Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him. Psalm 62:5
Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:7
2009: Brief recap! Our last Christmas letter was at the end of 2008. We were in the throes of infertility and were feeling very discouraged and depleted. The verses I listed above actually led me to get a second tattoo, and use the Hebrew word for “Rest”. That, along with my other tattoo, Hebrew word for “Hope”, were good, and sometimes hard, reminders to us on our journey. 2009 was difficult; almost every single one of our close friends gave birth to children. It seemed like we were destined to be childless until … August of 2009, we discovered God had answered our prayers and we were pregnant! The pregnancy topped off a long journey, during which we learned many lessons. I was surprised to find, however, that pregnancy didn’t make me automatically feel better. And I’m not referring to morning sickness. J I still had to struggle with God. Even though He had showed us His plan and blessed us with a pregnancy, I was dealing with residual anger and was quite confused. He was patient with me, and has since allowed me to process my journey with infertility, and continues to use my blog (www.rememberjed.blogspot.com) to be a source of hope and inspiration for dozens of women who have or are experiencing struggles. Infertility does not have to be a silent, hidden struggle! I’m humbled and honored that God would use my words and often very raw emotions to speak to others. God is good, all the time.
2010: A year of blessings and incredible change! Joshua Nelson Lindeen entered our lives 13 days early on April 22- a whole 6 lbs 13 oz. I accomplished my goal of natural childbirth—and I don’t regret it! J Josh is our joy. His smile is infectious; he’s finally learning how to sleep; he is army-crawling surprisingly fast; loves peas, bananas, and carrots, and keeps us on our toes. We are just soaking up every moment of parenthood.
ERIK loves being a father. He has often said that it’s funny- all the clichés you hear are true! It’s amazing how much love you can feel for this tiny human. Erik has now been at Discovery Christian Church in Broomfield for 3 1/2 years as the Pastor of Worship Arts and Student Ministries. He loves leading worship almost every Sunday morning, leading the Wednesday night youth ministry, and really enjoyed the opportunities he has had to preach on a few Sunday mornings. One of Erik's highlights this year was planning and running a Fall Retreat for the teens from Discovery and another local church. Discovery sent 42 adults and teens on the retreat and saw 10 students give their lives to Christ and one student feel called into full time ministry! It was a great weekend and definitely a highlight in his 10 years of doing ministry.
Another highlight was finally getting a smart phone this summer. He loves his iPhone 4! (Maybe a little too much in Kristin's opinion). Erik also saved his pennies from teaching guitar and bought himself a Gibson Les Paul Standard, a guitar he has wanted for over 12 years. Erik's five guitars often take over our dining room, but I guess that's what you get when you are married to a musician!
KRISTIN I absolutely love being Josh’s mom. The last 7 months have been the most exhilarating and exhausting months ever. J I love my son to pieces, and still breathe thanks to the Lord everyday for allowing me the incredible opportunity to be a mom. I waited so long for this … and it’s more than I ever dreamed it could be. I still work for my Dad at QBQ, Inc. Learning to balance working from home with ministry, family, friends, and now a baby has been a bit of a challenge—one that I’m still working on. But I am forever grateful for a job that allows me such flexibility! I still do a fair amount of traveling, so Erik and Josh get to spend good quality time together while Mommy is away. I’m into my third year of mentoring a group of girls at church. Three of these girls have stuck with me since Fall of 2008, while two joined our group last year. I’m thrilled to be able to do life with these young ladies, and pray that I can make a lasting impact in their lives for Christ.
Joy and love to you and yours! With love and in awe of God’s goodness,
The Lindeens
