Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3
It’s that time of year again, when Christmas Carols are played over every public address system, shops are filled with desperate gift-hunting consumers, and a mild case of chaos pervades the nation as people, companies, and schools rush to wrap up their year end activities!
I, on the other hand, prefer finding a quiet place, and take some time to reflect back on 2013, seeing how God has been with us throughout the year, and acknowledge His goodness to the McCarthy family.
For us, 2013 was a wonderful year filled with many blessings! While I would love to name them one by one, there are far too many to do so in this letter. Instead, I wanted to share some of our favorite 2013 memories.
At the end of 2012, I was deeply immersed in North America’s largest customer roll out of Google Apps. This, unfortunately, limited much of the quality time that I could spend with the family. My company was very aware of this, and in January, awarded me with a 3 night stay in a suite at any Ritz Carlton hotel! This was awesome, but I needed a hiatus from all devices that have email, so we combined the Ritz-Carlton getaway with a four night Caribbean cruise!
This turned out to be a dream vacation for each of us! While staying at the Ritz Carlton, we were able to spend a day at the Kennedy Space Center, which Nathan (and I) loved! Then came the cruise! This was the ideal getaway for Liesel as she didn’t need to worry about any meals, or keeping the boys entertained, as they loved spending time with other children at their respective “Explorer” clubs. This meant Liesel and I could spend some quality time together, whether it was lying on deck reading books, relaxing on our balcony or walking through the Promenade, looking at the stores and eating the complimentary Chocolate Chip Brownies from Starbucks! These are little luxuries that are impossible to come by at any time of the year.
Yet another highlight of our trip was when our ship docked at the beautiful Mexican island of Cozumel. We had pre-purchased an excursion that took us to Chankanaab National Park for a dolphin encounter. This was a truly amazing experience that we’ll all remember for the rest of our lives. At the park, we were issued life jackets, and then escorted to a crystal-clear pool. Sharing this pool with us, was a female dolphin and her dolphin pup. The trainer introduced the dolphin and each of us had the opportunity to interact with her, which included a dolphin kiss! Liesel and I were very proud to witness Nathan’s first kiss….. After this amazing rendezvous with the marine mammal, we spent the rest of the day exploring the park. This gave me the opportunity to take Nathan snorkelling for his first time, in the pristine, tropical ocean. Yet another moment to add to the McCarthy highlight reel!
All-in-all, this cruise was the perfect battery recharger, relationship restorer, and relaxation reinforcer! In fact, I think cruising has become the preferred vacation option for us!
During the Summer break, we were blessed to have my mother, sister and her family spend two weeks with us. What a wonderful opportunity for the the cousins (Nathan, Josh, Caleb, and Micah) to get to know each other better. While the boys swam, rode bikes, played baseball and plenty of Wii together, the adults enjoyed each other’s company in the air-conditioned house. Time was also set aside to take the Cloete’s to Cedar Point, where roller coasters and water rides were the order of the day! Another time, we drove into the heart of Amish country and spent a day at an authentic Amish farm. The irony of this trip was that the Amish keep some semi-domesticated giraffe as a tourist attraction, so our guests travelled all way from South Africa to feed some giraffe in rural Ohio! This is part and parcel of living in America, and we were so grateful that we could share some of this with our dear family!
There are so many other instances of God’s goodness to our family that I could have included in this letter, but chose, instead, to focus on the major highlights.
We pray that as the year winds down, and 2014 waiting anxiously in the wings, that you and your families are able to find peace, love and joy from the One who is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. We do not know what lies in store for us in 2014, but we can take comfort knowing that the future is firmly in God’s hands.
With love
Grant, Liesel, Nathan and Josh
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