Dearest Family & Friends,
Merry Christmas 2008 & Happy New Year from the Messmore household! This has been a whirlwind of a year with many changes and we have no doubt that 2009 will hold even more surprise, transitions and changes.
After taking a much-needed vacation to Las Vegas and hiking the Grand Canyon in mid-April and Kara running the Nashville Mini-Marathon with a friend right after, we found out on May 1st that we were pregnant. It was a bit of a shock that has developed into an exciting ride for both of us. Our little boy is due December 23rd. It has definitely been a life-changing year and that is without his little presence with us yet. Kara went ballistic with house projects after resigning from two of her three jobs late in the summer. She continued marriage and family counseling at the church through mid-November.
Both of us have remained connected with our local athletic teams by volunteer coaching with basketball (Kara – 3rd season), cross-country (Mark) and timing with track (both of us). Mark found himself thoroughly enjoying the new running challenges with cross country, and is looking forward to running potentially two marathons this upcoming year. His times have sped up and he is excited to see how fast he might get with further speed work and training.
Kara was unable to run the first 5 months of pregnancy so she swam, and then once released she trained to run a 5k at her 7th month mark. She hopes to train up to running a mini-marathon mid-through the 2009 year and then a full marathon near the end of year. We both hope to stay as active as possible as we become new parents and begin the journey together.
The church remains to grow (mid-600s) and Mark finds himself continually amazed at God’s new challenges in his job (www.ccjasper.com). He planned several major events throughout the year between Sunday night elective classes, a large marriage date-night, and our 24/7 small group get-togethers. Kara also found herself singing in the church band (from February to present) and has enjoyed the experience. She even got to be apart of the Christmas album that is accessible online (www.narrowpath.us).
We were pretty psyched to be able to attend another Ohio State football game this fall and no doubt Mark is eager to get our little guy into an OSU outfit! Stay tuned for pictures and the announcement of his arrival. We will be posting pictures and information on our Facebook accounts, which we will send emails out about (so if we have your email address then you will receive the info but if you do not then make sure to send us your email address so we can update you)!
Our kitties Tira & Trill say “HI” and are very cuddly so hopefully they will adjust to Baby Messmore soon enough.
God’s Blessings & Love, kmessmore@hotmail.com & markrmessmore@hotmail.com
Mark & Kara
Merry Christmas 2008 & Happy New Year from the Messmore household! This has been a whirlwind of a year with many changes and we have no doubt that 2009 will hold even more surprise, transitions and changes.
After taking a much-needed vacation to Las Vegas and hiking the Grand Canyon in mid-April and Kara running the Nashville Mini-Marathon with a friend right after, we found out on May 1st that we were pregnant. It was a bit of a shock that has developed into an exciting ride for both of us. Our little boy is due December 23rd. It has definitely been a life-changing year and that is without his little presence with us yet. Kara went ballistic with house projects after resigning from two of her three jobs late in the summer. She continued marriage and family counseling at the church through mid-November.
Both of us have remained connected with our local athletic teams by volunteer coaching with basketball (Kara – 3rd season), cross-country (Mark) and timing with track (both of us). Mark found himself thoroughly enjoying the new running challenges with cross country, and is looking forward to running potentially two marathons this upcoming year. His times have sped up and he is excited to see how fast he might get with further speed work and training.
Kara was unable to run the first 5 months of pregnancy so she swam, and then once released she trained to run a 5k at her 7th month mark. She hopes to train up to running a mini-marathon mid-through the 2009 year and then a full marathon near the end of year. We both hope to stay as active as possible as we become new parents and begin the journey together.
The church remains to grow (mid-600s) and Mark finds himself continually amazed at God’s new challenges in his job (www.ccjasper.com). He planned several major events throughout the year between Sunday night elective classes, a large marriage date-night, and our 24/7 small group get-togethers. Kara also found herself singing in the church band (from February to present) and has enjoyed the experience. She even got to be apart of the Christmas album that is accessible online (www.narrowpath.us).
We were pretty psyched to be able to attend another Ohio State football game this fall and no doubt Mark is eager to get our little guy into an OSU outfit! Stay tuned for pictures and the announcement of his arrival. We will be posting pictures and information on our Facebook accounts, which we will send emails out about (so if we have your email address then you will receive the info but if you do not then make sure to send us your email address so we can update you)!
Our kitties Tira & Trill say “HI” and are very cuddly so hopefully they will adjust to Baby Messmore soon enough.
God’s Blessings & Love, kmessmore@hotmail.com & markrmessmore@hotmail.com
Mark & Kara
