Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Messersmith family! We hope that your holiday season is off to a wonderful start and you and your family are staying warm and healthy! What a wonderful year our family has had! In January we welcomed with joy sweet Lottie Elaine into the world! Despite 5 years of dreaming and 9 months of preparing for her arrival we were far from prepared for the joy she would bring!

Lottie is 11 months old now and we are full of excitement as we begin to plan for her first birthday! She is full of laughter and smiles and is such a delight! She is walking now and into everything! We love watching her learn and try new things and we are so blessed and honored to be trusted with her!

Micah continues to study at Southeastern Seminary and is now at the halfway point on his Masters of Divinity Degree! Even with new challenges and responsibilities at home he has been faithful and diligent in his schoolwork and he continues to enjoy his classes and time at the seminary. In March, he was promoted to a full time position in the office where he was already employed! This promotion has been a huge blessing for our family and again we are thankful for the Lord’s provisions and perfect timing.

I (Haley) continue to enjoy my job as an audiologist at Mann ENT but love my new job as a mommy even more! I was worried that after 3 months of maternity leave I wouldn’t want to go back to work, but thankfully it wasn’t nearly as hard as I anticipated. I am still thankful to work with fun ladies and I am always grateful to enjoy what I do! I am thankful that my patients enjoy seeing pictures of Lottie because I am always anxious to show them off! My new mommy role is the best and most challenging journey I have ever embarked on. I never knew I could love so much, feel so deeply, give so much, sleep so little, and think so hard! Despite the long hours and never ending chore list I love every aspect of being Lottie’s mommy!

With Micah and I both at work during the day, we obviously had to find care for Lottie. The Lord again proved himself faithful by providing us with a wonderful daycare facility that is staffed by precious women who truly love our daughter! Lottie has never once cried when we left her and has been so well taken care of! We love hanging the crafts and paintings she brings home on our refrigerator and Micah and I both jump on any opportunity to be apart of any of her “school” activities.

Another exciting update is that in June we joined a new church family! After 2 years of wonderful fellowship at another church in the area Micah felt the Lord leading us to be apart of a local church plant, New Covenant Fellowship! We have been blessed to be welcomed into such a warm and supportive community. By November, Micah was recruited to help with the sound/technical aspects of the church (which he loves) and we gladly took on the open youth ministry position! We love being apart of this body and we are thrilled to be working with teenagers again!

So, again we are so very blessed! We have had an amazing year of new life and new roles! We continue to enjoy the Lord’s grace and love towards us and we are daily challenged to live out that gospel in our home and to the world! This Christmas season we recognize more than ever what a sacrifice the Lord made by sending His Son on our behalf! As new parents we cannot fathom sending our child as a sacrifice for others, but we are thankful the Father did so for us! We hope you and your family take time this season to remember how much you are loved…not only by the Father, but also by the Messersmith’s! Have a wonderful Christmas!!