The year of 2009 has come and gone like a whisper in the wind.. sometimes feeling like a very strong hurricane force wind and at other times like a summer breeze. God has worked in many ways this year and to Him we give all the glory and praise! Our family continues to experience life to the fullest as we learn and grow from the blessings and trials we go through.
John continues to serve as a full-time pastor of two churches.. Living Word Deaf Church and Roanoke Deaf Fellowship. He serves with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (SBCV) as a Catalytic Church Planter. His passion is as always, except with an increased sense of urgency.. to see the Deaf reached for Christ. His desire is that other Deaf men and women who are Christians will also be aware of the need for Deaf churches, not only in Virginia, but everywhere.
Denise is still the most content at home with her family, however, keeps busy with trying to keep John on track. She spent less time on her homeschool business this year in order to concentrate her efforts on our children and the ministry at hand. This year she, along with several of our ladies at Living Word, hosted the 3rd Annual LWBC Ladies Deaf Retreat, which was amazing! The first retreat was attending by 24 ladies, last year we had 48 ladies and this year the total was 62 ladies! The theme was “Living Joyfully” and has resonated throughout the lives of many of the ladies since the retreat.
Heather and Justin have now been married over a year! It is hard to believe that their first year of marriage has so rapidly gone by. They have accomplished much this year, including the purchase of their first home. It worked out that their first home happened to be the home of a family who our older kids played with for several years.. and Heather remembers many nooks and crannies of the home that is now hers! Heather also received her Level 3 certification from VDHH for the state of Virginia this year! We are truly proud of her as this was her first attempt on the performance test. She continues working as a full-time interpreter in the Bedford County school system.
James has graduated from Bellevue Academy.. our family homeschool! We did not have his “graduation” celebration until November, but that didn’t take away from how special of an event it was! This fall James began working with a new church plant in Bedford county, The Dwelling Place. He has really enjoyed working mainly with the youth program which is growing. We see so much spiritual growth in James this year and are very proud of the young man he has become! James seems to take after his dad in more ways than one as he is a jack-of-all trades and has been working “free-lance” for several people, but keeping constantly busy all the time. We look forward to seeing how God is going to continue using our oldest son.
Hannah is finishing up her final year of high school.. and that is hard to believe even as I write it! She is our one-of-a-kind talented, beautiful daughter who we love dearly. Hannah has been writing her own songs for a while and this year, she complied several of them together in a CD album named, Alone, which is now for sale. She has sung in numerous concerts this year and continues to be a part of the Praise and Worship team at Living Word Baptist Church.. in the regular services as well as during the youth meetings. Hannah was able to go with us on a missions trip this past summer.. she did an amazing job and God really worked through her. We know that He has some amazing things planned for Hannah!
Snezhana is doing very well in high school and taking Latin this year! She has excelled in many of her classes and even played on the Powder Puff football team for girls.. we had a great time cheering her team on for their game. This year marks a turning point for our family as Snezhana is no longer living with us, though she is very nearby at Denise’s sister’s home. We have and always will think of her as our Russian daughter and love her dearly. This has been a difficult adjustment, but with God all things are possible, and we continue to pray for Snezhana daily and are thankful that we do see her most every week. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for her life.
Josiah has started his first year of high school and is doing very well. It is hard to believe that he actually has recently taken and passed the test to receive his driver’s permit! We now have 4 driving children! I think that this must be the reason we are seeing more gray hairs by the day… 
Josiah has kind of taken James’ place working with the sound system in the Youth House. He also still volunteers to work in Children’s Church, where he does an awesome job. Josiah was also able to go with us on the missions trip this past summer. He is a hard worker and really works wonderfully with kids and even teens. Josiah also has taken up a love for hunting this fall and took a gun safety class with his brother James and brother-in-law, Justin. We are expecting a deer any day now.. God is working on Josiah daily and we are proud of his accomplishments this year!
Heidi turned a teen “officially” this year.. She also is taller than her mother, which she absolutely relishes! We cannot seem to stop her from growing right before our eyes. Heidi had more than one “firsts” this year as this was her first year to be able to work with Hippotherapy. She, along with James, Hannah and Josiah, worked with several other volunteers helping handicapped people as they rode horses for therapy. It’s an awesome opportunity.. for our kids and the people they work with. Heidi is also doing well in her schoolwork this year, though she will be the first to say it’s not her favorite thing to do. She works with the kids in Children’s Church as a volunteer and is adored by many of them, which also is why she is becoming quite the babysitter recently. We can see that God has much in store for Heidi as she serves Him.
Rachel continues to be our artistically, creative child. She too is growing like a weed and soon will probably be at eye-level with her mom! She is in 6th grade this year and doing very well. She attends several classes at Under the Son Academy (UTSA) along with the others, Hannah, Josiah, Heidi and Rebekah. This year’s drama, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”, was a hit and Rachel did an awesome job with her part. Rachel is also a volunteer for Children’s Church and we are proud to see that she loves to help. God has a special plan for Rachel and we look forward to seeing all she will do in 2010!
Rebekah might be petite, but don’t let that fool you! She is a leader through and through, as we see that displayed every time she plans an event or get-together. She hosted all the little kids for the New Years Eve party and definitely you would have known that she was the one in charge! I can just see her one day as a wedding planner or something like that. Rebekah also excels in her schoolwork.. especially, this year she has done really well in Astronomy where she is one of the youngest students. She has even brought what she has learned home and “taught” a class for Grace and Jeremiah.. and they learned a lot! Rebekah had some great parts in the dramas she participated in this year and is a confirmed actress now.. as she does such an amazing job with each character, memorizing her lines to perfection. We are excited to see what God has in Rebekah’s future.
Grace, it seems, has grown a foot this year! She might be tall like her sister, Hannah.. we’ll see. She is a bundle of energy and as loving as ever. Grace has an endless supply of “I love you”s and hugs to go around all day long. She wants to be everyone’s friend and be involved with all that is going on. She has missed Snezhana the most as they shared a room for a while and wouldn’t sleep in their room alone until finally Rebekah moved in with her recently. She asked for a picture of Snezhana the other day and when I gave her one she hugged it to her chest, smiled so big and then put it in her special photo book. Grace loves learning new things and gets really excited when she has mastered a new concept. This year Grace received a new label, the first Wyble child to have a broken bone! She broke her collarbone and was such a brave soul, as well as healing up much faster than expected. We are so thankful for our little Grace.. literally a Christmas gift on December 23rd, 7 years ago!
Jeremiah is also growing way too fast for his britches! Mom wants him to slow down a bit so she can capture all the moments that are so fleeting. He continually makes us laugh with his profound statements and impish grin. Jeremiah’s favorite person is Jon Rouleau, however, he has many more fans and followers and he loves them all! One evening James, not wearing a shirt, was talking to me when Jeremiah comes up and says, “James, you have a stomach like a Power Ranger!”.. referring to James’ “six-pack”.. we laughed so hard.. he never ceases to amuse us. He recently told me, “Mom, you are richer than all of us because you have a silver tooth!”.. haha… what would we do without these moments? God has truly blessed us with our Jeremiah!
We now look forward to the New Year.. 2010 with much anticipation of what is in store. God is always working and we just want to be involved in what He is doing! May each of you be blessed during this year as you seek to honor Him in all you do.
Because He First Loved us,
The Wybles
Psalm 112
