Merry Christmas, everyone!
I know this year the holidays were very different for many of us.
I just keep running through “O Holy Night” and springing with particular joy on the line “a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” Doesn’t that just sum it up so well? Are you weary? Are you lacking hope? I know I sure am.
Even in the days leading up to Christmas, I just kept asking the Lord for strength and for maybe a little more than strength? You know…have you ever prayed those prayers? Like, God…I know that you give us everything that we need to get through the day, but can I just have a little more? And even as I struggled through various parts of the day, the Lord kept reminding me…I have given you more. I’ve given you Christ, the Savior of the world.
I won’t lie…it takes some faith and hope to actually believe in that and let it sink in deep enough to lift my spirits. But that is exactly what Christmas was a reminder of this year. A thrill of hope. In Christ. Alone. Not in the resolution of the pandemic. Not in being able to gather with family. Not in peace towards police officers or towards people of color. Not in wealth or our dream home or the perfect presents under the tree. In Christ. A thrill of hope.
Many of you received our Christmas letter, but just in case I wasn’t able to send it out to you this year, here is a copy of it below.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
We hope that this Christmas letter finds you well! What a year, right? I am sure we can all recount the many ways that 2020 has flipped our world upside down and caused us to live in completely unexpected circumstances! Phew!
We began the year 2020 by finally selling our first home. We bought this home in 2014, and we knew almost nothing about home ownership or maintenance. The house needed a lot of work, and we spent several years making basic improvements throughout, including adding a fully functional apartment in the basement. But we felt like the time had come for us to sell our home. It was a very long process, but finally in January of 2020 the house was sold! We moved to a nearby town where we began to look for investment properties to rent out.
And then March hit. I went on a lovely ladies’ weekend away to nearby Cincinnati. There were a few cases of COVID-19 in the United States, but no confirmed cases in OH. My friends and I had a wonderful weekend spending time together. Little did we know that would be the last “normal” weekend for a long, long time. The following week, schools closed and the stay at home order was implemented. Tera saw her teacher on a Thursday and then never went back to school that year. Theo, as an essential worker, never had a day off! It was stressful for me to hold down the home front while worrying about Theo out and about, interacting with many different people. But Theo handled it well and continued with excellence in his job, pandemic or not.
In March, we closed on our first rental home. The second one followed closely in April and a third one in July. Owning three rental properties has kept us incredibly busy, as two of the properties needed complete overhauls before we could rent them out to tenants. We painted, added cabinets, counters, and dishwashers, cleaned carpets, and repaired many different appliances, devices, and chipped or broken parts of the home. Thankfully, that kept us pretty busy throughout the spring and summer!
In April, I decided I needed to force myself to get out of the house every day. So, the kids and I (and Theo on his days off) embarked on a daily hike challenge. We went on a hike every single day in the month of April, rain or shine. It was one of the highlights of the year for us! We learned so much and found so much light and hope being outside in nature every day.
Of course, we all look back with sadness, frustration and grief on the social and political events that unfolded throughout the months of May, June, July. For us, the protests and riots hit very close to home, and Theo worked some very challenging and long days throughout the summer months. We were deeply grieved and hurt by some actions and words during this time, and we struggled to deal with the weight and the emotion of all the circumstances. We are working as a family to process and listen and also heal from some of the difficult circumstances we have faced and continue to face. I am thankful every day when Theo walks in the door from work. It’s no small thing to have him home safe.
Theo recently stepped into a new position at work. Although he is still a street officer on patrol, his new position is part of the ****. Theo primarily responds to mental health, suicidal, and substance abuse/overdose calls. He not only responds to a crisis happening in the moment, but afterwards he also tries to build rapport and a relationship with each of the people that were involved in a call, visiting after a crisis and continuing to do follow-ups in the weeks following. He much prefers to prevent calls to the police instead of having to deescalate a situation that is already happening. Theo also continues to manage our rental properties, which all have excellent tenants!
In August, I (Suzanne) went back to work in a classroom! This job was first spoken of back in January, and I officially accepted it in May. I thought for sure the pandemic would pass and school would look “normal”, but that has not been the case! Instead, I stepped into a role teaching 1stgrade at our Christian hybrid school—fully masked and socially distanced. It has been challenging to go back to work in the midst of a pandemic, but I guess my teaching job can only get easier from here, right? Right? I am absolutely loving being back to teaching as well as this model of school—I have my students only two days a week and send home the appropriate amounts of work for the remaining days of the week. It has also been very fun to have my very own 1stgrader, Tera, in my class and to get to homeschool her at home on the non-school days! During the rest of my time this year, I have worked alongside Theo fixing up three houses, keeping up with our own home and you know…taking care of three children!
Tera turned 6 this year and just finished up her first semester of 1stgrade! She loves to play with her friends, create arts and crafts, and play with our new kitten, Patience. Tera adores animals of any kind and loves to be outside, no matter the weather! She also started to read and write and now writes many letters—her phonetic spelling is a FAVORITE around here!
Kiah turned 4 this fall and attends preschool two days a week while I am teaching right down the hall. He adores preschool and has mastered some super important skills this year. He loves to build with magnatiles, play with dinosaurs, and run and jump—we always tell him his legs have springs in them! Kiah is in the delightful stage where he says the FUNNIEST things, and his laughter is contagious!
Ezra turned 2 in November and is the life of the party. I have never had a child color on the walls before, until Ezra came along. I have never had a child who is an actual tornado, until Ezra. This kid keeps me BUSY! He is also attending preschool two days a week while Mommy works down the hall, and he has come to love it. He doesn’t say many words yet, but he appears to be very, very smart under all that toddler busyness! He loves to play with animals, color on any flat object, and occasionally pick up the kitten upside down (YIKES!). He is also hilarious and keeps us all adequately entertained!
As I think back on this year, a song comes to mind that says:
“In all my days You have been faithful. In all my days You have been so, so good. With everything that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.”
We feel pretty depleted at the end of this year, and it doesn’t feel like I am very able. But with everything that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. Because He is good, and He is faithful. Not one day of 2020 has passed without His Goodness and Faithfulness being evident. May the Lords goodness and faithfulness be evident to us all this season.
Love, The Hines
I think two words that sum up 2020 are tired and grief. We’ve all grown through it, but growth feels painful sometimes. Well here’s to 2021 and it won’t be long now that at least we won’t have an ocean between us.