Christmas Letter 2014

What adventures did the Minnesota Ekelunds have this year?  Well, I am glad you asked.

Adam began working in the Revenue Cycle department of Lake Region Healthcare (our local hospital) in June, and loves the people that he works with.  His current position is temporary, but with his “foot in the door,” a permanent position is on the horizon.  I am still teaching chemistry online for M State, but my main job is juggling work and home life.  One of the things that is encouraged and supported at our church, Bethel Lutheran Church, is faith at home.  This idea that loving the Lord and developing our relationship with God starts in the home, and then is supported by our local church.  It has been very fun growing together and spending time with God with our family.  This year, I asked our whole family to write our Christmas update letter.  I posed the question, “If you could tell someone a fun thing that we did this year as a family, what would it be?”

There were five standout activities.  The first, and most exciting thing was that Elizabeth Elayne Ekelund was born at 2:41 am on March 8, 2014.  She was 7 pounds 1 ounce and 19.5 inches long.  She looks like a mini-Hannah and is adored by all of us.

The second was going to Inspiration Point Bible Camp for Family Camp over the July 4^th weekend.  This was our second year going, and there are tons of fun things to do like swimming, Gaslight Theater (talent show), Christ hike (a moving play about Jesus’ life), meals that we don’t have to cook or clean up, and worship times for all ages.  Now, we must be honest.  It is not all sunshine and roses 8 people (including a newborn) staying in one room for 3 nights.  It is a learning experience, and we are getting better at it.  We are already registered for next year, so we are going to have fun (and learning) all over again.

The third event was The Kirkbride Cycle.  This was another moving play in which Hannah and I were cast members.  There were 8 scenes situated around the big, beautiful grounds of the Regional Treatment Center (Kirkbride building) in Fergus Falls.   The audience moved to the different scenes using bicycles.  It was a really fun month that Hannah and I got to spend weekends practicing and recording songs and dialogue.  I wrote a brief blog post on my experience here.  Also, if you want to see some of the scenes, the production company has a few snippets on their website.  Hannah said the thing that she loved the most from this experience was Scene 2 when she got to come out and dance with mom.

The fourth memorable event was my dad coming to visit.  We watched football with Grampa, both Caleb’s team and an M State game.  We went to a mini concert of a band that featured one of The Kirkbride Cycle’s producers, and got to see the airplanes in Fargo when we were picking him up and dropping him off.  It is so much fun to have family visit us and introduce them to the Fergus life (hint, hint).

The final event that stuck out in the kids’ minds was a trip to the cities (Minneapolis & St. Paul), and yet another mobile theater experience.  This production was put on to bring awareness to the Green Line Metro Transit route and the communities that it travels through.  We started at one end of the Green Line with an opening scene, and then traveled to each of the scenes using the Green Line trains.  The kids had never been on a public transit train before so that was the excitement for them.  Timothy said that he liked the scene where they were talking about nuclear waste and clean water (that’s my boy).  Sarah said that the thing she likes the most was riding the trains, sitting next to mommy.  I liked the scene in the Rondo Public library.  When Joshua asked what he liked, he said, “Orange.”  (I don’t know.  I am just reporting the facts.)  We stayed two nights in the cities and made time for the Mall of America the next day.  Caleb’s most memorable moment from this trip was “the doughnuts” that we got for breakfast from the convenience store and brought back to the hotel.  “I just love doughnuts, “ he said.  He was also glad that we each got to do something that we wanted to do.

We started decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving this year.  When I pulled out our Veggie Tales Advent Calendar and put it up, the kids asked, “What is that for?”  We hadn’t done this Christmas tradition before.  I told them that we use it to count down to Christmas the “advent” of the birth of Jesus in the past, and it also serves as a reminder that our Savior will come again.  Here is the first stanza of one of my favorite hymns:

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

We pray that you also have great joy anticipating our Emmanuel’s second advent!

Love,

Rebekah Adam Caleb Hannah Timothy Sarah Joshua & Elizabeth