Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
from the Dumlers (Dec. 2010)
Cailey has had a year full of surprises, transitions, growth, and sorrow. Our year began with feeling as if God was “on the move” again…asking the Dumler family to be flexible once again and relocate to another ministry opportunity. Little did we know, this experience would stretch Cailey out of her comfort zone. Simultaneously, Brent would receive much needed time with his children. Cailey began a full-time children’s pastor position in Columbus, GA in April. She could not do this job without the teamwork of her family. They have been alongside her from the beginning.
It has been a whirlwind upon the Dumlers’ arrival to GA. We traveled across the country with Grandpa Vern. Our family drove up to Indiana to celebrate Cailey’s graduation. She was pleasantly astonished to witness her dad and stepmom drive into Starbucks parking lot minutes prior to the hooding ceremony! What a gift she received! We enjoyed a few days together before we all went our separate ways toward home.
June brought news of sorrow and loss as Cailey received the unexpected and undesired phone call that her beloved grandpa had passed away. She has always been extremely close to him. She was blessed to be able to attend the memorial held in WA. On the other hand, she was overjoyed when her son, Garrett, arrived to his new home in Ga toward the end of June. He was able to complete his freshman year in WA, thanks to the Nelson family for making him a part of their family.
The church we are serving has been “on the move” as well. We arrived in April to a small car dealership that was being leased by the church. In the midst of preparing for kids’ camp to occur in July, we also prepared for the church to transition to the new building in July. This has been a year of challenges and growth. After months of adjustment, she is finally learning the art of balancing ministry, family, and personal life. Above all else, 2010 has helped her understand that she can endure anything life throws at her as long as she has God as her anchor and she has her family alongside her. She thanks the Lord that both have been true and she prays the same for her family and friends.
Hey, my name's Josh. When we were moving here. Our grandpa came with us. And our dog had a lot of fun and pretty much slept on the floor most of the time to. He also came in one hotel with us because it was cold outside but our cats had to stay outside. And there was this one hotel room that looked like a suite but was just a regular hotel room. We probably stayed in 7 or 8 hotels and traveled 12 to 15 hours a day. We also woke up at 6:00 to 6:30. This was probably the most fun trip across the country ever. Every year at Christmas we pick a name out of a mug to see which kid gets another kid a present. And we open our grandparents presents on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas everyone.
Hey everyone, this is Connor! I love Georgia so far. Really wish I could get some snow. I have been going on some youth trips that are really fun. I went to Panama City, Florida, Fort Benning, GA, and some other cool trips. My family and I are going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for New Years. I hope it will be fun. I miss everyone and wish you a Merry Christmas!
Hey everyone, this is Kelcey! I just wanted to say I miss you guys bunches and hope you're looking forward to Christmas! I know I am…we had a lot of fun last year. We slept in, and just did the stockings first, then took turns opening presents until we were all done. I got a lot of movies last year cause I only asked for movies and a portable DVD player…haha. Anyway, since then we have been in Georgia. We were kinda feeling like God was calling us somewhere else and then my mom found a job in Georgia and here we are! Things have been going great in Georgia. I've been babysitting like a lot. I also have been doing the 3's and 4's class here just like in Washington. Also working in the small groups at kids church. I'm having a lot of fun with the kids at church which is good cause I really like kids! We got our Christmas tree up and our decorations and so we're ready for it to come. Looking forward to this year's Christmas! Love and miss all of you! Merry Christmas!!!!
This is Garrett. In the last year, my family moved across the country while I stayed back in Washington for two and a half months. While I was back, me and some of my friends started a weekly thing that we did every Friday night in which we would have air-soft wars in the back of the church for five hours. We had about thirty people show up some nights and it was ridiculous. After that, I had the luxury of flying over to Georgia rather than driving. When I got there, they had a welcome sign in the house and they were all talking to me at the same time about what they did while I was gone. It was quite flattering! I recently, about four months ago, got accepted into Columbus High School, which is one of the top schools in the state right now. At Columbus, if you get anything lower than a “C” then you are failing and you can get kicked out. I’m doing pretty good right now and I hope to finish high school here at Columbus High School.
Hey everyone, this is Brent. Well, this has definitely been a year of ‘change’ for our family. And on a personal level, it’s probably been the most change I’ve encountered in such a short amount of time. Prior to our move in April, I was the most busy and stressed I’ve been in 19 years. Then came the move to GA, and for the first 2-3 months I pretty much did nothing more than sleep a ton and catch up on some lost time with Cailey and the kids. I’ve been gradually becoming more involved with assisting Cailey and volunteering in a handful of other areas at our new church. I really enjoy creative writing. I’ve been keeping up on two different blogs…one for our family and friends, and a devotional blog titled ‘Brain Gum.’ Also, it looks like I’ll be finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in counseling here in the next year. I’m pretty excited about that. In late June I had the privilege of flying back to WA for a week to officiate a wedding for some good friends, as well as bring Garrett back from Walla Walla. An extra bonus for me was getting to see three newborns…two of them were my nephews, and one was the child of a former ministry intern. In mid-July I was able to drive down to Orlando, FL and volunteer on a local youth missions effort with a good friend and former colleague. The pinnacle of the summer was physically moving our church into the new building. It was a ton of work, but really a great experience. We are blessed, and very excited to see what God has planned for us in 2011!
God Bless,
Brent, Cailey, Kelcey, Garrett, Connor, & Josh
