The 2008 Flanders Family Update


In celebration of David’s sixteenth birthday, we hosted a father-son log-splitting competition in February. Since several of those sinewy boys now tower over their dads (including one of our own), we thought the odds might be in their favor, but mass won over muscle in the end: bigger beltlines bested bulging biceps. David laid aside his violin this year to spend more time at the piano, where long arms and large hands are more of an asset than a liability. Photography is another of his favorite pastimes: He is constantly darting out of the house with Mom’s camera, tripod, and telephoto lens in hand to snap pictures of some woodland creature he’s spied through his bedroom window.
He’s captured some stunning images of birds, bunnies, toads, turtles, raccoons, one very long (non-venomous) rat snake and also — much to our surprise — a whitetail deer that came to nibble on the grass we laid behind the tree house this spring.





Sweet Rachel turned seven in June. She’s as quiet as a mouse, but full of surprises. Would you have guessed, for instance, that Rachel can do more chin-ups than almost anyone else in our family? In perfect form, too, which is why we’ve started calling her “Muscle Girl”. She brushes her teeth eight times a day and would take as many showers if we didn’t draw the line at two or three. Rachel loves to read, read, read — and you should hear her quote Scripture! Loud and clear, without a hint of timidity. She and Isaac were both baptized this summer as testimony to their faith in God…. Gabriel learned to crawl this month, so now there’s no stopping him.
He’s a happy boy, with a habit of sucking on his upper lip that gives him an adorably elfish grin, wide enough to accommodate all ten fingers at once. He enjoys being outdoors, especially if it means being strapped in the baby seat on back of Mom’s bike. Jennifer took the kids to Mesquite for the Rodeo Ride this month, and Gabriel slept contently through the entire thing, including a spill Mom took while trying to coax our preschooler to pedal a little faster (even after Isaac stopped riding his brakes, we averaged only 2 ½ mph, making us grateful we’d taken the five-mile route). Samuel pumped Daniel and supervised Rachel; David kept up with Rebekah and Joseph; and Benjamin served as a liaison between tortoises and hares, even jogging back after he’d finished the course to push Isaac up that last long hill.
It was fun, but we missed Dad, who was on call that weekend and unable to join us….










No doubt inspired by the speed with which his little nephew is getting around these days, Gabriel took his first steps in November. His healthy development is just one of countless blessings for which we offer thanks this season. We live in changing times, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. For that, we are especially grateful.
We hope your family has a very merry Christmas and a fruitful New Year. May God keep us all in His tender care and may Christ reign in our hearts, come what may.
We hope your family has a very merry Christmas and a fruitful New Year. May God keep us all in His tender care and may Christ reign in our hearts, come what may.
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