Merry Christmas! 2011

Merry Christmas to all, have a day full of joy, peace and wonderful things.
Love, Laura

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Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have all had a VERY good year, because I know I have!

I guess you could say that we started this year semi-normal, and look how we ended up, a yogurt shop, a dad who ran the New York marathon, family vacation in Hawaii, and SO many other cool things, it’s quite amazing how God worked all of this out.

I am wondering what I’ll be saying about next year, I guess I should start bracing myself now……. Merry Christmas To All, and To All A Good Night!!! :-) Love and Sunshine!!!

-Jenna©



Wow! This year has been so amazing, and crazy, just plain good, it’s hard to know where to start, or even what to say. We did so much I guess I’ll just start from the beginning.

We opened the yogurt shop, Fro Yo Spot, in February this year, and it has been such a blessing to work at the shop. We were able to make franchises available recently, and my Grandma and Grandpa, Jan and David, are going to be the first Franchisees. =)

The next big thing that happened after that was our trip to California and Hawaii. We had so much fun! It was so beautiful, and warm, and GORGEOUS.

After Hawaii we were home for a few months and then it was off to Palm Springs to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th anniversary with the family. Since we have such a big family, you can imagine how much fun it was. =) We hung out at the pool, and we went thrift store shopping, and we ate TONS of food, and we got to hang out with the cousins for an entire week. It was amazing!

After we got home from Palm Springs I got a job working at the Postal Center across the parking lot from Fro Yo Spot, and that has been such a cool experience. It’s really cool cause you get to meet SOO many new people…all within the time span of an hour.

Overall this year has been crazy, and fun, and just such a blessing from God. I’ve truly been blessed by my family and friends that I have, and all I can say is “How is next year going to get better than this one?”


~Leah



Howdy, folks!

This year has been so incredible. It's had it's ups & downs, but in the end, of course, the highs outweigh the lows.

The Lord is so beautifully astounding. I LOVE the way He smiles down on us-the way He showers us with His grace. There is nothing better to get you through your day, with a smile on your face, other than the Lord. What a powerful being. Holy moly.

We got the opportunity to travel this year (surprise!). We went to Hawaii with some really good friends of ours in May. I highly recommend going if you haven't been yet. It's so beautiful there. I miss it a lot!

I also got the opportunity to attend a Bible summer camp type thing in Manitou Springs, CO, for two weeks. That was VERY incredible as well. The Lord provided for it all! The Bible has come more & more alive to me in the past two years than ever.

Recently, the Lord has been calling me to go to Africa. To the Sudan in specific. So! That's where I'm headed. I'll be staying with the Kuj Family while I'm there. I don't know what I'm going to be doing yet, all I know is that the Lord is calling me to be a ministry monkey for the family. The Lord has already shown me that I need to trust Him through everything. He's surprised me by cutting my total cost for the trip in HALF! (And I was worried about not being able to raise it all....pfft). I'd be leaving September 2012 & I'll be out there for 8 months. Lord-willing of course. :) I could definitely use your prayer for that, if any of you are prayer warriors. But! President Obama needs it more than I do. :}

Anyhoo, that's what's on my plate in the Coffman Household right now.

I pray your year has been blessed!

I love you all very much!



-Lu

Psalm 21



Hi Everyone! =]

This year if I've learned one thing, it's that God is faithful, even when we are faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13) And He's been faithful to show me that He's faithful-over and over and over and over! =] Whether it was giving me time to spend with my family in Hawaii, or the opportunity to go to Scotland for a 3-week mission trip with the Horizon School of Evangelism. Or simply showing me that He was there for me and He would never leave me or forsake me. He is my Faithful Father. And He's showing me His faithfulness again right now as He's providing the way for me to go on a trip to Israel next March. God is so, so good. And sorry to go all Veggie Tales on you, but it rings true: "God made you special, and He loves you very much." =]

I love you all!

-Jessi




What an amazing, blessed year we've had! That certainly doesn't mean it's been perfect, but instead, that through the ups and downs, Jesus has been here walking us through it all!

The year started out fun and exciting with the opening of our yogurt shop, Fro Yo. There were many tears, from all, as we endured the crazy first six weeks. But, we made it through! We've got a great staff and of course the kids are all helping out! We've since changed the name to Fro Yo Spot, so we can trademark it, and are franchising, as Leah told you. It's quite exciting stuff!

Thankfully, before we started Fro Yo, we had planned a trip to Hawaii. It was this trip that got us out of the shop and the shop running more on it's "own". Being the control freak that I am, I know, shocker, I don't know that I would've left it without that pre-planned trip. I'm so thankful! We had a wonderful 10 days with our dear friends the Velings. It was one of the most relaxing vacations we've ever taken. Jessi joined us for 4 days before flying back to San Diego to meet up with HSE to fly to Scotland. She was able to celebrate her 18th birthday among her friends in Scotland. She graduated from her final semester with HSE in June and John and I were able to fly out and be there to celebrate with her. On our small layover in San Diego coming home from Hawaii, we had a small family celebration for Lucy's High School Graduation. Whew, 2 down, 4 to go!

In October all of John's siblings and families met in Palm Springs, along with his parents, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We had a BLAST! The cousins all had a great time hanging out and playing together all week, it was fantastic!

In November, we met up with our friends, the Velings and Martins, in New York. The guys all ran the New York City Marathon, while us girls cheered them on. We rented an apartment in Brooklyn and all split the cost. This too was an amazing trip! The guys all did great and finished the race, with a smile on their face. Us wives on the other hand, were beat! It's hard work maneuvering all over Manhattan to cheer on marathon runners! :-)

As the end of the year draws near, we are trying to slow down enough to catch the real meaning of Christmas. We are thankful for so much and look forward to the challenges and blessings that are ahead for us next year.

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!


~Jaime



This year has been a busy one! As everyone has mentioned, starting with Fro Yo. That has been a total change of pace from what we've done for the past 18 years in construction. It's been a lot of work but a lot of fun as well. In Oct. we had a family reunion to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. It was an awesome time to get to hang with the whole family and an encouragement to all of us that marriage is forever. Congratulations Mom & Dad! As you've already read, I ran the NYC marathon in Nov. with my buddies Matt and Jarod. It was a great experience and I highly recommend it if you are looking to run a marathon. The girls really did have to work hard to cheer us on with trying to meet us at specific points on the course. With 47,000+ running and over 500,000 spectators, I'm sure you can imagine how crowded everything was. As I look forward to this next year, I am excited to see what God has in store for us and am always amazed by his provision.


John


































Comments

Anonymous said…
Merry Christmas, Coffman Family!! We love you!!
Jim, Jeni and Hannah :)