{"id":28,"date":"2011-12-14T01:53:44","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T01:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=28"},"modified":"2011-12-14T01:53:44","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T01:53:44","slug":"2011-christmas-newsletter-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=28","title":{"rendered":"2011 Christmas Newsletter, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
We can hardly believe that it is that time again!\u00a0 Yes, time to write our annual update of how things are going around Team Stevens headquarters.\u00a0 2011 has been a relatively good year.\u00a0 It seems that as the kids get older and more involved, spontaneous events don’t just happen as often as we would like.\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Daniel and Kandy (along with Pastor Don and Sandy Leclere) struck out for a new venture this year – leading a grief recovery group called GriefShare (www.griefshare.org<\/a>).\u00a0 It was an amazing experience as we continue to heal ourselves while using the events of our lives to help others move from mourning to joy.\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Daniel continues to work at Schwans as an analyst in the Information Services Department.\u00a0 At the beginning of the year, Daniel volunteered with 4-H Shooting sports focusing on Archery.\u00a0 He is still a volunteer with Firearms Safety courses.\u00a0 He and his friends took their annual trip to hunt in Montana, and he returned home with a deer.\u00a0 As soon as the weather becomes nice, he hits the road on his motorcycle and just enjoys the time in the open air.\u00a0 The rest of the time he is busy keeping up with our kids’ schedules and enjoying friends and family.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Kandy: As for me, I have had an interesting year.\u00a0 I continue to teach as an adjunct at SMSU in the spring.\u00a0 Additionally, I keep busy with my blog writing and speaking at Best Life (www.bestlifeministries.com<\/a>) conferences and substitute teaching\u00a0when it works with our family’s schedules.\u00a0 This year I purchased a new sewing machine and a refurbished embroidery machine; so my\u00a0just-for-me time \u00a0is spent crafting and quilting. My personal goal this year was to complete a triathlon which was a goal that Reed, Sawyer, and I started in January 2008.\u00a0 Last year, I woke up one day and decided to finish that goal.\u00a0 On November 18, two days shy of 42 birthday, I completed 1\/2 mile swim, 17 mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run\/walk in 2 hr 37 min.\u00a0 I was so proud of that accomplishment and for being blessed with the best cheering squad in the world!<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
We hosted our third annual Reed’s Run this year on 9\/24\u00a0 (www.reedsrun.com<\/a>).\u00a0 For the first time, the weather was absolutely gorgeous.\u00a0 We had a great turn-out and we exceeded our fundraising goal.\u00a0 We have a 5K run, 1K dog walk, and 1K kids run.\u00a0 We still have a flagline honoring veterans, and we had the distinction of having all the major US conflicts represented except for WWII.\u00a0 This year, we honored all the emergency personnel that responded to the bus crash.\u00a0 There is a HUGE silent auction.\u00a0 We had a Bear Factory on-site where kids could make Reed-a-Cheetahs.\u00a0 Then the close of the evening was a luminary service honoring any child who passed away.\u00a0 New this year we recognized 3 loved ones who passed away, but who had been very supportive of us in our darkest hour.\u00a0 Finally, we ended with a showing of the movie “Soul Surfer”.\u00a0 It is exhausting work, but to see all the people who come and remember Reed and support our mission is humbling.\u00a0 Next year will be the last Reed’s Run as we\u00a0 committed to only four years for many reasons.\u00a0 We are working extra hard to make sure that the last run is memorable, because each year the event has grown larger and larger.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
HUCK is hired!\u00a0 Through a series of fortunate events, Huck found a way to heal.\u00a0 Once a week, he and I travel to a nursing home to visit residents.\u00a0 We have quite a large group of friends that help both us to remember that serving others is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0 Our faithful friends threw Huck a fabulous 9th birthday party on Dec 7.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Additionally, Huck decided that we should celebrate Reed’s 16th birthday this summer.\u00a0 We hosted a movie night in our backyard, and instead of presents for us or Reed, Huck asked for books.\u00a0 He then turned around and created “Huck’s Heroes” which is a reading program at Mikinaak – a child care center on the Cass Lake Reservation in Northern MN.\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
Sawyer is really growing up.\u00a0 He is currently in the 9th grade, and he is involved in many different activities in and out of school.\u00a0 He was able to play Junior Varsity and a little bit of Varsity this year in football (despite living in pain every day).\u00a0He continues to doctor at Mayo for his injuries. \u00a0He is active in Scouts, 4-H, Math League, Student Council, FCA, Youth Group,\u00a0FFA, Golf\u00a0and Student Council.\u00a0 There have been several highlights of his year, but there are two that receive top recognition.\u00a0 Sawyer traveled with his youth group to New Orleans, LA for a missions trip.\u00a0 Granpa Junior was able to drive over and spend a day with him.\u00a0 It was an experience that changed Sawyer’s life forever.\u00a0 He cannot wait to go to the next place God is calling him.\u00a0 His second major highlight is his first ever hunting trip.\u00a0 Sawyer and Daniel traveled to ND for deer season.\u00a0 On the last morning of their trip, Sawyer finally got his deer.\u00a0 He is definitely hooked, and ready to go spend time again with Dad at Uncle Bryan’s farm.\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We can hardly believe that it is that time again!\u00a0 Yes, time to write our annual update of how things are going around Team Stevens headquarters.\u00a0 2011 has been a relatively good year.\u00a0 It seems that as the kids get older and more involved, spontaneous events don’t just happen as often as we would like.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[105,444],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}