Merry Christmas from our family to yours 🎄
And our Christmas Letter...
Our reflections on 2020…
It’s quite wild that Renita and I would experience such unexpected beauty at this time. It was miraculous in the situations that kept happening…ones that we were powerless to orchestrate ourselves.
We enjoyed supernatural favor and stayed in a “never-before-available” beautiful lodge-room due to a rare opening at Hume Lake for our wedding that was truly a treasure of treasures, complete with some amazingly dear friends who were miraculously able to come from different parts of the country on VERY short notice. A number of people said it was the prettiest place they’d ever been… What a gift it was to bless others so greatly on our wedding day!
Our wedding spot at Hume and our private “reception area” were nothing short of miraculous with perfect weather and near smokeless-ness in the midst of the worst wild fires in history across California.
We miraculously experienced the blessing to be “officially" married at Yosemite Chapel (where Don’s dad was married) there in Yosemite Valley where we felt the Lord was saying we would be married months before, but we got it at a fraction of the cost, complete with pictures, lots of sweet fellowship, prayer and laughter… and a very special friendship with the pastor.
On our honeymoon, we were given a beautiful lodge room in Yosemite Lodge (complete with a fan) instead of a dismal cabin. We were given an unasked for gift - the best place at the breathtakingly beautiful Awanee Hotel in Yosemite to eat our prime rib dinner when the restaurant was closed..probably one of the prettiest places in the world to eat together under the stars.
We escaped a miserable “cabin” in Tahoe with no fee and miraculously stayed at the extraordinary Fireside Inn, complete with wonderful weather, a spectacular sunset Lake Tahoe bike ride, a beyond belief room and an amazingly sweet patio spot to read together.
We "just happened" to be at Tahoe at the exact same time as my brother and his wife, Ken and Jen, and were very blessed by their company and a delicious dinner in a really wonderful place.
And there is sooo incredibly much more.
Through fire, plague and drought, we experienced the lovingkindness of God in ways so powerful that we were–and are - stunned.
I remember how just weeks before I met Renita (that too is ridiculously miraculous), I gave up the hope of ever experiencing Jacob’s reaction in scripture where the greatest thing he could ever imagine happened–Joseph, his beloved son, was not only alive, but also ruler over the known world– he would not only see him, but also live with him and his family the rest of his life.
The Bible says , “Jacob was stunned.” (Gen.45:26) Though we had both given up hope of experiencing anything wonderful again, God brought the reality of this verse back with goodness so great that it completely stunned both Renita and I – overflowing to the extreme.
“Life is full of wonder and surprises” We saw this phrase carved on a log bench in Idyllwild shortly after Renita got the word “Wonder” from the Lord for our year. To make sure we didn’t miss His message… the Lord placed 20x15 foot billboards to remind us as we drove away with the word WONDER prominently displayed.
No word more characterizes our year than that very word! WONDER. God performed wonder after wonder of extraordinary unexpected beauty as we walked into what He had for us. It was–and is– the most astonishing journey either of us have ever taken.
It has been deeply given as a gift by the Lord of Wonder.
“Oh Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you, I will give thanks to Your name, for You have worked wonders, PLANS FORMED LONG AGO IN PERFECT FAITHFULNESS.”–Isaiah 25:1
We pray this for you this upcoming year - God of Wonder - move again and again….
Don & Renita
