Christmas 2020, Cincinnati, Ohio
Looking Back…
- In
January, we watched Jeremiah play Upward basketball; the kids waited for
snow to come each day (it never did!).
- In
February, we enjoyed a family night getaway to Great Wolf Lodge for
birthday month. The kids loved swimming and doing all the water slides. We
also did a pet themed birthday: our friends brought in their favorite
pets; Jeremiah even adopted a Russian tortoise that he named Hobbes (our
first family pet).
- In
March, our worlds halted, as COVID entered the US. Zoom, ‘online church’
and masks are some new things we met. Yet with daddy now working from
home, the kids thought it fun.
- In
April, we mourned the loss of the son of dear family friends. We celebrated
Easter quietly, yet such hope that Christ has conquered the powers of evil
and death. We found out we soon would have another miracle to behold- we
were expecting our 5th child at the end of the year.
- In
May, we finished school and Erin traveled to York with kids to see family.
Covid crazy, we adopted 6 little fluffy chicks. 3 Buff Orphingtons, 3 Golden
Comets; Jeremiah named his Faithful, and Lydia named hers Hope.
- In
June, we were thankful for our church meeting in-person once again; with
the help of friends, Michael built a chicken coop for our feathered
friends. Erin and kids swam at our private church pool.
- In
July, we enjoyed a family getaway to Corolla, Outer Banks with Erin’s
family. It was wonderful to be in God’s creation. Not wonderful: a
kamikaze deer crashed into the side of our van…but by God’s grace we were
all okay.
- In
August, we started school once again: Jeremiah 4th grade, Lydia
2nd, Josiah K, and Joel- the crazy 3s- he is still running around
destroying things, being loud and making it hard for us to read!
- In
September, we enjoyed hikes, apple saucing and going to orchards and other
outside places. We celebrated the 15th anniversary of the
founding of the Lyons family…with masks on!
- In
October, Michael and Erin did a getaway to Red River Gorge. We enjoyed
hiking and resting and relaxing while Pop-pop and Mom-mom wrangled our
four kids for two days.
- In
November, we enjoyed serving and raking leaves for people in need, while
Michael was on a writing leave. Thanksgiving was quiet and calm, yet
filled with yummy treats.
- In
December, though quiet, our kids love the festivities and lights and have
growing energy! We joyfully welcome Judah Obadiah at 7lb. 7oz. born on
December 11, 2020, a wonderful end to this crazy year!
Year’s Reading Recommendations…
From
Erin:
Flourish, Brownback; Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan; Insanity of God, Ripken; Afraid of All The Things,
Hiltibial; Devoted, Challies; The Beautiful Woman, Ortland; Future Men, Wilson; The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry,
Comer; Letters to Pastor’s Wives,
Stewart.
From Michael: Les Misérables, Hugo; Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime
Spy, Macintyre; John G. Paton: Missionary to the Cannibals,
Schlehlein; Contemplative Provocations, Haggerty; I Still Do,
Harvey; How to Think, Jacobs; Lead, Tripp; Divided by Faith,
Emerson & Smith; Christmas Carol, Dickens; The Day Is Now Far
Spent, Sarah; Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, Hays; The
British Are Coming, Atkinson; Crisis in the Red Zone, Preston; The
Great Influenza, Barry (believe it or not, Michael read these two books on
the Ebola crisis and the 1918 pandemic just before COVID hit in March!!)
From Jeremiah: The
Incredible Journey; Gentle Ben, Morey; Redwall series by Jacques;
Adoniram and Ann Judson, Benge; By
The Great Horn Spoon, Fleishman; Old
Yeller, Gipson; The Hobbit, Tolkien; Christmas Carol,
Dickens; Sign of the Beaver, Speare.
From Lydia: Sarah, Plain and Tall, MacLachlan; Caddie Woodlawn, Brink; Amy Carmichael, Benge; Jim Elliott, Benge; Adoniram Judson, Benge; Listening to Little House
audio books.
From Josiah:
Katy and the Big Snow, Burton; Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Burton; Curious
George stories; Robert McCloskey stories; The Little Caboose.
From Joel: Thomas the Train books; books about trucks; We’re Going on
a Bear Hunt, Rosen.
On Our Minds this Past
Year…
This year, our theme has been faithfulness, desiring
faithfulness in our church, our home and family, and wherever God places us. God
has been so faithful to us even when we have been faithless. We are thankful
that His mercies are new for us every morning, great is His faithfulness. Our
prayer is that we would walk in faithfulness, whether it’s Michael serving at
church during an upside-down year of ministry during COVID, or whether it’s
Erin serving in the home as she homeschools or visiting with friends and
neighbors (socially distanced, of course 😊). It felt like hospitality ministry was hindered this year with all the
regulations and rules, and yet we know God is at work doing more than we ask or
think! God taught us to be faithful in more creative ways. We pray that we be
faithful as parents in training these young ones in the nurture of the
Lord. We pray would be faithful in
worshipping our Risen Lord and learning what He has to teach us through this
year!
News from the Lyons’ Den…
The Parents: Michael’’s ministry this year at church has been
quite different with COVID. He and other staff had to come up with
creative ways of ministering to people, which included things like Sunday
School podcasts and lots of Zoom meetings. The silver lining has been that the
pandemic has allowed for a lot more space to minister on-on-one with people,
and we’ve seen so many evidences of grace as members minister to each other.
One highlight was organizing a men’s fall hike! During the year, Michael
continued to teach some for two universities,
both online. There is also a growing rumor that he is close to finishing his
first academic book, on famine. Erin’s days are full of teaching and
training young hearts. She enjoys homeschooling the kids and teaching at the
co-op on Wednesdays each week- this year doing Nature Study and Missionary
class (She enjoys visiting with mom-friends that day!). She loves to visit
neighbors, still loves to hike and go on walks, organize field trips and make
meals for people and anything God might bring to her that day! This summer, she
enjoyed hosting a weekly pool time at church with some international friends
the Lord brought into her life. She also enjoyed hiking with the kids and
visiting various parks around the city!
The Kids:
Our
home is busy! We are learning by God’s grace to love the little years. Jeremiah is 9. He is now in fourth
grade. Jeremiah loves to read this year and has become quite the chicken farmer!
After 6 months, we are finally getting eggs! He loves to cuddle them (yes, it’s
true) and takes them for walks. He enjoys creation, especially climbing trees.
He recently caught a pet minnow in a nearby creek and is trying to keep him
alive. Jeremiah still wants a dog and loves any pet or animal he sees. He loves
to build Legos. He also reads like crazy. Lydia is 7. She is in second grade
and is good at reading simple books to her brothers and loves to help Josiah do
some Kindergarten workbooks. She has grown to love audio books and loves to
color and make crafts. She is an explosion of energy and really enjoys being
one-on-one with friends. She still rooms with little Joel and is such a helpful
big sister! Josiah is 5. Josiah is slowly learning his phonograms and letters and how to
read. He is good at handwriting and loves when someone reads him a book. Josiah
studies and pays attention to everything, including he recently informed us
about the differences between a diesel and steam-engine train! He and Joel have
become quite the partners in crime this year. They love to play together…and
fight together too. Joel is 3. He loves books and loves to
pretend he is a cat (okay, so the older kids might have convinced him he is
one…at times he also thinks he is a baby sting ray). His social life is quite
intense: he holds loud imaginative conversations with all his cars, trucks,
animals, and basically anything else he grabs hold of. After a long 12 months
of training, Joel’s big accomplishment was to declare in his loudest possible
voice, “I went to the potty!!!!” Chocolate chips for everyone…especially mommy.
Judah is, well, just a few days old! He’s not sure what he thinks
of this world yet, but we have great hopes and prayers for him that he will
become a devoted follower of Jesus—as we pray for all the kids. Judah means
“praise” (referring to praise to God) and Obadiah means “servant of the Lord.”
Seeing and Savoring Christ
in Christmas…
Our family, and probably yours, experienced a lot of
loss this year: loss of loved ones, loss of traditions, loss of our ‘normal’
lives. Yet when we look at the world and hear the stories of others, we realize
we have much to be thankful for. We lament the pain that so many have gone
through. We were reminded this year that we live in a broken world that greatly
needs hope. How blessed we are to know that God the Father Almighty, the maker
of heaven and earth, has not abandoned his people. He did not abandon Abraham
or Isaac or Jacob. He did not abandon the people of Judea in the first century
when they were under the thumb of Rome. Jesus Messiah came and threw himself
into the abyss of evil and sin, only to rise from the dead. And so, we have
hope here at the end of 2020. We pray that your family too will treasure the
hope of Jesus.
Treasuring
Christ,
Michael
& Erin, with Jeremiah, Lydia, Josiah, Joel, and Judah Lyons
5684
Colerain Avenue Apt. 3, Cincinnati, OH 45239
elyons25@gmail.com, mlyons533@gmail.com,
http://melyonsden.blogspot.com (Family news and happenings)
I will glorify your name forever.
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