Merry Christmas from the Schlottman Family

2013 has been another year of many blessings for our family. It would take many volumes to share each blessing, so instead we will give a brief summary of the year for each of us.

Carter turned 11 in September after a busy summer of baseball and playing with friends. His baseball team finished in 3rd place with Carter pitching and playing catcher. He takes care of Aspen, our 2 year Australian Shepherd and loves all things tech. Carter attends Pathway, a one day-a-week education group for homeschool students where he studies history and science and enjoys P.E class as well as occasional field trip outings. He has become an avid reader and is the only one always pining for more snow! Carter has grown in contentment this year.

Hunter turned 15 in May and now has his driver’s permit. He spent most of his spring and summer playing baseball. This spring he joined Tucker in playing baseball for Christian Life High School in Farmington. His first at bat was a home run! He also played baseball this summer in the Lakeville Baseball Association. His team ended the season as tournament champions. This fall, he played soccer with the Metro United team – a high school team for homeschool students in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. They took 3rd place in a national homeschool soccer tournament in Indiana in late October. Hunter is taking guitar lessons and practices faithfully. He also enjoys participating in his Bible study group and will begin helping to lead a Bible study for a group of younger boys in January. Hunter has grown in compassion this year.

Tucker turned 18 this year. He is our family ambassador and everywhere we go, it seems like someone knows Tucker! He graduated from high school this spring and we celebrated with a fun open house in his honor. He worked several places this summer earning money for college. The only thing that slowed him down for a short time was a knee surgery in late June to repair a torn meniscus. He played his last season of high school baseball for Christian Life and was elected team MVP. He entered the University of Northwestern St. Paul this fall and was elected as a freshman senator for the student council. He also had an acting role in the university’s fall performance of Oklahoma. He purchased his first car this summer and treats it like a Rolls Royce! Tucker has grown in leadership this year.

Emilee turned 21 this month. She worked as a nanny for two families this year earning money for college. She is very gifted working with young children and loves it very much! She experienced two car accidents this year. The first one in January was a deer strike while coming home from work. The second in a late April was during a snow storm when another driver pulled out in front of her. God protected her both times for which we are very thankful. The end result of the second accident was an opportunity to purchase her first car – a red Pontiac Grand Am which she is very proud of. Emilee entered the University of Northwestern St. Paul this fall and is majoring in ESL (English as a Second Language). She is taking Arabic this semester and although it has been challenging, she is doing well. We miss her presence around the house but are happy for her to be pursuing her degree. Emilee has grown in diligence this year.

Ben turned 23 in April. He finished his internship in the spring and has been working as a server in a restaurant while tireless pursuing a job in international business/marketing. He proposed to his sweetheart, Tiana Holding, in March and has been helping her plan their wedding this next April. We are thrilled to have Tiana become a part of our family and love when she comes to visit. She joined American Airlines in the reservations department this summer. Both she and Ben are able to take advantage of discounted air travel so Ben has spent time in Florida, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.  Last fall, as a part of his internship, he spent six weeks in Italy. Ben has grown in patience and endurance this year.

Zack and Heidi celebrated their first wedding anniversary in March and enjoyed a trip to Ohio. Zack is at a legal firm in downtown Minneapolis working with document and records management. Heidi manages the office for a real estate company in Roseville. They enjoy running together and have participated in a few races. Zack and Heidi are avid board game players. They occasionally come to visit us and we love to play games together and spend much of the evening laughing. After a year and a half living in St. Paul, they just moved to St. Anthony and like their new neighborhood. They have both grown in the joy of married life.

We (Carrie and Dave) are enjoying our 30th year of marriage together and will celebrate our 30th anniversary this coming summer. Carrie is busy with homeschooling, managing our home, driving kids to activities, and helping Dave. Dave is busy with our business and is contracting IT services to a financial firm in St. Paul. He spent part of a week this spring in the hospital with pericarditis after we returned from a week long visit to Florida to see Carrie’s parents but recovered quickly. Carrie’s mom and dad came home to Minnesota for the summer and enjoyed baseball games, family outings, and evenings playing games and watching the Twins on TV. They left for their winter home in Florida in September and visited Tim and Angeline (Carrie’s brother and sister-in-law) in Arizona for Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to having them return home for a week at Christmas time. Dave and Carrie have grown in thankfulness this year.

We hope you have enjoyed catching up with the news about our family for this year. It seems like so many things happen each year yet the time zips by so quickly. We miss you when our paths do not cross and rejoice with you when they do. We are gladden by the fact that one of the few things that remain eternal are relationships and friendships with those who are trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.  1 Thes 4:13-18

Dad reading the Christmas story for our family at Christmas 2013