Merry Christmas, Family and Friends!!! We pray that you are reveling in the joy and excitement of the celebration of our Savior. We have been blessed wiht another great year here in the Hoerth house. With 2 very active boys, I consider it a miracle when we make it through a whole year without any stitches or broken bones.:0) Here is what we have all been up to in 2010:
Jason continues to serve as Associate Pastor at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Cabot, PA. Along with his "normal" pastor duties of preaching and teaching, he also oversees our church's Care Ministries which include Stephen Ministry, Celebrate Recovery, as well as 2 new ministries, Divorce Care and Grief Share. He also makes many hospital and shut-in visits, teaches confirmation and does pre-marital counseling. In May, he ran as part of a relay team in the Pittsburgh Marathon and really enjoyed the experience. He and Carter started karate together this Fall and he enjoys the challenge of a new sport as well as the time with Carter.
Carter turned 12 in September and is in 6th grade at St. Luke. He is finding 6th grade to be challenging academically and is having to work a little harder to get his usual "A"s. He is in his 2nd year of playing the alto saxophone and is doing very well with it. This summer, he ran in three 5K races and continues to improve his times. I'm hoping that the "running bug" will continue to develop in him.:0) He enjoys karate with his dad and is eager to learn what belt he earned at their recent testing. Carter continues to be a very kind-hearted, eager to help young man and we are very proud of him.:0)
Jack turned 5 in September and attends preschool 3 days a week at St. Luke. He loves being at school with his buddies and learning new things. He really enjoyed his first season of soccer in the fall and kept a running total of his goals for the season.:0) For the winter months, he is taking swim lessons at the YMCA. He is tentative about swimming but continues to improve with each class. He has also really enjoyed attending our church's mid-week childrens' program because he gets to be with more of his buddies.:0) Jack continues to be a larger-than-life little guy and always has us laughing.:0)
I still work 2 days a week at Concordia Lutheran Ministries in their skilled nursing unit. My main responsibility is completing nutrition assessments and care plans on our new admissions as well as visiting them to discuss weight history, diet, food preferences, etc. I love the flexibility of my job as it allows me to be home most fo the week to keep things in order at home (as much as possible!!!) and spend lots of time with Jason and my boys. At church, I co-lead a Sunday morning bible study, teach 2nd & 3rd grades for our mid-week program, and make baptism banners. In May, I achieved one of my life goals by completing the Pittsburgh Marathon. I fought through injuries for most of the training and the race so I am very proud that I stuck with it and finished all 26.2 miles.:0)
We pray that you have had a great 2010 and that 2011 brings many of God's richest blessings!!!
Love- Jason, Kara, Carter, and Jack
