Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
We thought we would save some trees and just send you all to the Gilliland blog to find out what we've been up to this year. So, here goes:

Kellen- after finishing up pre-school in June, he attended the summer program at Kid's Cottage part time. In September he began full time pre-K. In order to start Kindergarten he would have needed to be 5 years old by October. And he missed the cut off for transitional kindergarten by 8 days. So, off to pre-k he went. He really enjoys school, he is kind to the other students and is learning so much! Kellen learned how to swim this summer. It was a very slow process, but by the end of the summer he was swimming under water across the short length of the pool! We were so proud of him, and we are praying he will remember all he has learned next summer! Kellen REALLY loves going to church! Which is such a blessing to know that he is loved and cared for while we are serving and attending service. Each time he grows up into the next "stage" we can't help but comment that is't our favorite stage. He is such a joy, we are so blessed to be his parents! Kellen will be 5 on December 20th, and he's been counting down the days to his birthday party since May!

Mindie- started teaching full time physical education again in April at Canyon Lake Middle School. It is a challenging job, but she is blessed to have some pretty amazing co-workers to help her push through each day. This full time job has helped us really tackle the last of our school debt. Mindie embarked on a new adventure this year participating in a race called the Ragnar Relays in April. It is a long distance (200 mile) relay race. It was so much fun she competed in another one in November! She also participated in four half marathons and her first 10k! She will probably complete the Ragnar event in April again, and is all set up to run her second marathon in March for World Vision to raise funds for clean water in Africa. She will also be competing in her first dualathon (run-bike-run) on December 14th. Mindie will celebrate her 33rd birthday on December 16th.

Colin- continued his pursuit of tackling the triathlon race. He competed in several events including a Sprint and Olympic triathlon and most currently the Canyon Lake 1/2 Iron Man triathlon which is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. He will compete in the Oceanside 1/2 Ironman in March of 2014. His soccer team finished another successful year of competition finishing in 2nd place in the Sunbelt league and participating once again in CIF competition. He is still working at Lakeside High School. This is his 9th year of teaching History. This is also his 9th season of coaching soccer-which has started off strong. They won their first tournament last weekend.

Colin & Mindie celebrated their 10th anniversary this past June. It has been such a blessing to experience life together and they are looking forward to all that God has planned for the rest of their lives together!

The Gilliland's made a transition to the Woodcrest Campus of Sandals church in January. Sandals church is growing so much that we now have two campuses. We also joined a small group in October of 2012 and have made some pretty amazing friends. Colin currently serves in Frontside- the high school/middle school ministry, and Mindie joined Pipeline, the K-6th grade ministry. Mindie helps teach in the 5th & 6th grade classes. Kellen LOVES that he gets to stay at church for two services!

We will have finished teaching our 5th round of Financial Peace University at the end of December. It has been such a blessing to watch God change lives through Dave Ramsey's financial program. We will continue to serve in 2014 through this class. And I am happy to report that we will be debt FREE by March of 2014! It's hard to believe we started our own journey on the path to financial freedom back in 2010. We will have eliminated over $80,000 in 3 years. God is so good! We are looking forward to saving some money to buy a home soon- Lord willing.

Well, as we wrap up the year 2013, we pray that you have had plenty of adventures of your own! We wish you a Merry Christmas and blessings as we begin the year 2014!