Merry Christmas 2007!
The Fraileys Yearly Update
Since I didn’t mail out cards last year, this is a little long, so forgive me!!!! I can’t let this year’s letter out without sharing one of our biggest life experiences with you. In August 2006, we were blessed to go to China on a two week mission trip through our church, Saddleback. After purchasing our airline tickets, we found out we were expecting our fourth child! It was such a blessing, but caused us much distress as to what this meant for our trip. Was this God’s way of telling us not to go? What did He have planned for us? Were we putting the baby at risk, or was God asking us to trust Him instead of relying on ourselves? After two weeks of study and prayer, we knew that God wanted us to go and would keep me and the baby safe. In Daniel 6:23, because of Daniel’s faith, God saved Daniel from the lion’s den. “And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” Our precious son, Daniel Ryan, was born on March 1, 2007, a perfect addition to our family.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above.” James 1:17
The experience was amazing and opened our eyes to all of the many blessings we have here. The average income in China is a little more than $300 a year. Because I was expecting, Eric and I served in two different areas to lesson my risks. I served at an orphanage that takes in children with medical deformities as simple as cleft palates and as complicated as severe heart and brain issues. Seeing these children made me so grateful for the three I had waiting for me at home (and a fourth on the way!) Eric, meanwhile, traveled to “the ends of the earth” to tell others about Christ. It was our first experience sharing with people who had never even heard the name of Jesus. After two weeks of mission work, we spent a few days traveling to Hong Kong and Beijing, where we visited the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
Visit chinaorphans.org to “adopt” an orphan into your family—our “virtually adopted” child is Grace.
Fast Forward to 2007:
In January, Eric took Lauren and Jacob skiing at Lake Tahoe for a week. Zac and I stayed home and got the house ready for the baby’s arrival. The kids did a great job skiing and had a lot of special time with their daddy. Jacob is quite the daredevil and enjoys the jumps and ramps. I think we’ll see him on the X games one day.
Daniel was born on March 1 and the children love having him in our family. He is a sweet little boy and has learned to go with the flow around here! Charlotte came out for 10 days to help, and the day she left, I had an old cyst on my fallopian tube that twisted and caused me incredible pain. I had to go into surgery to have it removed. My sister Brooke left her own family for a week to come care for mine. The outpouring of love and help I received from my friends was overwhelming, and I am so grateful for all of them!
After working for Ford for more than 8 years, Eric switched jobs in April and went to work just 5 miles from home at Western Digital (they make hard drives). He is enjoying his work and we’re enjoying having him closer to home! He is able to drive the kids to school in the mornings and come home for lunch, which is so nice for us.
Lauren entered the second grade this year and is doing great! She loves school and does a great job at math and reading. She is our little bookworm! She and her daddy are in Adventure Princesses so they spend a lot of quality time going on campouts and dates together.
Jacob started kindergarten and just finished his first season of baseball. He has grown so much and really loves roller coasters and theme parks. He is a great swimmer and bike rider, too. During our trip to Big Bear over Christmas break, he took a snowboarding lesson but prefers the speed of skis much more! He is involved in Adventure Guides with Eric, so they also do a lot of camping together.
Zac just turned 3 and he is a quite a mess! Just this year, we’ve had the plumber out twice to remove the toilet from the floor and fish out whatever Zac has stuffed inside of it! He can be the most loving, charming little boy and Mr. Destructo just a few minutes later! He skied for the first time last week and had a lot of fun. He loves to be one of the big kids, even though he spent most of the day “skiing” on his back down the slopes!
Grandpa Frailey and his new wife Cherry joined us for a few days at Big Bear and a few days back here at home. We really enjoyed our time together, and especially appreciate all they did to help us out around here…you should see my new laundry room! Thank you both! Brooke and her boys, Hunter and Brandon, also visited for 5 days before Christmas and went to Big Bear with us for the first few days of our trip. It is so nice for the kids to have cousins, and important for us that they know each other.
Barbara joined us in May for a long weekend to meet Daniel and again for Thanksgiving. Michael and Wendy and their little girl, AllyBeth, came to play with all of the cousins! AllyBeth was 15 months old, and we had never met her, so it was so fun to have her around. We will miss them dearly when they move to England in a few weeks. Thank goodness for digital photos to help us keep in touch!
Lauren, Jacob and I all have celiac disease so we have been adjusting to a gluten free diet. It is a pain, but we are finding substitutions and easier ways of getting what we need! My biggest find is buying some of my groceries online at Amazon. They ship them directly to my door, no shipping, and their prices are great!
I am still a Creative Memories consultant and I love it! I have so much fun playing around with all the digital stuff! (I created our Christmas cards using our software). You can see my website at www.mycmsite.com/nataliefrailey. I LOVE messing around with my photos and creating fun albums, slide shows, etc. and I love helping others preserve their memories. It gets me out of the house and introduces me to lots of new friends. I also just started my blog a few weeks ago. I have a degree in journalism sitting on the shelf, so why not dust it off and put it to use? You can see photos, videos and read all about us by visiting our family blog at www.californiafraileys.blogspot.com.
I am also involved with a bible study at church on Thursdays and I started a bible study here in my neighborhood on Wednesdays. It has been so fun to watch people who do not have a faith learn more about God and grow in the knowledge that he loves them and wants what is best for them! Our group is growing and we will continue the study in 2008. Eric is attending Community Bible Study where he is studying Revelations and that has been very interesting for him.
We’ve been so blessed to have our friends near and far, and we hope this letter finds you all well in 2008. May God bless you and all you do!
Eric, Natalie, Lauren, Jacob, Zac and Daniel Frailey
cafraileys@cox.net 949-709-8099 efrailey@hotmail.com
