New Year's Message 2005

Mary and the Kids (5th December 2004)

Dear all,

We’ve been meaning to send out New Years cards and letters for a long time now! So we thought in this “inaugural” letter we’d briefly run over the eventful five and a half years of our married life.

After our marriage on July 17,1999, in my hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee, we faced a house in Northern Ireland with little furniture and much work to be done. It soon became apparent that I was pregnant, and so we had the baby’s birth as a deadline by which to get a decent chunk of this housework accomplished-- including rewiring the house and repainting half of it!

Peter Andrew was born May 26, 2000. He is now an energetic 4 year old who loves to do puzzles (his biggest one yet a 120-piece one) and draw. He has an intense personality with a bit of a dramatic flair!

Isaiah Tomkins followed close behind on November 24, 2001. Being so close in age, the boys are great friends and enjoy many of the same toys. Isaiah at 3 is very different from Peter in personality as well as looks. He is more laid-back and easy-going, although cries easily if provoked. His favorite toys are trucks!

We were blessed to have two trips to America between the boys’ births. There have also been two trips since. Tim has been on two of these four trips. The last one was almost two years ago now, but we are hoping to go over again soon, January 22- February 12!

The latest edition to our family is little Elizabeth Anne, born June 16, 2004. She is now a thriving, energetic 6-month old who gets to what she wants by rolling. She likes to be on the floor in the same room as the boys, but thankfully they manage to run around her not over her! She seems to be laid-back and tolerates their boisterous play with interest and often amusement.

We’ve also had periods of threatened redundancies at Tim’s job with Nortel Networks, for most of these years, due to the downturn in the industry after a boom. At one point, Tim was one day away from being made redundant after being officially put at risk, but God preserved his job (he was the only one to be saved). This year we’ve finally been freed of it (for now!) – Tim’s Northern Ireland Nortel group have been bought over by Flextronics, who are more diverse in their outlook and see Tim’s group as essential to the company’s business strategy.

I’ve also struggled with long periods of post-natal depression with Isaiah and Elizabeth’s births. So with all this it has been hard to get much more done on the house! We are slowly making some headway again.

Nevertheless, despite the hard work and various trials, we give thanks to God for His grace and blessing in the midst of it.

Now at the end of 2004 we want to wish you all a great upcoming year!

Love,

Mary, Timothy, Peter, Isaiah and Elizabeth

P.S. Mary normally wears contacts, but her eyes have been hurting since the pregnancy with Elizabeth, so she has had to wear glasses.
Click here to see content