.

We are a family striving to serve JESUS by intentionally looking at the needs of the broken people around us....lovin on and praying for transformed lives. Here we are, Lord. Use us!


For even the SON of MAN came NOT to be served...but to SERVE others and to give HIS own life as a ransom for many.

Matthew 20:28

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Merry Christmas from the Ortmann family...

Merry Christmas to you, friends! 2009 has been an incredible year, full of change and blessings too many to count!! We haven't done a Christmas letter in years. We'll see how this goes....

Bailey is 14, a freshman and does very well in school. She has been taking piano lessons for 2 years and seems to pick up on her music quickly. In fact, she self-progressed through one of her recent books so much that her teacher bumped her to the next level book. She LOVES music....Christian bands. She enjoys taking pictures and seems to have a creative eye with her camera. One of her favorite places to be is with cousins, doing whatever. Bailey is slowly learning to drive....yikes!Riley is 12 and is in 6th grade. She is also a good student....96% in math, although she says it's not her favorite subject. She is also in piano. She has fun playing the piano, yet if she was given the option to not take lessons, she'd opt out. Riley loves puppies and dreams of having one some day. Our Boxer, Cinnamon and Riley are buddies. She knows that for us, one dog at a time works best. The girls spend alot of their time babysitting together....they love it!
Kale is 10 and in the 4th grade. This boy of mine does school because he has no choice. He does pretty good in school! But, he'd much rather spend his time seeing how high he can ride his bike off a ramp, catching things on fire, blowing things up, taking things apart, launching things into the air, rescuing stray animals, hunting, shooting, running around with neighbor kids, being Kolton's favorite playmate and eating. Kale has asked to start piano lessons....he loves music, as well.
Kolton is 5 and is in kindergarten. Mr. Kolton is doing great in kindergarten. He is reading 3-4 word sentences now and is so proud of himself. Kolton is NOT short on words....ever!! Kolton's hero is Stuart, his daddy. Kol spends alot of his time trying to keep up with his brother. He sometimes shows up as Superman, Indiana Jones (complete with a whip), Spiderman, Syd (Ice Age). Kolton and Kale are forever wrestling with eachother. Injuries are daily occurances at our house.
We are so proud of our kiddos. They are growing up too fast, for sure. They bring much laughter and joy to our lives....we're SO blessed!
Suzie spends her days teaching (our kiddos - at home), cooking, laundry, cleaning, decorating, shopping, blogging, vacuuming, dishes, baking, etc.... She also volunteers at the Pregnancy Crisis Center one day a week. She LOVES being a wife and mom.

Stuart keeps busy with Construction. He does anything from roofs, concrete jobs, electrical, finishing basements and literally anything you can imagine needing done for a remodel project. This summer, while doing a siding job on a house, our friend accidentally shot Stuart with a nail gun right into Stuart's elbow. Ring shank nail. Visit to emergency room. After much praying, it finally came out, thus avoiding surgery. That was quite the adventure and we still tease our friend about that day. And yes, they still work together and remain good friends!!

January 1st of this year was the beginning of a new journey for our family. For the previous 17 years, Stuart has been a full time Pastor on staff at Cornerstone Fellowship Church. We know this change is God's plan for our lives. We are learning to trust God more and more with our future. Our hearts are overwhelmed at the peace we have knowing that God is in control.

May you not forget the TRUTH about Christmas. Christmas is about CHRIST! He is our Savior, King Jesus, who lived a perfect life and died for you so you can have eternal life through Jesus. He loves you so intensely! We celebrate Jesus at Christmas. It's really all about Him and what He did for us.

Merry Christmas hugs...

Stuart & Suzie
Bailey, Riley, Kale & Kolton

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

wordless wednesday...