2012 CHRISTMAS LETTER

Dearest Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Batey household to you and yours! I hope this note finds you healthy and hopeful, celebrating the holidays, and anticipating the coming of a new year!
2012 was a very beautiful year for our family. We spent cherished time with those we love, we enjoyed watching our family grow, we delighted in some new friendships, and ...drum role please...we got a dog! (Search recent posts to find out more about Trixie Bean).

The biggest news for the Batey family this year was delivered just a few weeks ago; we found out that we will be moving to Michigan around January 17, 2013! Only 
 a month away. Tim has some wonderful opportunities awaiting him through General Dynamics in Sterling Heights. Although we are so very excited about our new adventure, we are currently walking through the process of saying goodbye to both a city and a group of people that we dearly love!

Tim and I have lived in Tallahassee since 1996. We met on campus one fall afternoon, both still in our upper teenage years, and since then we have established deep roots in this precious place. It is with hearts full of gratitude and love that we are celebrating and sentimentally reflecting this Christmas Season.

Here are some highlights of the family:

WHITNEY:

Whitney, now 2, has grown so much this year. Her little big personality keeps us all amused. She loves to dance, sing at the top of her lungs, command attention from Cole, snuggle with Lily and play with Owen and Trixie. Every night Whitney enjoys listening to Daddy read The Cat in the Hat, or Curious George and the Firefighters to her. She loves when Mommy plays guitar in her Co Op class. Whitney has come a long way in physical, speech and visual therapy this year. Her eyesight is improving, and her visual orientation to the world around her is advancing as well! We love listening to her use new words and phrases almost weekly now. We are hoping that she will walk on her own in the next few weeks. Everyone here loves our Whitty-Woo!!!

OWEN:

Our 6 year old Owen is the creative FUN that drives our family. He loves to dress in bold outfits, he laughs until he cries, and he is always enjoying the everyday moments of life. When Tim told our family that we would be moving to Michigan, Owen was the only one at the kitchen table cheering, going through the list of what he needed: a coat, a sled, mittens, boots, skis...etc. We so appreciate him in transitions like these! He has a way of helping us all to view life as an adventure. Academically Owen has done really well in the first grade, both in homeschool and at Co Op. He is a self motivated learner, reader and toy maker. His laugh is as infectious as his dimples, and Mommy is forever whipped on him Owen loves swimming, (the hot tub), Geronimo Stilton books, playing with his friends, and all things alien.

Dimple Alert...dimple alert!

LILY:

Lily is 9 going on 15...but that seems to have always been her normal growth curve. Lily is currently the tallest of the cousins and siblings, wearing a size 12 slim in jeans for length. Lily and Mommy can share shoes now!  Our Lily girl carries a mature strength and responsibility about her. She is such a dynamic person. Lily is as strong as an ox physically and in determination, sensitive to those around her, mothering to Whitney and her dog, responsible in school, and not without a slightly wild side that loves adventure and fun. Lily has participated in swimming, 3 dance classes, and Co Op, in addition to homeschool this year. She can be found reading, playing with friends, sometimes playing barbies, and choreographing performances during her free time.


 
COLE:

Earlier this year Cole had asked me to print up and give him a photograph of himself at this current age so that he would remember to never be mean to me when he becomes a teenager. Melt me! Well, he is truly doing a wonderful job in the beginning stages of adolescence (he is 11 and a half now). Cole did a great job in school, writing class, and Co Op this year. He still reads about 14.7 times faster then his parents...he decided to re-read the Narnia series in a week and met his goal with wiggle room. He faithfully swam this year, although his favorite physical activity is still trail running with Daddy on Saturday mornings. Cole likes to spend his free time playing with his friends, racing on the Wii, creating out
of LEGOs, watching movies with Mom and Dad that his younger siblings aren't privileged to watch yet, and drinking milkshakes behind the couch while reading his favorite book of the moment. Although Cole will definitely miss the town of his youth, he is excited for all of the new adventures and friends that await him in Michigan. 

TIM and JENN:

Tim and I will celebrate 13 years of marriage this month. What a wonderful adventure our lives have been so far. Although we both love structure and predictability, we both made a commitment to each other that we would always seek to pray and live out the LORD's will and plan for our lives, rather than independently write our own stories. We were blessed with a baby boy in July of 2001, then a daughter, then a son, then a daughter. We have experienced times of prosperity, and times of serious lack. We have experienced the gift of growing up together. We have made 15 years of memories together with our friends. family, and each other. Although goodbyes are heart breaking, seriously, painfully heart breaking, we are truly  looking forward to the next chapter in our lives. We are excited to learn how to work a snow-blower, cross country ski and meet new friends in the heart of the north mid-west. We are grateful to see what is in store for our family. Please know that as we take our last steps in Tallahassee, Florida, we will be bringing you whom are a part of our lives here with us in our memories and hearts. 

We hope the new year brings you the comfort, peace and joy found in the mercy and love of God expressed through Christ Jesus in these trying and changing times. God be with you.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas,

The Batey Family

*All photographs by:
Julie Alley, 
alley.julie@gmail.com