Happy New Year!
It is certainly hard to believe that 2009 has already ended and 2010 barely begun! It seems as if we’d just started this year when we realized we were celebrating its ending, but that seems to be the way of time, flying quickly past us. We give thanks to God for his love and care in these past days and look forward to His great works in the future.
2009 was a year of exciting changes and adventures for the Grasham-Reeves family. After over a year of retail drudgery at ATT, Cliff accepted a position with Child Protective Services in April as a Conservator for children in the foster system. This job enabled him to spend more time with family and friends and to participate in local theatre programs. Cliff was one of the lead actors in the Waco Civic Theatre’s production of “The Woman in Black” in late October, and has recently accepted a part in the spring production of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Cliff finally got his wish for a dog of his very own this past July and is the proud papa of Rika, a mutt of Catahoula and shepherd origins.
I had an exciting year, finally graduating from George W. Truett Theological Seminary with my Master of Divinity degree in May of 2009. During graduation, I was awarded the Robert Jackson Robinson Preaching Award for the graduating class of Spring 2009, and preached during chapel on April 28th. The day after graduating, following three years of participating in the ordination processes of the Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I was ordained to Christian ministry. Two weeks and one day later, on Pentecost Sunday, I was installed as the Associate Minister of Children, Youth and Families at Lakewood Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). God is good!
May was a busy month, especially considering the fact that Cliff and I bought our first house! By happy coincidence (or providence, depending on your inclination), we were able to purchase the house of our friends Scott and Beki Baker as they moved on to Nashville, TN. We are discovering the joys (and tribulations) of home ownership, but are thrilled to finally be in a place we can truly call our own. Later last summer, we were also able to trade in my old Ford Escort and purchased a new-to-us Chevy Trailblazer that some of our friends jokingly call the “Grasham-Reeves Baby-mobile”. Ah, if they only knew…
Which of course brings me to our happiest news: Cliff and I are expecting our first child in late April of 2010! We discovered the happy news in August of 2009, finally breaking the news to family and friends in early October. To our joy and surprise, we discovered that my sister Arwen and her husband Paul as well as my cousin Daniel and his wife Sarina were also expecting their first children all around the same time as us! In early December, Cliff and I discovered that we will be having a baby boy, and have decided to name him Gareth Alexandre (sic).
2010 brings its own exciting challenges and adventures. Cliff will start a new job at Harmony Science Academy in mid-January as a high school English teacher, and we are both preparing for the great blessing of parenthood. We are excited for God’s movement in our lives and look forward to what the future may bring.
May God bless you and yours in 2010!
Clifton & Elizabeth Grasham-Reeves
