our christmas letter...

The Gilchrist's 2010 Letter

The good, the bad and the ugly.......

Exotic trips this year:

Muscatine, Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

Bettendorf, Iowa

Detroit, Michigan

Stillwater, Minnesota

Chicago, Illinois (we consider that a trip due to traffic)

Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin

....Oh, the list just goes on and on, but I won't bore you with all of our exciting trips.

The one trip that did stand out was Cooperstown, New York. Johnny played baseball there in August. We had a great time. We took a side trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in scorching 100 degree heat. We tried to make that fun. All we could think about though, was when the ferry was coming back to get us. We also took a drive over to Hoboken, New Jersey, to see “The Cake Boss” bakery. It was a 2 hour wait to try one of his famous canolis. We ended up taking a picture in front of the bakery and getting ice cream at the hotel instead.

Johnny-All that comes to mind is baseball games 5 nights a week, dragging the kids along, crying, refusing to get in the car to go to another one of his games, and bribing them with Dairy Queen. We tried to explain to them he was preparing for Cooperstown. His team ended up placing 97th out of 101 teams. He played soccer (illegally) as well this summer. Joey's 6^th grade team was getting killed every game, and so John snuck Johnny out of the bleachers, threw a jersey on him and told him to get out there and score some goals. They ended up winning a few games after that. He is now playing hockey and is on a decent team. After a 3 year losing streak-and by losing streak, I mean they lost every single game for 3 years, he is pretty happy to be on a winning team. Besides sports, he is into AXE cologne (powerful stuff), combing his hair for about 20 minutes every morning and checking for under arm hair.

Joey – Showing Linus, his 4-H pig, in the county fair was his highlight. He had one of the heavy weight pigs. He won a few ribbons and then had to tearfully auction him off as the butcher took him away. The check he received a few weeks later replaced the hole in his heart that Linus left. He received his black belt in July. That was a fun 8 hour day, but alas, he proudly displayed his belt he has been working on for 5 years. Now that he has his belt, and we are thousands of dollars poorer, he says he is quitting. He still loves soccer, theater and singing. I was in charge of hair and make-up at his last production. I was told the girls hair looked a little, “big” and was taken off the assignment. Joey told me I was making all the girls hair look like mine and that's why they fired me.

Hannah-She is our most expensive child now. We pour money into dance classes, dance outfits, dance recitals, dance company, dance shoes, and dance fund raisers. She loves soccer and school and can't wait to do extra credit projects. The teacher watches her bring in bags of items she has gathered that is related to the lesson plans, and I can hear her say, “Oh my, Hannah, more extra credit I see!” (I think she may roll her eyes when Hannah turns away, but I'm not quite sure).

Holly-She is in nothing. She doesn't know that yet. As long as we can keep that secret from her we are in good shape. She likes to eat candy, wrestle with Johnny and look at herself in the mirror all day making weird faces. She likes to use my makeup and denies it while a huge streak of red lipstick is smeared across her mouth. Her cute face is the only thing that saves her.

Bridgette-I am what you call-A chicken with her head cut off. I run around in all directions, (isn't that what chickens do when their head is cut off?). I work 50 hours a week with senior citizens at Home Instead Senior Care and Midwest Hospice at Skokie Hospital. I squeeze in lunchroom duty at the kids school one afternoon a week. The girls love it and the boys don't know me. I purposely go over to Johnny and Joey's table and hug them.......I took a sociology class and a political science class this year. I found out how much I dislike political science, and am glad to get it behind me. I am taking anthropology in the spring and then it is off to economics this summer. I try to get John to help me and all he does is give me wrong answers, so I press on by myself. I don't know if I will ever get my social work degree, but I am learning a lot in the process.

John-You can call him the house mom if you want. Outside of his job at New Trier, he keeps the house clean, does most of the cooking, laundry, grocery shopping and coaches the kids in all of their sports. I need my rest for work, school and cuddle time with the kids, so John takes over everything else. He is a star! He was very involved with Joey's pig this year as well...shoveling manure and walking through knee deep mud trying to get Linus to eat out of his trough. He ended up being very skilled with Joey's pig stick. His freshman football team finished up with an average record. He was a little disappointed but had fun none the less. He is still hanging in there playing hockey late at night. I keep saying this is his last year but he keeps on keeping on. On a sad note, John's mom passed away in July after a long battle with Alzheimer. We were able to have special time with her days before she passed. She will be greatly missed.

This has been a busy year for us, but our priorities have always been church, bible study, teaching the kids to serve (making them serve actually) and putting Christ first in all we do. Our prayer is that we will continue to not lose sight of this in our daily lives, and that our kids will grow up knowing that loving God first, and loving their neighbor as their self, is what life is all about.

God bless you and your family this year. You are all very important to us!

With love,

John, Bridgette, Johnny, Joey, Hannah and Holly

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40: 31