Hallman Family Christmas Letter - 2010

Merry Christmas Friends!

It's been a great year for our family. We're thankful for all the friends and family we were able spend time with this past year.

Eli turned three in March and started preschool this fall. He loves playing with his older brothers - together they run through the house pretending to be Clone Troopers or one of the Skywalker guys, or Han Solo. He enjoys the special time he gets with Mom on Mondays before heading to lunch bunch, Grandma Rozer every Tuesday and Wednesday and with Aunt Shirley and Faye on Thursdays. Eli's gotten pretty good at helping Dad with laundry on Fridays - it's a lot more fun to throw all the clothes down the stairs then to sort seven baskets. His big adventure this fall was to get a big gash on his head that required staples. Scars are good, right?

Levi and Isaac turned five in January and started kindergarten in August. They get along with each other very well, and are learning how to gang up on Eli when he gets a little too rough. They look a lot alike, and they like to dress alike, but they don't want to be called the wrong name. They played soccer this spring and fall with TRYSA, with Dad as their coach and Emma as their assistant coach, and Eli as her assistant. The fall session included quite a few goals for each of them, and fun times playing with and against their classmates. They have gotten into Dad's Legos, building lots of spaceships and other creative stuff. This year Dad even let them watch Star Wars! Tara is the kindergarten teacher in the room right next to them, so they get a kick out of waving to her in the hallway every afternoon, and hanging out in her room with Emma for an hour or two after school.

Emma turned seven in March and started second grade this year. She loves to read! Junie B. Jones, Nancy Drew, Laura Ingalls, American Girl stories, and more! Emma is also very crafty like her Mom, she loves to scrapbook, make fancy notepaper, and draw. She got a pottery wheel and a sewing machine for Christmas, so we'll see what else she can design! Emma's been involved in Girl Scouts this year, she also tried cheerleading and guitar. A highlight for Emma and I was to attend the Daddy/Daughter Dance for the area Girl Scouts at the Coliseum. She loved getting dressed up all fancy, and she really liked the corsage I got for her wrist. We went with our neighbor Phil and his daughter Illyanna, we had a great time dancing together and eating lots of Girl Scout cookies!

This summer included time at the lake for Memorial Day and Labor Day, as well as lots of days and weeks in between. During our two week vacation at the lake, Levi and Isaac learned to ride their bike! Tara got some scrapbooking in, I got a lot of reading in, and we all got lots of sun and plenty of time to play soccer and swim together. In late June and early July we headed up north to Canada. We visited my Dad's homestead in the Kitchener area. This included trips to Roseville and New Dundee, visiting the Poths, checking out some cemeteries, and old family sites. Then we headed over to where I grew up in North Bruce and Port Elgin area. While there we hung out at the beach with our friends: Debbie Vanderklyn, the Mandigo's, and the Kelley's. We spent our last night there on July 1st, watching splendid fireworks on the sandy Saugeen shores of Southampton.

The highlight of the fall was the Fort Wayne Fort 4 Fitness. This was the third year for the event, Tara had run the four mile race in the first year, and the half-marathon the second year. This year we both ran the half-marathon. It was a lot of fun training for it over the summer, and even more fun preparing for it and talking about it together. The day of the race had beautiful weather, about seven-thousand participants, including lots of our family. My Dad did the four mile walk, along with Tara's Mom and Aunt Carol, her sister Amy, and cousin Julie and Michael and their parents Dan and Lauretta. We both had lots of friends who raced, which made for a festive occasion.

Tara started her fifteenth year of teaching this autumn; she's enjoying afternoon kindergarten at Covington Elementary. It's a short drive away - between Tara and I we drive the kids to school each morning. When Tara's not at school (or doing schoolwork at home), she stays busy staying in touch with her many friends through Facebook or email or the phone. She also stays in touch with her friends through scrapbooking - hosting several events throughout the year. Like any good mom, she never has enough time to scrapbook the hundreds and hundreds of pictures piling up in "boxes" on her computer. But she makes a good effort to keep at it, especially during the summer and some retreats. Tara is also leading the Kids Sunday School at Anchor Community Church. She enjoys teaching with her sister Amy and friends Khara, Jen and Donni. There are sometimes over thirty kids that show up on a Sunday morning, which can make for quite an exciting event!

Tim is in his twelfth year pastoring Anchor Community Church. It's been a great year there, especially with the twelve baptisms we had this summer at Stillwater and adding Carla Castro to our great staff.  On Mondays during the schoolyear I volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters in their Lunch Buddy program at Nebraska Elementary School. A fellow pastor from the neighborhood, Peter Janzen, and I agreed to serve there three years ago. I'm always looking for more friends to join me there!

When home in the evenings and weekends, there's always yardwork and landscaping to do, books to read, blogging, and playing with the kids. We took lots of long walks around the block or through the woods - especially when they were part of the Kids Marathon with the Fort 4 Fitness. I was happy to take my family to a Toronto Blue Jays game in July - they won against the Twins, with lots of homeruns! This led to a few afternoons practicing our pitching and hitting in the backyard. In August Tara and I celebrated fifteen years together as husband and wife!

We are looking forward to a great 2011 - especially when we get to spend time with our family and friends, at home, at school, at work, at church, at the lake and around the city! Our prayer is that you will have a Happy New Year with the great people God brings into your life. Merry Christmas!