CHRISTMAS 2008

And the angel said to Mary...

"Nothing is impossible with God!" Luke 1:37

We have had an exciting, blessed year! Our big news, in case you haven't heard, is the arrival of our daughter, Eliana Renee Hope VandenHeuvel! We were at the hospital when she was born on May 12, we brought her home from the hospital when she was two days old. "Eliana" means "God has answered my prayer" and she truly is the answer to our prayers. God is so good, and so Gracious! She is a beautiful, amazing, joyful, sweet, and funny baby. We are having such a great time! This is an open adoption and we have an on-going relationship with both of Ellie's birthparents, which has been such a blessing! Just this month everything was finalized and made legal (check out the video below). She is forever a part of our family, and she was worth our five-year wait for a baby!

We have had other events happen over the past year, as well. Here are some highlights:

• Spending six months with Kristina's sister and family (on furlough from the mission field)
• Tent camping (with a newborn!) with Kristina's family at Bass Lake
• A Thanksgiving adventure - van broke down on Interstate 5, God delivered us a new one!
• Making over the kids' bedrooms with the addition of Eliana
• God's provision, blessing, grace and love...all year long!
  

Mariana is our beautiful girl who just turned 9 years old! She is loving 3rd grade at Valley Christian and doing a great job keeping up with homework and being a contributing part of her class! She is growing up way too fast! Mariana continues to enjoy arts and crafts, loves doing science experiments, and played softball last spring (and... tolerated it!). Kristina is teaching her to play the piano, and Mar is proving to be a natural! Mariana LOVES being a big sister all over again, and does a fabulous job helping with Eliana, and even gave up her privacy to share a room with her baby sister.
She always looks forward to going to church to spend time with her friends and to learn more about God.

Jack is such a funny, sweet and happy 7 year old boy. He's doing a great job in first grade and is being quite the skilled reader! He's a leader in his class and helps his teacher by setting a good tone for the whole room. He loved playing T-ball this past spring and wants to jump into the next season. It was fun to have other coaches yell out "move back, everyone!" whenever Jack was at bat! He also learned how to swim and is now water-safe.

Jack also loves to spend time with his friend Jared, who lives down the street. They play with legos, Star Wars toys and make up all sorts of boy-shooting-roughhousing-things too.
It is a JOY to watch Jack fulfill his role as Big Brother. He is so sweet with Eliana and can't help smile whenever she's around. (She's my secret weapon in the mornings when I'm trying to get Jack out of bed!)

Eliana is seven months old and is growing too fast! She just cut her first two teeth, and her newest "tricks" include sitting up, almost crawling, and playing peek-a-boo. She loves people, and her favorite time of day is anytime her brother and sister are home. She loves to "pet" Maebe, our boxer, and Maebe is so patient. Eliana loves music, and loves being loud - growling, yelling, jabbering, laughing. She definitely lets us know she's here!

Christiaan really enjoys his ministry at Cornerstone. He gets to work with a great team of people and he looks forward to heading out to the office every day. His days are filled with meetings, but he has learned to see the value of developing other leaders around him in addition to doing a lot of the work himself. This was the first Presidential election in which Christiaan was able to vote as a U.S. citizen. He loves being a dad to three very different children and tries to spend one-on-one time with them whenever possible.

Kristina loves being a stay-at-home mom. Life is always busy, and having three kids is, well, more than having two! She continues to teach piano lessons and serve in music ministry. Most of her time is spent keeping up with the housework, helping Mariana and Jack with their homework, and holding Eliana. It is her privilege!

From our house to yours,
we truly wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2009!
May your lives be filled with love for our Savior,
and love for others.

We can testify that God is Good, He loves you,
He is Faithful in all He does, He hears our prayers,
and He is worthy of our praise!

Because of Jesus,
Christiaan, Kristina, Mariana, Jack and Eliana