30 years (or at least 1) in song and pictures

Greetings from snowy Chicagoland!  (Warning:  Don't take a nap while shoveling.  You might get buried by the snow plow ... or by your wife.)

In October, Luke put on a concert at our church ... 1 day before his 30th birthday and 5 days before mine.  Appropriately, he covered an old song by Randy Stonehill called "Turning Thirty," and I put together a surprise slideshow to accompany the lyrics.  I won't include all of the pictures here (I may not make it past 30 if I include the most embarrassing pictures of Luke) and I'll add a few new ones from Christmas in California, but here's our year (or 30 years) in review, compliments of Randy Stonehill, with a few edits and additions from us.

*I've got a house down by the ocean (well, a cute little lake)

*The rent is not too

 high (actually the rent is nonexistent: we bought our first house in August!)

*And I love to watch the ships (paddleboats) come in   

*And hear the

 seagulls (geese) cry

*And lately I've been taking stock

*Of all that I've been through (such as Marla 

graduating with an M.A. in English with a concentration in Rhetoric and Composition)

*Oh tomorrow is my birthday

*Feels funny but it's true

*I'm turning thirty (how did that happen?!)

*Now I've got a wife who really loves me (even after 7 years of marriage...praise God!)

*She makes my life so sweet (and vice versa, especially here in Monterey, CA, on December 31)

*And a little baby god-daughter (Katie Rose, who's 5 years old! and visited us with her family during their

 move to New York in December) 

*Who plays games around my feet (along with 9 nieces and

 nephews, including 2.5-year-old Isaiah and 3-week-old Mariana Barrantes)

*And my world is very different

*From those lazy bachelor years (such as those at Whitworth, where our oldest niece is now a freshman!)

*But if I had the chance to go back

*I'd rather stay right here (serving as Associate Pastor at First Pres. in Libertyville, IL)

*Turning thirty

*And I have friends that ("who," corrects Marla, the College of Lake County adjunct English prof) care about me 

*They're the best I've ever had (we are so grateful for all of you!)

*And they always stood behind me

*Whenever times got bad

*And I love to play my music

*Though the road can be a trial (less so now that we're no longer commuting 125 miles a day...we moved from

 Milwaukee to Illinois this summer after Marla graduated)

*But every time I walk on stage 

*It's worth each dusty mile

*Turning thirty

*Now thirty ain't like fifteen

*And it's not like twenty-five

*My back's a little stiff (maybe that's because we joined a gym the week we turned 30)

*And they're some lines around my eyes

*But I've still got my energy

*And I've got most of my hair

*And I'm not too old to rock 'n roll (at least on Guitar Hero with the Parkers during our Spokane visit this summer)

*And I'm not really scared

*Of turning thirty (especially because we're doing it together!)

*Oh, the eighties look like tough times (ok, the decade's a little off, but the sentiment applies perhaps now more than ever)

*The world is turning sour

*So I'll keep on serving Jesus

*And await the final hour

*And though I've often failed him

*In these thirty rocky years

*His mercy brought me this far

*And His love has dried my tears (may we all experience Christ's healing and joy this year)

*I'm turning thirty

*I'll treasure these years

*I'm turning thirty

*And that's alright

*I'm turning thirty...

Happy New Year!  May the light of Christ shine in your hearts and homes throughout 2009. We love you!

              

See below for more pictures (and the promised video) of family and cute kids (not ours, but we'll show them off anyway!).

 

Nieces Rebecca and Stacey Meekhof in Virginia

Hand family in front of the Chicago Bean ... can you find Luke and Marla?  (Right-click or control-click the picture to view it larger.)

Marla's family (sans Mom and Luke) at Danielle's graduation in West Virginia, June 2008

      

Katie, Emma, and David Rose in our home, December 2008

      

Nephew Isaiah and Niece Mariana Barrantes in Fresno, December 2008

Best of all...

Before you go:  The other entries in this blog probably won't be very interesting to you (unless you're into "Rhetoric, Writing, and Information Technology"), but please visit Luke's blog at lukehyder.blogspot.com for "cyber-processing" about "subjects including God, worship, arts and culture ... pretty much 'life, the universe and everything'"!

Oh, and by the way:  Our email addresses remain the same (lukehyder@sbcglobal.net and marlahyder@yahoo.com), but our address and phone numbers have changed.  If you don't have it and would like the new info, please email us.  Thanks for all the great Christmas letters and pictures!  Keep 'em coming!  We'd love to hear how you are doing and how we can be praying for you.

Rose Bowl Parade float in Pasadena, January 2009