Dear Friends & Family,
Hello from the Sharpes! This letter is going to serve as both our Christmas newsletter and a birth announcement. We would like to announce the birth of our third child, finally a boy, Joel Brian Sharpe. He was born August 27th at 6 lbs 14oz and 19.5 inches long. He is now 3 months old and is growing and smiling like crazy. Ellice and Annyah are loving being big sisters. They like to be as involved as I'll let them in taking care of him. Joel just recently started sleeping through the night, so that makes life much easier.
My pregnancy with Joel was quite the adventure to say the least. After finding out I was pregnant on New Years, I began having terrible morning sickness that kept me down, and then soon after I injured my back. The week after my back injury was better, I began having agonizing pain in my upper thigh. Finally my doctor was able to diagnose that I had a deep vein blood clot that went from my ankle to my thigh. God was watching over me, because I really had no idea what a dangerous situation this could have been if the clot had broken off and gone to my lungs, heart, or brain. I was hospitalized for several days and then released with twice daily blood thinner injections into my belly. The rest of the pregnancy went really well. However, it became much more complicated at the end when I had to be hospitalized for the last 2 weeks of the pregnancy. Even now that Joel is born, I am continuing to be on blood thinners until he is at least 9 months old. What is left of the clot which covers the length of my thigh, is now considered to be a scar and will be something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. As you can imagine this whole ordeal put a lot of stress on my family, especially Brian. He had to pick up my slack and be the Mommy and Daddy while I was in the hospital on top of working a full-time job and just the emotional stress of worrying that his wife was going to be okay. Our church was a tremendous blessing to us during this time as so many people volunteered to bring my family meals, babysat our girls during the days, and encouraged me by visiting me often in the hospital. During my 2 week stay in the hospital I counted at least 60 people that came and visited me. Brian and I are so thankful to God for his care in our lives and for the way that the body of Christ helped us in our weakness. And all of that stress of my pregnancy was more than worth it now as we hold our son in our arms. God is good!
Another new adventure in our lives has been Ellice starting Kindergarten this year. It was hard for me to let her go, but she is loving it. Her only struggle in school has been choosing between socializing and doing her work. At 5 1/2, she is our social butterfly. As social as she is, Brian is starting young with her to let her know what the requirements are for her future husband because she loves to talk about getting married some day. He already has it drilled into her head that the 2 requirements are that her husband has to love Jesus, and Daddy has to like him. Recently a friend of ours and her teenage son were babysitting Ellice. After they left, Ellice told Brian, "Daddy, I'm going to marry that boy. You like him and he loves Jesus."
As much as Ellice wants to get married, Annyah doesn't. One day she was watching a movie where the main character was getting married. She started sobbing and told me that she doesn't want to get married but she wants to stay with me. Annyah is 3 1/2. She loves playing with her sister and taking care of her baby brother. She is our little unintentional comedian that says the funniest things. She regularly drives Brian and I crazy with her inability to be reasoned with at times and her extremely sensitive spirit.
Not much has changed for Brian and I over the past year. My main focus in life and joy is being a stay at home mom. I am also continuing with my role as worship leader and administrator in our church. Brian of course is continuing with his role as associate pastor in our church, with his focus mainly on the youth. Brian also continues in his role as district representative for youth pastors in our denomination. We continue to lead a community group in our home once a week for adults. We've also started leading a small group of students one night a week in our home.
Well, life continues to fly by. Our children are growing up faster than we can adjust. We are amazed that August 2010 will be our ten year anniversary. It seems like just yesterday that we got married. We hope that this letter finds you doing well. We pray that the birth of Jesus gives you the same hope that it has given us. There is no better gift than the gift God gave when he sent his son to this earth to provide a way for us to have a relationship with Him and to be forgiven of all. Merry Christmas!
Love,
The Sharpes Brian, Tomina, Ellice, Annyah, & Joel
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