2009 in Pictures

We hope this letter finds you and your family full of Christmas joy. We have much to be joyous about! This has been a year of changes and activity for our family. Here are some highlights.

School

Luke graduated from home school in June and is now a freshman at the local branch of OSU, thinking about majoring in engineering. Nathan continues his college adventure as a sophomore at Grace College in Indiana, majoring in environmental biology. Katrina is taking a few college courses herself and his hoping to eventually make it into the nursing program. She also continues to home school Caleb (11th), Grace (9th), and Alina (7th). In the spring, we wrapped up our studies of the 20th century world. Our most exciting school event (besides the last day of school) was a guest presentation by a WWII vet who shared about his experiences as a paratrooper in the D-Day invasion, as well as other adventures in the European theater. This year, we are studying ancient history and space & earth science together. We can't find any live presenters from that time period, though.

Music

Part of our schooling experience is our home school band, which we love! Alina's trumpet skills and Grace's flute skills have developed greatly this year. Caleb heads up the percussion section, and Luke continues to play in the saxophone section. One of the benefits of it being a home school band is that he can continue even though he is in college now. And parents are welcome to play as well, so Katrina enjoys participating, even though she graduated many years ago! Before graduating, Luke participated in the steel drum band that traveled to Virginia Beach for a steel drum festival.

Grace and Alina have joined a home school choir this fall and h ave enjoyed singing songs such as the "William Tell Overture" with the group. Bum Ba da bum. Ba da bum . . .

4-H

Alina and Grace both participated in 4-H this year and did very well. Alina's fishing project was graded superior and was selected for state fair. Grace got superiors on her projects of mentoring and gardening as well. They also did a group project that portrayed life in the Middle Ages.

Drama

Our home school group has a drama class that the girls are in and Luke is a technician for. They performed "Taming of the Shrew," "Magician's Nephew" (where Grace was the tree), and "The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood," which were all quite entertaining. They are currently working on a production called, "Larceny and Old Lace."

Art

Another activity that Grace and Alina really enjoy is art class with some of the more artistic moms in our home school group. Since their own mother has little artistic ability, she is glad others are willing to share theirs with our children.

Hunting

Alina decided to try her hand at bow hunting this fall, and shot her first deer.

Rockets

In the spring, Luke's rocket team was selected as national finalists in the TARC competition which took place near Washington, D.C. We made a family trip out to watch the team compete.

Vacation

Speaking of trips, we went camping and boating for a few days this summer with Katrina's sisters and had a blast getting rained on . . . a lot of rain . . . rain, rain, rain. It did stop raining during the day for us to get in a good bit of waterskiing, tubing, wake boarding, etc. Did I mention that our tents were completely soaked? Camping is an adventure!

Camping

A highlight for Caleb this year was a rustic campout with a friend and their dads. They enjoyed roughing it for a weekend.

Jobs

If we didn't have jobs, we couldn't fund the trips and activities. We are all grateful for the jobs we have. Kris still works for Cardinal Health, testing and automating software. Nathan has a job in the cafeteria on campus during the school year and works at Kroger when he's home. Luke also works at Kroger, but since he lives at home, he keeps working there year round. Katrina helps a friend take care of her elderly mother-in-law for a few hours each week. And of course, there's always plenty of work to be done around home, which everyone pitches in to help with. Oh, and did I mention that Luke is a fantastic chauffeur for many of his sisters' activities? Now that Caleb has his license, he gets to help out with transportation, too.

Ministry

One very exciting event for our family was our ministry trip to Kentucky this summer. A group from our church went to help a sister church in the Appalachian Mountains, and our whole family went along. We (the guys) cut down and chopped up several huge trees, cleaned up the gounds surrounding the church, cleaned the inside of the building, visited shut-in members of the church, hosted a wiener roast, and did many other odd jobs that needed to be done around the church. Our group was very hard-working and joyful to be around. We were blessed to help meet the needs of others.

After 20 years, Katrina has retired from coaching Bible quizzing. She seems to have replaced that activity with three more, though. (How does that happen?) Katrina and Grace both play in the orchestra now. Kris serves as an elder and sometimes teaches Sunday school. We were involved with women's ministry, Bible studies, nursery, technical support, youth group, fall pumpkin festival, the "Wonder of Christmas" production, and missionary support.

Now you can all stop wondering what the Burton family has been up to! We send our wishes to you for a very merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010!

~~The Burton Family~~

Kris, Katrina, Nathan, Luke,

Caleb, Grace, and Alina