Christmas Letter 2009

This has been a year of evidence of God’s love, faithfulness and grace in our lives. As I sit down to write I can’t help but tear up when I think of all of the blessings that he has given us, specifically in 2009. First, I want to praise him for the gift of life. Sean’s mom, Denise, has had a long year of fighting lymphoma of the brain and all of the complications that come with it. She was diagnosed at the end of 2008. In March, we flew home to Colorado prepared to say good-bye. We gave our beloved mother and grandma to God and in his mercy He gave her back to us. At the end of November, Jim and Denise were finally released from the hospital and are home! The second gift of life that God has given us is the little one that will join us in about 7 weeks! We are expecting our 3^rd girl at the beginning of February. We are all so excited to have—as my mom called it—our “Little House on the Prairie” family.

Last year, about this time we moved to Monterey, CA so that Sean could attend the Naval Post Grad School and study Defense Analysis. It has been a precious year for us; not only to have him home for an entire 2 years, but also for him to be on a relaxed grad school schedule has reaped huge benefits for our family. God has restored the toll on our relationship that has been taken away with the many deployments of recent years. Sean has loved school; he is working on his thesis, and has maintained a 4.0 GPA so far. We will finish the program in June and have been assigned back to Fort Carson! We will be moving home this summer, then, hopefully for the last time, Sean will be deploying to Iraq in the early fall for about 6 months.

Jenna and Sophie are growing and thriving. Jenna will be five in March. She is a creative little girl, who has a plan for everything and everyone. We are not doing anything formally for preschool, but we have been working through a relaxed reading program. She amazes me with how quickly she picks up on things and how well she retains the information. We are planning to send her to kindergarten at ECA, the school where I grew up and taught, this fall. What a sweet gift from God!

Sophie turned three in November. Her vocabulary continues to amaze me, and it’s only her petite stature that reminds me that she is three. She was very excited to start the AWANA Cubbies program with Jenna last month at First Baptist Church, our church home in Monterey. She considers herself an official big girl now and Sean and I are grateful for all that the program is teaching our girls and the weekly date night.

I have had a challenging health year. The first trimester of the pregnancy had me in bed most of the time. I also was diagnosed with gluten intolerance, so I have had to make major adjustments in my diet, but it is getting easier and I am grateful for the benefits. I have found sweet friendship here, especially through the ladies at the Protestant Women of the Chapel Bible study where I have served on the board in multiple capacities.

One final bit of exciting news is that as of this first of this month we are debt free! This has been something that we have been working on for the past 2 years, but really went crazy with it this last year. We have followed the wisdom of Dave Ramsey and although it has been hard, we have been pleasantly surprised to see how fast it has happened.

We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in Dallas with my side of the family. We pray that this Christmas season the Prince of Peace will rule in your homes and your hearts as you celebrate the greatest gift of all.

With love,

Corrie

PS We still have our blog, themcclurefamily@blogspot.com, although it has been sorely neglected as of late. The best way to stay updated on our life is through my Facebook account or through email at corriebeth77@gmail.com and sean.m.mcclure@us.army.mil.

PSS If you would like a print of this picture of the girls