The McCarthy's Christmas Letter of 2013

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

African Adventure 2012

Well hello there! Anybody miss me?
It's quite sad when the one thing that you have been looking forward to for over 6 months, comes to an end, and life returns to normal after the fact. No, I am not talking about Nathan and I taking down and packing away our pool this weekend. As you all know, I was referring to the McCarthy African Adventure 2012. The boys were exceptionally well behaved, and endured the 18 hour flights like true veterans! On the African continent, we had a grand time, sharing special memories time with uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers and grandparents!  Spending quality time with all our families was very special for each of us! Also, going to the Chobe Game Reserve and seeing wildlife up close and personal was truly a life changing experience! Some of the animals we saw include: lions, elephants, buffalo, wild dogs, jackals, brown hyena, giraffe, hippo, waterbuck, sable, springbok, impala, kudu, baboons, monkeys, crocodiles, water monitors, fish eagles, kingfishers, and ostrich! After  these safari's, Liesel won't be able to take the boys back to the zoo, where they peer at the animals from a distance through some chain-link fence :(

Well, due to the fact that most of us are still feeling the effects of jet lag, I am signing off early tonight. But I leave you with 60 of our favorite memories from the last 3 weeks!

T-minus 1 week and counting

It's hard to believe that next week this time, I will be in South Africa! Yes, it's true.... the vacation that w have been planning for years is now only days away. Please remember Liesel in your prayers, as she travels alone with the two boys on Tuesday! This will be Josh's first long distance plane ride and we have no idea how he's going to cope with it =/ SO your prayers are appreciated!!

This is really one of our last summer weekends in the USA, so we tried to make the ost of it. We woke up to the sounds of raindrops on Saturday, which was very welcome. Later, the boys and I paid a vist to a dear friend, and afterwards spent some time at a playground. While they were playing, the heavens opened again and cooled us down a bit, so we sought the shelter of a tree until the rain cloud moved away.
That afternoon, I headed to our church, as my band was hosting a praise and worship evening in heir hall. This required a lot of set up, sound checks, rehearsal etc, before our evening performance. When the evening arrived, we had a good turnout and enjoyed praising God together!

Sunday morning came earlier than expected as Nathan came and woke me before 6:30am. He was excited as we were going to see the Cleveland Browns Football team at their training camp with is bout 25 minutes from our house. Their training kicked off at 8:45, but the gates opened at 7:45, and it is recommended that you to early to get a good spot! We arrived shortly after 8am and were able to get a good parking and had time to look around the training camp! Nath scored himself a Cleveland Browns dog tag, and had a chance to throw a few footballs, before the team came out and went through their paces! It was a great experience, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Meanwhile Liesel and Joshua went to church and also had a wonderful time!

I spent the rest of the day watching the Olympics and especially enjoyed the Volleyball, both indoor and beach, and cheered my home teams (USA) on to victory!

At 5:30, our babysitter arrived, allowing Liesel and I to go on one final date before South Africa. We headed to our favorite restaurant and had those heavenly milkshakes! Afterward, we pulled up a couple of chairs in the shade of some trees in the center of Crocker Park and spent some quality time just talking :) In fact, it was so relaxing, another man in a chair a few meters away had fallen into a deep sleep and was snoring loudly!

T-minus 2 weeks and counting

We are another 7 days closer to our eagerly anticipated Southern African trip! We can't believe how quickly time has flown since we purchased our tickets back in February this year!

This week's blog is brought to you by the complimentary hotel internet. I drove 4 hours northwest this evening as one of my larger customers in Michigan is going live with Google Apps on Monday. A few of my colleagues and I will be onsite supporting them through their major milestone from 8am onwards. We will be here for a couple of days, ensuring everything runs smoothly and if any issues arise, that they are quickly nipped in the bud.
Before embarking on the four hour drive, I spent some time in the pool with my boys! It was another scorcher of a day, so the pool offered a welcome relief after lunch.

On Friday evening, we had friends over for hotdogs and hamburgers. They have children that are in the same age range as our boys and they get along really well. So well, in fact, that while they all played inside, we (the adults) sneaked outside and had some great conversation on the patio, without any interruptions! Our friends provided dessert, which consisted of three different varieties of ice cream, plus a range of delicious toppings, including, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, chocolate chips, different colored sprinkles and more! We all loved the indulgence!
Once they left, I thought it would be a great night to sleep in a tent. Nathan had been wanting to for a while now, but most weekends were too hot. Since Friday was mostly overcast - the air temperature was comfortable and so we got the tent out of the basement and set it up outside. This would also be Josh's first outdoor camping experience. By the time the tent was ready for us, it was close to 10pm, so the boys found their spots and after a few stories from Nathan, they fell asleep. Unfortunately - the padding I chose for myself was not ideal (our patio furniture's cushions) and I did not have a great night's sleep :( But it's still worth it so the boys could have their adventure!

On Saturday morning, since we were all awake before 6:30am, we went back inside where I made a pancake breakfast, and let Liesel sleep in for once! The rest of the day was relaxed, and later that evening, Nathan and I headed to the YMCA for some swimming practice! When we came home, it was time for supper, and then the boys needed to be bathed. Shortly thereafter, it was their bedtime, which allowed Liesel and me to enjoy a DVD together!

Good times :)

T-minus 3 weeks and counting

This weekend seemed to fly by. Not that we're complaining, because we are now another week closer to our South African vacation! Not too much to report on this weekend. The weather is still hot and humid, so most of our time was spent indoors in the comfort of our air-conditioner, and in the pool!

Friday's Family Fun Night consisted of watching the movie Charlotte's Web. Liesel had recently finished reading the book to the boy's which they seemed to enjoy. So for her family fun night, Liesel picked up the Charlotte's Web DVD from the library. Freshly popped popcorn was the perfect snack to complement the movie!

On an overcast Saturday morning, we paid our local Toys R Us a visit to pickup a backpack for Josh's pre-school starting in late August. We also picked up a new game that Liesel will give to him on the airplane on the way to South Africa. The day remained overcast, and there seemed to be some storm clouds building up. So we decided to make the most of the dry weather, and headed to the Westlake Recreation Center, so Josh could play in the playground, while Nathan and I worked on his tennis skills on their tennis courts.

Church was the first thing on our agenda for Sunday morning. Afterward, we relaxed at home. That afternoon, Nathan and I paid my friend Jim a visit. We had a good visit, sharing smiles and handshakes, before we headed to a sports store, for Nathan to find a mouth-guards to accompany his football helmet. By the time we got home there was just enough time to jump in the pool, before I headed out to a 4 hour long band practice and dinner. I leave you all with a photo of the beautiful summer evening taken from my upstairs window.