The Stovers Christmas Letter

In the tradition of our writing a letter each December, we will be posting a blog post instead.  It is simply too expensive to send everyone a letter this time of year from 4,000 miles away.

As many of you know 2013 has brought many changes to the Stover Jr. household.  We say "Stover Jr." because Jean and Jeff Stover (Brandon's Parents) already sent out their letter claiming the Stover household name.

Here's a 2013 list of firsts:

1. This year was the first time we will have seen Emily's parents 4 times in one year.  That sets a new record since we have been a couple. We saw them in May after the death of Emily's grandmother, We saw them in July when we visited north Georgia, we saw them in September when we went to Michigan again to visit Emily's extended family one last time, and they just got to London to come and see us.

2. This year was the first time we have both been to London (an obvious big change in our household, but still a first).  The first time we had ever stepped foot on the island was after we had paid lots of money to travel here and go to school.  It was a big leap of faith not knowing what to expect.  We only had accommodations lined up for 9 days after arrival.
 
3. This year was the first time Brandon won Best in Show at the Bureau County Fair for a photograph he entered.  It was a lovely picture of a frog asleep on a metal pole.

4. This year was the first time we hosted two boys at our house during the summer for the Festival 56 summer season.  They were nice guys and it was great to get to know them.  Emily gave up her room to house the second guy and Brandon put up with all her make up and clothes in the bedroom.

5. This year was the first time Brandon has officially auditioned and sung in a choir.  Despite having been trained in music education and teaching choir for two years, Brandon was never in an official choir.  This year he sang an entire concert in Russian with the Goldsmiths Concert Choir.

6.  This year was the first time we took an overnight trip with school children.  We went to Branson, MO in the spring and performed.  It was a scary endeavor but it sounds like the kids had lots of fun.
 
7. This year was the first time Emily was on Group Workcamps Redshirt Staff.  (Brandon has been on staff at 12 camps and attended 20.) She was the worship leader and lead the camp each morning and evening in song.

8.  This year was the first time we washed our clothes without a dryer.  You learn to make a lot of changes when you live in a small studio flat.  Everything is small and we have to do without a lot of conveniences we got used to in the US.

9. This year was the first time we 'freecycled'.  It's a website where people give away their stuff, for free!  We got a mirror, a cheese grater and a hair straightener.

10. This year was the first time we watched fireworks in November.  Everything seems so strange here... they have fireworks in November and a fair (like a county fair) in December. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Brandon & Emily