Christmas Update 2023

As you are enjoying this Christmas season, relishing in some of your favorite holiday activities—dashing around in a one-horse open sleigh, gliding along with a song of a wintry fairy land, roasting chestnuts over an open fire, dancing merrily in the new old-fashioned way, just feeling all around holly, jolly—I appreciate you taking a few moments to peek into our little world.

Last December, as we were writing up our family Christmas Update for 2022, we were smack in the middle of renovating, repairing, contracts, realtors, plumbing, flooring, plans for packing, house showings, etc… all the fun stuff that makes up prepping for a big move. We did not end up moving far, just up the road and across the railroad tracks in our little American small town. “O little Central Illinois town, how still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the noisy trains go by…” We do have a lot of trains that go by, coming down from Chicago, which is actually very cool. (But those train whistles can be noisy!)

Though we did not move a mile, it did take us a while, and finally in February we officially relocated to what has been affectionately called “the farm”—and that has been one of the big chapters of the story of our year. “The farm” is where Jennifer’s family came when they moved to central Illinois from California in 1995. It’s the place where I came to visit Jennifer when we were dating, back in the late 90’s, and where I asked her father if I could marry his daughter. Over the years, Jennifer’s parents and siblings put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the place, and transformed it into a cozy little “homestead” with a lot of opportunity and potential. So much history is here, so many memories, and so much work, and we are blessed to presently be raising our younguns in this place. Jennifer’s Dad and Mom had purchased an old school facility in our town and made a beautiful apartment out of one section of it. This facility is also the home of my MIL’s small business, and home of the Aardsma Research and Publishing (ARP) campus. As they planned to move into the apartment, the farm became available, and we began to feel the Lord might have us pursue it. This was certainly not a planned arrangement, with no visions of moving to the farm ever dancing in our heads, but we have found this to be the way the Lord often works, and we are very thankful.

If you are ever in central Illinois you are welcome to stop by and say hi. Though we don’t have any cows or pigs, we do have a few chickens. Presently we have Doodle-Doo, Henny, Penny, and Wenny. (Jennifer and the children gave them the names, and you will have to ask them who’s who.) They lay pretty and delicious eggs. We had two others (Sunny and Loxey), but unfortunately they did not make it very long. (We are learning… and planning to get some more chickens. And a shotgun.) We also have a small dog named Remi whom the children love, and four cats. We enjoyed growing a garden this past summer, and reaping the harvest of tomatoes, green peppers, squash, onions, egg plant, green beans, and a whole slew of potatoes. 

Another chapter in our story this year happened in May. Jennifer and I and our five-children-still-at-home all piled into the van and took a road trip to Greenville, South Carolina, where our two oldest sons graduated from Bob Jones University (BJU). Joshua graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Humanities, and Ethan with a two-year degree in Media Tech. It was a very lovely graduation ceremony, and we could not be more proud of both of these guys.

The graduation was on Friday, and then on Monday… we had a wedding! And a beautiful wedding it was. Our first child to get married, Ethan, met the love of his life while at BJU, and on May the 8th, he and Erin del Toro asked Parson Brown if he could do the job when he was in town. Actually, both fathers had the blessing of taking a part in the ceremony, and all of the children also had a part in the wedding. We enjoyed getting to know the del Toro family, and meeting many of Ethan and Erin’s friends in Greenville. A number of folks came to the wedding from both Virginia and Illinois. This was a precious time for all of us, and many wonderful memories were made. You can read more about the wedding here.

Joshua is now working on his Master’s degree at BJU in Communications. He is also presently working as a mentor in the freshman men’s dorm. He has his own small apartment and is available to the freshman guys with any help they might need, or questions they may have. Many a calm silent night is disturbed by a knock on his door, but he doesn’t mind, and is eager to help these young men and see them succeed in their college journey. Joshua had the opportunity this past summer to travel out west on a missions trip with a BJU ministry team where he made many good memories. He also performed in a play this past semester, and sang in the college chorale. The chorale recently presented a beautiful Christmas concert which can be viewed here.

Ethan and Erin live in Greenville where Erin is completing her bachelor’s degree at BJU, and Ethan works full time for the BJU Press. His main job is in the area of computer graphics and animation for the online and video BJU school curriculum. Erin also works part-time for the Press. They attend Hampton Park Baptist Church in Greenville, and have enjoyed being a part of a small group within their church.

Katelyn is in her sophomore year at Bob Jones University working on a degree in art. She continues to improve on her skills, and, in our humble (but accurate) opinion, her paintings are moving right up there with a picture print by Currier and Ives. Katelyn just turned 20 years of age this month. She works at the Child Development Center (the daycare) at BJU, and stays quite busy. Also, a certain young man has taken up much of her attention this past year, and she will not have to suffer a blue Christmas without him as he will be with us at our home for the holidays.

Sam (15) is now officially the tallest in the family, and, man, he doesn’t show signs of stopping. Everyone says, “Let him grow, let him grow, let him grow!” but do you know what our grocery bill is like?! But, hark, we have no choice. A big opportunity opened up for Sam to play high school football this year at our local public school. We homeschool our children, so we did not think this would be a possibility. However, Sam, Jennifer, and I approached the local school board about it, and, with a few caveats, they allowed it to happen. Sam played quarterback for the JV team. He is naturally athletic, has a good arm, made some good plays when given the opportunity, and handled the pressure of being quarterback vey well. He is presently playing freshman basketball. Sam also went into his first business venture this summer, growing a field of pumpkins under the tutelage of his mom, and selling them at a little pumpkin stand in front of our house, to help fund all of his athletic endeavors.

Toby (12) has been playing football for our community league for a couple of years now. He has made a lot of friends in this way, and is definitely a favorite on the team. He plays quarterback as well, and also has a good throwing arm. He continues to grow, getting bigger and smarter each day. Toby continues to refine his skills on the guitar, and is becoming a fine guitarist. On many an evening, if you were to wander over to our place, you may hear him sweetly singing o’er the plains. (This would be in between cries of joy or anguish over the current NFL game playing in the background.) As a side note, he also makes a most realistic goose quacking sound with his voice that even had me fooled at the park one day. We are pretty sure this is due to his changing voice, and will not be a skillset he will have forever.

Both Sam and Toby have taken on some work opportunities this past year. We live in the middle of farm communities, so there is often some work available in the summer. This year they did some “bean walking” for a local farmer which consists of pulling residual weeds out of (very large) soybean fields the old-fashioned way. They also both helped in some “heavy-lifting” work with concrete prep and pouring at the ARP campus.

Olivia (10) and Annalise (8) are our two little girly-girls that scamper around the place, and deck our halls with laughter and love. (Most of the time 🙂) They are both doing terrific on the piano, as well as on guitar and ukulele. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the girls’ song that went viral on YouTube. They both played basketball for the community league, and are getting ready to start rockin’ around the court again for the new year. They love writing letters, and even have a pen-pal they keep up with at a local nursing home named Floyd. They enjoy the homeschool co-op every week where they have made friends, and have taken some interesting classes.

And what shall we say of Micah (7), the caboose on this train? Micah always wants to please, and has a smile that is infectious. He does great with his school, and loves to play and sing. Every day when he finishes his school work he runs into my office to let me know. Then we go through a little routine of “See you later alligator…” “After while crocodile….” and thereafter he breaks into a little melody he made up for “After while crocodile, bye Dad!” as he leaves the office. Micah is a joy to all. (Except when he gets into his karate mode. Then you just better watch out, you better not cry…) He also plays basketball on the community league and puts his whole self into it.

One of the coolest things that took place this past year was Jennifer getting her U.S. citizenship. Many are surprised to hear that she was not already a U.S. citizen. Jenn was born in Canada in 1976. Her father was American by birth, and her mother was Canadian. Due to the laws that were in place at that time, and the circumstances of their family, she was not able to be considered a natural born citizen of the United States. (Don’t argue with me on this, we have done our homework…! 🙂) We have talked about her going though the naturalization process off and on ever since we have been married, but just never made it happen. So while she has been a U.S. citizen at heart (I mean, she and I have even written TWO patriotic musicals together!) (if you would like to check those out you can go here and here) she is now a true citizen of the United States of America. And we are very thankful for that. She is greatly looking forward to voting in the election next year!

Let me briefly mention that the swearing-in ceremony for her citizenship (and well over one hundred other individuals) which we attended was well-done and meaningful. I plan to write an article about it in the near future, but I will say that I wish every American could go to one of those at some point. We can worry about all the bad taking place in this nation today, but even with the bad, people are overjoyed to be coming here, and our nation still gladly welcomes all who desire the freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It made me proud to be an American.

Back in November we took a trip over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house—actually to Nana and Papa’s house—to have Thanksgiving in Virginia, and to celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. All of my siblings and all of their children were able to be there. It was a blessing to have everyone together, and to witness the priceless heritage of a faithful and loving marriage of 50 years. (Their actual anniversary is not until December 21st.) We always love getting back to Virginia for a visit, seeing friends, and thinking of times gone by.

Jennifer gets a lot accomplished every day, more than anyone I have ever seen. It is no small task to homeschool five children, as well as give time and energy to our ministry and communications work, and then run the household with all that entails. I am very proud of her. When you see her post things on social media like information on newly-discovered vitamins, or updates on research in biblical chronology, be assured, she doesn’t have time to be doing that, but she does it anyhow, because she is truly concerned for people, and firmly believes that what we are doing here has great potential to save lives, and bring people to truth.

And that does lead me into a quick report on our work. We have been able to travel out a good bit this year with our Truth in Time ministry. We have met many new friends, presented quite a few musical concerts, and have been able to share about the discoveries here that demonstrate the reality of the biblical accounts in real-world history. We are well into the second year of our podcast The BC Messenger and it continues to grow. We now have a good deal of information available within the last seventeen episodes, and we continue to pray that the message we have will be made known in God’s way and time. Due to a key discovery in biblical chronology, Jennifer’s father, Dr. Gerald Aardsma, has been blessed to be able to uncover mysteries that unquestionably demonstrate the reliability of the Bible. Some notable discoveries just this past year are the location of Rephidim where God gave Israel water from the rock, as well as understanding what manna actually was that God provided. We feel very inadequate for the task at hand, but we are grateful to have a small part in advancing truth in our day, that we trust will bear fruit into the future.

I have made some silly references to a number of holiday songs throughout this post, just for fun, but let me leave you with some lyrics to a beautiful, meaningful Christmas song that we recently came across. Because there was a Bethlehem, there could be a Calvary. And because there was a Calvary, there is hope for sinners and light in the darkness. We are so thankful that Christmas is all about salvation for those who will turn to the light of Jesus Christ.

For many people Christmas can be a hard time, with raw emotions and memories of days gone by, loved ones gone on, or a thousand other scenarios. But the real joy and peace that comes from Christmas is in the understanding of the redemption and restoration that began in the coming of the Messiah to this world, and will continue until God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. For the children of God, all will be made new, all darkness overcome, all tears wiped away… and it’s all because of the Infant Savior King who first came to Bethlehem.

BECAUSE OF BETHLEHEM
by Matthew West

Just a tiny nowhere town, with a tiny no-room inn,
This is where the greatest story ever told begins.
Where just a tiny beating heart, had all creation leaning in,
That night the world forever changed,
Because of Bethlehem.

Love is born, Hope is here,
Heaven's light has made the darkness disappear!
Peace on earth, Good will to men.
God with us, all because of Bethlehem.

From a child in a cradle, to a king upon a cross,
He knew the road was leading Him to pay a crimson cost.
And when no other arms could carry the weight of all our sin,
He took the fall and it happened all
Because of Bethlehem.

From a tomb that love left empty, to a Father's right hand throne,
Let all the earth receive her King who made this world His own.
He who came to earth from heaven is coming back again,
And our eyes will see eternity
Because of Bethlehem.

We wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful 2024 full of adventures and new horizons!

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