2016
Hopper Family Christmas Letter
Hello all! We hope you had a
great Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!
The year was full of trials
this year but that was to be expected. Our duty and responsibility is to plow
through them and do the best that we can to grow and progress. We had the
opportunity to go to Six Flags again this year and go to Gatlinburg for
vacation. Here is our family members and a little about what they have
accomplished and who they have become.
Nathan (2 ½) - He is a busy body and
is always asking for his fashfight (flash light). He loves to play with his
cars and his lawnmower. His favorite thing to do is to shoot everyone with his
finger gun and always asks to go somewhere, no matter where. Nathan is always
picking fights with dad. He loves to speak with his monster voice. He is such a joy and very special in our life.
Julie
(4) - She was born independent and loves to
sing to herself when she is supposed to go to sleep. Whenever she receives
chapstick she always keeps it by her side. She likes to help out a lot in the
house. She loves to listen to books and is already starting on lessons
for reading. She likes to pick out her own clothes to wear for the day. She is
definitely the one that keeps us in line. She reminds us each night to read scriptures,
say family prayers and sing hymns or children songs before going to bed.
Jeffery (10) – He loves to watch and
do science experiments. He likes being alone by himself and playing or building
with K’Nex or legos. He likes to ride his bike around the block in our
neighborhood. Jeffery also participated in baseball this year and progressed
throughout the season. This year he has been bitten by a dog, fallen off of his
bike and received stitches. This is Jeffery’s second year of Home Schooling and
he is getting better and doing his work by himself. He has no trouble with Math
or English but is sometimes bitten by the lazy bug.
Ethan (13 ½) – He participated in
the Metro Basketball league and did very well. Their team won the Metro
Championship. He was also invited to play in travel ball in which he went to
several tournaments – Southside, Auburn and Montgomery. He made the Moody
Junior High School basketball team and has done well also. Ethan is the family
bookworm, especially when it comes to series, not putting the book down until
he’s finished. Ethan is a Star Scout and is working on Life Scout. He recently
went on an overnight hiking trip that was 5 miles long. Ethan will be starting home-school in January, but is also attending the junior high so he can be on
the basketball team. We still have to figure out the Tim Tebow Law on this… so
stay tuned.
Katherine (15) – She started driving in
April and has seen improvement. Katherine has been homeschooling for 3 months
and she is enjoying her time more. She played Tennis in the spring and was
improving so much that by the end of the season at her banquet she received the
“Most Improved Player” award. Then when she started homeschooling, Wendy found
a lady that taught classes so Katherine was obliged to join the class and is
enjoying the class. She is working hard on finishing her personal progress she
has at least 80% of it completed. She is a huge help to Wendy at home with the
children when other circumstances pull Wendy away.
Jamie (17) – Jamie ran track for the
second year and made a lot of improvements. She is also in her final year of
seminary. She is a senior in high school and is working on keeping her GPA up
at a 4.310 (3.9 unweighted). She also participated in her last year of marching
band and received all ones at competition (ones are the highest score). She has
been wanting to get a phone for so long, so she started working at Chick-fil-a
in October and enjoys it for the most part. She will finish personal progress
in January and receive her medallion. She has found a new passion for Just
Dance ever since her friend introduced it to her in August. Jamie is also the
Ward Chorister. Jamie is projected to be at Jeff State CC in the fall.
Wendy loves to read books 24/7. She is
homeschooling three children and loves helping with Math. She loves watching Hallmark
movies. She was forced to go on a special diet that is gluten free and dairy
free and as a result, lost 60 lbs in 3 months. She hates the diet but knows
that she has more energy now. She had hardly any problems walking
up Clingman’s Dome. She serves as a primary teacher and serves on both the
troop and pack committees. She is very busy and seems to be constantly running with children to appointments and other events.
Jason
is on the
Stake High Council over Missionary Work and serves as a Temple Ordinance Worker.
He loves playing and wrestling with the little ones. He participated in
Ethan’s personal fitness merit badge and his muscles have grown since. He is
the “Fix it-Felix” of the family. He continues to work for Alabama Power
Company as an engineer in the Project Management group. He has been with the
company for 15 years.
Although much has
changed, we still hope to center the Savior in our lives and remember that He
is the reason for the season.
Best
wishes to all,
The
Hoppers
Created by:
JMH
HKH
