Merry Christmas 2012!  We have so much to be thankful for:  our wonderful Savior, our family, our health, Jason’s job, our freedom to homeschool, and for each & every one of you who has added spice, wonder, happiness, and love to our lives.  I invite you to take a sneak peek into our lives:  blessed tremendously by God! 

Logan turned 14 and seems like he grew 14 inches this year……..he is now taller than his mom!  He is most proud about joining the driving club in our family.  Immediately after his birthday, he was ready to take the test to get his learner’s permit.  Encouraged by a friend of mine whose son turned 14 just a few days before Logan, I even let Logan drive home from Forest City the day he received his permit.  He had VERY little experience up to that point.  Although I white-knuckled it all the way home, we made it safely & managed to get in quite a few laughs along the way.  Another big accomplishment for Logan this year was shooting his first deer with a bow.  It was an amazing miracle – it was his FIRST time out bow hunting and he killed a deer!  He’s like a deer magnet (with good aim….)!  Logan is very busy right now with basketball.  He is on the Freshman team at West Hancock.  He thoroughly enjoys the practices and was even able to score points his first game!  He is excited for all of the activity basketball will demand for the next two months – we will definitely be a busy family!

Blake & Blaine turned 12 this year, and as Uncle Nate graciously did for Logan when he turned 12, he sent them plane tickets to San Diego.  Although they were both nervous about flying, they braved it out and ended up enjoying the flights.  Blake’s favorites (besides seeing Uncle Nate) were video games at Dave & Buster’s, go-carting & mini-golf at Boomer’s, and the GIGANTIC Snicker pancake at the Hash House.   Blaine’s favorites (also besides spending time with Uncle Nate) were games at Dave & Buster’s, seeing the beach & Pacific Ocean for the first time, and touring through the USS Midway aircraft carrier.  Of course, any time Blaine can meet military personnel or experience first-hand military equipment (like sitting in fighter jets), he is delighted!

Another thrilling moment for our family (because deer hunting is a passion for all the “men”) was the fact that all 3 boys shot a deer with a gun ON THE SAME DAY!  We were blessed to have Uncle Ryan & Aunt Karina volunteer to each “supervise” one of the boys so that they could all three go on the same day.  Yes, our freezer is packed with deer – overflowing into my parents’ freezer, too!  To top it all off, after YEARS of perfecting his bow hunting, this year Jason was blessed to kill his “big buck” – a 10 pointer!  It was another miraculous experience.  We just praise God for allowing all of the boys to get their deer and for giving us lots of meat to eat!

Blaine’s interests right now include several things.  He loves playing “spy” and learning about spies & the military.  For a while he was thinking about working for the secret service and protecting the president when he grows up.  However, he is also a “weather-fanatic.”  Every morning, the first thing he does is check the weather radar – for the whole earth.  He keeps us informed on where all the hurricanes are, if there have been any earthquakes, and is especially up-to-date about our local weather & any imminent threats. 

Blake is such a balanced, well-rounded guy who enjoys just about anything!  I was stumped about what specifics to share about him, and so asked him what he would say his specific interests are.  He responded, “Everything.  I like everything…….except one thing:  cleaning my room.”  Ha-ha – typical kid, huh?  He loves reading and his latest interests have been checking out every possible Star Wars book from all the surrounding libraries.   He loves playing legos, playing video games, spending time with friends, and is very studious (even doing some high-school level work).  Jason & I are appreciative that he’s almost always willing to play Settlers of Catan (or any other game) with us. 

Kylee turned 10 this year, putting all of our children in the “double digits.”  Oh, where have the years gone?  She’s growing into quite a little lady and is more & more interested every day in “motherly” activities.  She makes her own cards & scrapbooks, is singing continually & even writing her own songs, and is delighted to share her faith with all of her playmates.  We have no deer stories to share about Kylee this year except that in May she had the opportunity to hold a fawn – and ever since has had no desire to deer hunt.  She is our animal-lover! 

Jason keeps busy immersed in his hunting paraphernalia and as you know, does a wonderful job passing all he knows on to his boys.  This year he has even taken out several of our friends’ boys deer hunting.  Business at Winnebago has picked up this year, and he’s been putting in a lot of hours.  We are so thankful for what a great job he does diligently working to provide for us! 

As for myself, I have no deer stories to tell you this year either…….however there may come a time!  I did go through the hunter education course with Blake & Blaine this year and earned my hunters’ safety certificate.  I even bought some of my own camouflage (when I found it on clearance).  Jason’s rubbing off on me too, and step-by-step I’m entering the hunting world.  Homeschooling keeps me as busy as ever, but I still manage to get some scrapbooking in here & there.  I’ve really enjoyed what the Lord has been teaching me over the past year about “feasting” on Him.  I have found great freedom in Him and can’t wait to see what He has in store for me this year!

As always, we have thoroughly enjoyed every moment that we were able to spend with you, our dear friends & family.  It was a blessing to fellowship with all of the Lester family this fall, but deeply saddening to lose our dear Grandma Hazel.  She is sorely missed!

We love you all and pray that each of you know Jesus as your personal Savior!

Love,

Jason, Kristy, Logan, Blake, Blaine & Kylee Pavelka

Isaiah 61:1  The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

Thank-You God for sending Your Son, Jesus, to this world as a baby.  Thank-You for sending Jesus to preach to us the good news, to bind up our broken hearts, to free us from the darkness of our sin!  Amen!