Suvar Christmas Letter 2018

For the last 7 years we have taken the money that we would have used to pay for Christmas cards, pictures, and postage and put that money towards a charity.  For the last seven years that money has gone to World Vision to buy a goat and a few chickens for a family in poverty. Last year we were able to add a cow to the mix as well, thanks to my commissions from Rodan+Fields. 

This year, with the increase in commissions from my side business, we are able to purchase the chickens, goats, and cow, plus send Christmas gifts to a persecuted family in the Middle East through Voice of the Martyrs.  We aren't telling you all this so that the light can shine on us. Rather, we share this with you so that others may see the Light that inspires us to give of ourselves. We can only give because He first gave to us.

"Let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify YOUR FATHER in heaven." Summary of Matthew 5:16   

As my friend Carey says, "Our arrow points UP."

So instead of a picture in the mail with a happy holiday greeting, you get this update. And a montage of pictures taken over this past year.


**Side note: the picture collage at the top was something that I originally had printed to send to family and friends far away that we don't see every day.  As of this date, they never have arrived at our house. To hear the story behind it, you can check it out HERE. **

Owen is 12 and is in 6th grade.  He is reading books at a high school level, building fantastic creations with his Legos, and aspires to be a surgeon someday. He is certainly the first-born of the bunch. Bent toward the Type-A rule following (to a T!) and constantly "directing" his sisters on what they should do. He has a knack for memorization and can recite long parts of scripture with hardly any practice and is self-teaching himself piano, mostly by listening to songs. He took up Cross Country this Fall and made us so proud taking a sport that comes difficult to him, and pushing hard to improve himself each time.

Hannah is 10 and is in 5th grade this year.  Hannah is our in-house creative, singer, and dancer.  We have noticed lately that, although she is incredibly shy and has a hard time around big groups of people, if you put her on a stage it's a whole different story. This girl loves to perform. I think I see musicals and drama club in our future. She preformed in front of two very large crowds this Fall, singing a solo part and loving every second. Daily she is writing stories, drawing pictures, and creating new things out of items found in our recycling bin.  All of her requests, questions, and stories come to us through song and melody.  Sometimes it takes 3 minutes to tell us something that really only takes 30 seconds, but at least there is entertainment through it all. Hannah also took on Cross Country this Fall and astounded us all with her natural talent. She was competing for the top spot in just about every race, although every runner was most likely older than her, since she was running with 5th-8th graders.

photo credit: Carrie Robinson

Madeline is nearly 9, in 3rd grade, and has quite the personality.  She is the most independent and headstrong of the three.  She seems to have a mature sense of humor that does not match her age and makes us laugh daily with things she says. She also loves to make little people out of simple ordinary objects (erasers, corks, clothespins), cuddle on the couch, and has a soft heart that is quick to ask and receive forgiveness. She sometimes bemoans the fact that she is the youngest, but she does an excellent job as our caboose, cheering on her siblings in their sports and always ready to lend a helping hand to her mom and dad.

This June, we took a road trip to Colorado and showed the Rocky Mountains to our kids for the first time. Let's just say we all fell in love. Less than 24 hours in the mountains and Hannah turns to me and asks, "when are we moving here, mom?"  We hiked a mountain every day except for 1 and swam in several cold mountain springs. I sense another road trip out West in short order!

In June, Paul finished up his 4th year of teaching with much singing and rejoicing from me.  Having put in more hours in 8 months than a full time job does in 12, I was so very thankful to have him around for the summer.  But between VBS, road trips, honey-do lists, volunteer jobs, lesson planning for new classes, and family trips, there wasn't much sitting down! Paul has taken on another class this Fall and is now teaching out of 4 departments. A bit time consuming for sure, but if you know Paul he won't say a word about it and will do phenomenal.  

As far as myself, I continue to work for Gateway Woods as the Systems Coordinator in the Foster Care Department, hitting the 10 year mark with the Non-Profit in January. I love being the support behind the department as we license foster parents and support them as they take care of hurting children

I have been striving to be more active on this blog over the past year because I love to write. But so often I don't have those large chunks of time to sit down and type. I am planning on launching a weekly series that will be posted here as well as delivered to inboxes every Monday. If you want to be on the email list for it, you can sign up here: Intentional Living

Along with working at Gateway, being a wife, mom, taxi driver, and all around supporter of everyone's lives, I am also balancing that along with the time I put into my side business. Three years ago I took a leap and joined as a Consultant of a skincare company, Rodan+Fields. For quite some time, Paul and I have desired to live off as little as possible and give most of our income away. We felt like we were about to the point of squeezing blood from a turnip, when God brought along this out-of-the-box way of funding His Great Commission. These past three years have been a lesson in trust, waiting on God's timing, getting a better understanding of what giving really looks like, and changing our question from "How much should we give?" to "How much should we keep?" 


Each of us is called to serve the Kingdom in different ways, and different capacities. I pray that each person who reads this will realize they have a part in furthering the Kingdom, and that 2019 will bring it into clearer focus just what that may be.


We thank you for your prayers and want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  We are so thankful that so many years ago Jesus was willing to come to earth and live a human life, devoid of sin, and die on the cross for each of our sins.  We don’t deserve His sacrifice on our behalf, but we are SO very thankful for it!

From our family to yours: A very Merry Christmas and a joyful, Happy New Year!