From the Second Chapter of Luke… For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Glory to God indeed! This time of year, we are reminded of the greatest gift any of us could receive; the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ! All praise and thanksgiving be to God through Jesus Christ His Son! We are also thankful to God for you; our family and friends! We hope you are doing well and would love to hear from you! Here is a quick update about our family… Mike continued to work in IT at the City of Apple Valley and to serve in various ministries at our church, Berean Baptist.
Brenda has stayed very busy this year continuing to home school Ian and Lily, working part-time at Wings Financial, and managing our household. She really has a knack for keeping all of us going in the right directions!
Elle (22) graduated from Dakota Country Technical College’s LPN program at the top of her class and immediately got a job as a nurse working for Southdale Pediatrics. She quickly became a valued member of their team and has really enjoyed the independence that the new job has given her. She also met a special guy this year and they are talking about a special date next year!
Connor (21) is about to start his final semester as a Business Management major at Minnesota State University – Mankato. He’s really enjoyed his studies and is anxious to start the next phase of life. If you know of good companies looking for college graduates, let him know! In addition to school and working part time at Caribou Coffee, Connor also comes home every weekend so that he can teach Sunday School to 9th grade boys at church.
Ian (18) is in his final year of home school and looking forward to the opportunities ahead of him! His love for riding his bike has been fueled this year by the opportunity to work at Valley Bike & Ski, where he plans to continue part-time after graduation. His dream is to be a professional photographer and this year he had the opportunity to take some senior pictures for friends and do some videography at church. Let him know if you need some pictures!
Lily (16) is having a fun year! She got her driver’s license in June and just completed her first semester at North Central University where, thanks to a neat program that the State of Minnesota offers, she is finishing high school while also beginning her college career. She loves theatre and hopes to major in that. She also got to perform in two musicals through Twin Cities Home Schoolers for the Arts this year and had, what she says, is the best possible summer job: Puppeteer for the City of Apple Valley!
From the entire McCollum family,
Merry Christmas! Here are some other translations of Luke 2: For our Arabic speaking friends: http://biblia.com/bible/ar-vandyke/Lk2 For our Croatian speaking friends: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+2&version=HNZ-RI For our Russian speaking friend: http://biblia.com/bible/rst/Lk2 For our Spanish speaking friends: http://biblia.com/bible/lbla95/Lk2