happy to reflect back and recognize how we are always being blessed with opportunities to grow closer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ and are always seeking his Spirit to be in our home and a part of our lives. Their love brings so much joy and hope to our family and we pray that you and everyone we love will feel the same joy that comes from the knowledge that Jesus lives and loves us and through Him, we can be with our families forever!
We're still so grateful to be able to stay in touch with so many wonderful friends and family. We love that you are a part of our lives. We pray that each of you have a joyful year and that we continue to stay close even if we are far apart. As always, let us know if you are ever in our neck of the woods. You always have a place to stay here.
Love always,
The Renshaw clan
Dwight, Peggy, Jonah and Becca
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