Merry Christmas 2007!

Happy Holidays everyone! I very much look forward to writing this letter every year. It started as a yearly tradition that we mailed to everyone, but with the busy-ness of our lives and especially the busy-ness of this season, I have enjoyed putting the last few letters on this blog for everyone to check out. Of course, I still can’t seem to get it done before Christmas, but I guess that is the way it goes…

We hope that this entry finds you all healthy and happy this season and we hope that you had a very Merry Christmas this year. The Mazza family had a quiet, but fun-filled Christmas day at home in Encinitas. We had fun decorating the house and putting the inflatable Santa in the yard this year, but we strive to never be on the website of Tacky Christmas Yards. Those are over the top!

God continues to bless us with our amazing and multi-talented children. We just love seeing them mature and discover the things that God created them to do, but we sure miss our babies! They are growing up so fast!!

This year has been a year of preparation, transition and recognition, but also one of loss. Several people close to both me and Paula died this year, all of them in tragic and unexpected ways. Although we have been comforted in God’s arms, it has been sad to say goodbye to these special people. Paula lost her uncle David this year. Jamie said goodbye to two former co-workers and mentors, Kevin and Jack, who were in their young 50’s when taken by cancer. Also, some young people in our church community tragically passed this year. Both Adria and Nigel were two special young people who went to be with the Lord. We thank God that each of these people were a part of our lives and we continue to pray for each of their families during this holiday season.

Now for an update on what each of the Mazza monkeys have been up to this year:

Cassidy had a big year in 2007! She turned 14 this year, was promoted from Junior High in June and started High School in August. She is attending San Dieguito Academy, formerly known as San Dieguito High where Paula graduated in 1990. She continues to excel at playing the violin. She performed at a few recitals this year and joined the orchestra at SDA, where she was named concertmaster (lead violin). She is growing into quite a young lady and has been taking Cotillion classes, which was a gift from her grandmother. She is also very interested in photography and received her first digital camera for her birthday.

Emily is in fourth grade now and is looking forward to her 10th birthday in a few weeks. She has had quite a fun year, starting with a birthday party at Dave and Buster’s last January. She also enjoyed playing her second year of softball, this time on a team called the Royal Rockerz. She is very much into drama and music and had a very fun time going to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in Anaheim and performing in a production of High School Musical with her friend Bethany at a summer drama camp. She has also decided to take on learning the trumpet this year and is getting better all the time.

Anthony is now 8 years old and started 2nd grade this year. He is doing very well in school, especially in math and in his creativity with writing and drawing. He loves to play video games and was especially excited when the family got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas this year. He had great fun taking some friends to Boomers for his birthday and he also received a new bike. Anthony played his first year in the Rookie division in Little League and his team was called the Lugnuts. He did very well hitting the ball off of the pitching machine this year and is looking forward to playing again in April.

Ally started 1st grade this year and is now 6 years old. She decided that she wanted to be like her big sister, Emily, and play softball this year. She played in a T-ball division and her team name was the Purple Puppies. She had a great time playing and is definitely planning on playing again in 2008. Ally learned how to ride her bicycle without training wheels this year and one of her favorite things to do is to play with all of the big kids in the neighborhood...riding bikes, riding scooters and putting on talent shows. She is musically talented as well and, with some help from Cassidy, has learned a few tunes on the old piano we have in our garage.

Paula has had an exciting year professionally. She continues to work at our church in Solana Beach, where she has been recognized for her hard work and dedication to Children’s Ministries. Her heart and passion has always been with pre-teens (4th through 6th grade) and she is getting to do more work in that area. She had opportunities this year to attend a convention in Chicago, participate in an all-star writing group for Children’s Ministry curriculum, lead hundreds of kids in learning about Jesus and was invited to submit a writing sample for a curriculum publishing company. God is doing some amazing work through her love of kids.

My year had more to do with preparation and transition. I started interviewing for different jobs early in the year, but nothing worked out until late June when I quit my job at Procede Software in order to start a new job at a company called Tax Compliance. The drive is a little bit longer, but the pay is good and the company is stable. I am more excited about what God has done within me this year. I was able to spend most of the year learning about intimacy with God and recently returned to the High School ministry that I was a part of for many years. Paula and I are praying that in this New Year God will reveal some exciting opportunities to become more involved with this ministry.

It is hard to believe how the time has gone by, but Paula and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year. We had big plans to go to Italy that, unfortunately, did not work out. We then had plans to travel up north to Napa Valley, but the job change prevented us from doing that. We have celebrated in little ways this year and are planning the Napa Valley trip for Spring 2008.

Other family highlights this year included my brother Micah getting married to his long-time girlfriend, Michelle. We also spent a week at Forest Home for family camp this summer, which turned out to be a fantastic family trip. We returned for an all church retreat in November and also spent a few days at Disneyland in December.

One of the lowlights this year was the fires that spread throughout San Diego County. We were actually evacuated from our house in Encinitas, which we never thought would happen. So many people lost their houses in our neighboring cities, but we are grateful that our house and our immediate neighborhood was spared.

One of the highlights of this year end letter is getting to share all of our family photos with all of you. I am in the process of putting that together now and will post a link to it soon. As always, we hope you enjoy our year in pictures. In the meantime you can check out other photos that we have posted throughout the year by checking out our Flickr website.

From the Mazza family to yours, may God bless you during this season and in the coming year. We hope you have a fabulous 2008!

Softball Princesses

In an earlier post, I wrote about AJ and his fabulous Rookie season in Little League. Now it is time to gush about Emily and Ally and the fun they had this year playing softball. They both play in the San Dieguito Youth Softball league which plays games mostly in Cardiff, nearby where we live. The league is pretty organized and VERY competitive.

This was Ally's first year of playing softball. She played in the T-ball league and as soon as she put her uniform on, I could tell she is a natural. As you can see from her picture, the catcher's gear fits her just fine. She loves to hit the ball and she is a very fast runner. Ally's team was called the Purple Puppies and they had a blast learning how to play the game. You can check out pictures of their season at our family photo website. Ally is already signed up for next year and is looking forward to playing another year in the T-ball league.

Last year was Emily's first time playing softball. She was in the 8 and under division and had some catching up to do with the other girls who had been playing for several years. But, she showed determination and a love for the game that helped her progress pretty quickly. This year, Emily moved up to the 10 and under division and we got to see just how competitive the league is. These girls play hard! Emily's team was called the Royal Rockerz. They did not end up winning many games this year, but they played hard every time and nearly took down the eventual champs in a close playoff game. Emily is also signed up for next year and will be playing in the 10 and under division again. Check out pictures of Emily's season at our photo website.

We all had a blast cheering on these two softball princesses this year. They love getting out on the field and playing ball and they sure make mom and dad proud!