THE CHRISTMAS HOMEFRONT 2009
What a year of change! As someone wisely said, “Our plan B is God’s plan A”, and that is so true! This has been a year full of major ups and downs—the mountaintops, and the valleys… It all started in January when Kate left for Africa. It was hard to see her go, but we knew it was an incredible opportunity for her. Her semester went great! She loved getting to know the people of Uganda. You can read about some of her adventures on her Uganda blog: katyinuganda.blogspot.com As she was winding down her semester in May, Christopher, Mary, Nicholas, and Michael were preparing to graduate from college and high school. Mary and Christopher’s graduation came first, Mary with a degree in Psychology, and Christopher in Biokinetics/Sport’s Training. Nicholas graduated a week or so later, with degrees in Political Science and Philosophy. In June, Michael graduated from Brick Memorial, and began preparation for the Marine Corps Boot Camp. This lead right into the highlight of our year, which was Christopher and Mary’s wedding! The ceremony was so beautiful! The only hard part was that our Katy was not there…she had just moved from Uganda up to Northern Uganda, to do short term mission work with Emmanuel International. Our little honeymooners left for Mexico on June 29th.
July 5 was the day before Michael was to be picked up by his recruiter, and taken to Parris Island. He was in Point Pleasant saying goodbye to his good friend, when he got into a major car accident, totaling his car and knocking his tooth out, as well as knocking crooked a few more. We are so thankful to the Lord for our friend Sarah Brevet, who is also our dentist, who managed to get his tooth back in its socket within an hour, and wired the rest in place (since that time, he has had 3 root canals and is in the process of getting 3 crowns). Michael was unable to leave for Boot camp, due to his accident. That very same week my mom Barbara had open heart surgery to replace her aortic valve. Our honeymooners arrived back home that same week, and were able to spend the rest of the summer with us. Mom and Michael continued to recover also, throughout the summer.
Nicholas moved to Pennsylvania in July to begin seminary classes at Westminster Theological seminary. The finale of the summer was the arrival of Katy home from Uganda, on August 24—Christopher and Mary waited to leave for California until they saw their sister! Her homecoming was bittersweet! She had to leave for college the very next day! Her trip was strenuous, amazing, inspiring, and lifechanging…we are so thankful for God’s protection for her…
Mary and Christopher left for California (Chris is now attending Life West Chiropractor School, and Mary is seeking employment) on Aug. 27. Craig and I left on August 31, to drive Mary’s car to them in California. It was also our 25th wedding anniversary trip! We were blessed to drive across our beautiful country and see things we had only dreamed of…Craig’s dream of seeing the Grand Canyon was fulfilled! To top it all off, we got to spend a few more days with the kids at the end of our journey!
September found Nick with a full course load at Westminster, Katy beginning her senior year at Eastern U (she is majoring in Communications with a concentration in Media (and now Journalism is added to the mix), Shayna in her Junior year at Rutgers (studying Music and Latin), and Mike taking classes part-time at Ocean County College, and working at Foodtown. Michael has also made the decision to pursue the Police Academy within the next two years. Another result of his staying here in Point Pleasant is a sweet little girl named Nicole!! She is wonderful, they are happy and we love her!
Our next big thing: Nick and Shayna’s wedding! They will be married on January 2, 2010, so we are already in the midst of that excitement! Mary and Christopher will be coming home for that! Amazingly, all the kids will be together again, which is definitely not what we thought would happen. We didn’t think Mikey would be here with us for this beautiful event, but God had other plans! We are so grateful for His constant care and protection, and for His perfect timing!
Craig and I are well, and happiest when we are surrounded by the kids…we are adjusting slowly to having our two sweethearts on the other coast. We thank the Lord every day for His blessings..for our children, our new daughter-in-law Mary…our almost daughter-in-law Shayna…for our brand new granddog Basil (Chris and Mary’s new addition)…for our church, our home, our friends. We thank the Lord for all of you, for your love, prayers, and support.
May God bless you and keep you!- -The Slininger Family
http://sliningerhomefront.blogspot.com/
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