A year in review

I thought posting our Christmas letter would be a good way to finish the year and reflect on the chaos that has been our life.  So here it is:

"Merry Christmas from our family to yours! One word seems to summarize 2013 for our family... “change”. After some prayer and reflection, it seemed that this was the year that we needed to make our move to Beaverton, Oregon (a Portland suburb). We had purchased a home there six years ago as an investment with the thought that “one day” we'd like to move closer to family. And both of us seemed to feel like this was the year to pull the trigger. So Steve applied for some jobs and in May he got a great position with Jacobs Engineering, sealing the deal that the van Riessens were becoming Oregonians. So in July, we packed up our lives and made the move!  Our home is only about 5 minutes away from Steve's sister's family. This was immediately a blessing, as we had some work to do on the house before we could move in. Christie's family welcomed us with open arms and let us stay with them for two weeks while the house was being worked on. Since then, we have been able to see each other regularly. Their daughter is the same age as Molly and their son is the same age as our twins. There is NOTHING better than knowing the cousins will all get to grow up together! It was very hard to leave the amazing friends, family, and church we had in Sacramento. But we are starting to feel at home here in Beaverton. We have met some amazing families right in our neighborhood and Molly's new best friend lives just 4 houses down. Our neighborhood school is absolutely fabulous and I can't believe the level of education Molly is receiving. And Christie helped us find an outstanding preschool for the twins and they are flourishing there. Being closer to British Columbia has also facilitated more visits from my family, and in the first four months of us being here we have seen my cousin Cameron and his wife, my sister Michelle and her husband, my sister Tricia, and THREE visits from my parents! We've also had two different groups of friends already visit from Sacramento. This is the blessing of having a much bigger house ... being about to host people. So if anyone wants to come for a visit to the Portland area, you have a place to land with us! Steve is adjusting to his new engineering position and is working on some very impressive projects, including a wind tunnel for NASA! He's also extremely busy working on home improvement projects since nothing had been done to our house since it was first constructed. He's already built cabinets and shelving, finished tiling projects, replaced about eight light fixtures, and helped to paint almost every room in the house. I've also been busy painting, sewing curtains, and “nesting”. Needless to say, I think we will take the month of December to slow down a bit and take it easy. We are also happy to report that one year after our last Christmas letter, my mother has turned from a breast cancer patient, to a breast cancer survivor (although I prefer the term “victor”)! We are all looking forward to going to Hawaii with my sisters and parents in March to celebrate her recovery!  This Christmas season we have SO much to be thankful for. Every day we sit in our home and are overwhelmed with thankfulness for the blessings God has poured down on us. We are especially thankful for YOU! We wish you a blessed Christmas Season as we celebrate the birth of Jesus!"

And here's some of my favorite photos of the kids over the year...