~Graduations and Holidays~

Jill here, updating the family blog!

I told Derryck it was time for an update and he told me "You do it" and here I am...The past 2 months have been a whirlwind for the entire family. 

First we had thanksgiving which was a wonderful time. We went to my mom's parent's house and spent the day with them:

Mom and I enjoying Thanksgiving together

My boyfriend Desmond, Zoe's fiance Aaron, my cousin Isaac and me holding another cousin, Joel, having fun on Thanksgiving day!

Right after Thanksgiving we celebrated Josiah's 15th birthday! He is now the proud owner of his Learner's License and is learning how to drive!

Josiah opening presents on his 15th Birthday!

Next we had Ben's graduation from NASCAR tech where he graduated as a licensed Nissan mechanic:

Mom and son, she was soo proud and he was so relieved!

A week after Ben's graduation came my graduation from Lee University where I received my BA in Psychology with a minor in Art:

I was so glad that Zoe was there, it was a huge surprise because she wasn't due in the states for another week. So here I am with Zoe and our youngest sib, Josiah.

A few weeks later we all came together to celebrate Christmas. It's a special time for all of us because Zoe, Ben and I don't live at home, in fact for the past few years Zoe and I were living in different states, then Zoe was living oversees and Ben and I were living out of state so for all of us to be together for over a week is precious and sometimes a little bit chaotic but nonetheless a special time:

ALL of us on Christmas day! A rare occurrence to have us all together.

We celebrated New Year's Eve here at home where we were once again united as a family. Zoe and Aaron invited friends over as did I and our house was filled with fun and it was wonderful to ring in the New Year with friends and those we love:

Mom and Derryck celebrating!

Desmond (my boyfriend), me, Aaron (Zoe's fiance), Zoe, Murray & Stacy (friends of Desmond's and I's from Lee)

It was a wonderful night of fun and fellowship. At midnight we gathered in a circle and Derryck said a prayer of blessing for everyone for 2009!!!

We as a family wish you all the best in the coming year. We are looking forward to new things, as God is moving in each of our lives and in yours.

Blessings!

An Invasion of Youth!

How we managed to accommodate 13 guests in our home for the weekend is still a bit unclear, but it was a ton of fun. Last month I taught for a week for the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Jacksonville, FL. At the end of my last session I casually mentioned that if any of them were ever in Atlanta, they were more then welcome in our home. The school leader approached me later to ask how serious I was about the invitation. "Why do you ask?", I said. "Well, we're going to be in a conference in Charlotte, NC, and I'm wondering if we can by your place on our way home and stay with you guys for the weekend."

So the 8 students (18-21 years old) and 5 staff for this season's DTS (Discipleship Training School) converged upon us on Friday evening. We had a wonderful time picking up conversations initiated in JAX; drove up to Helen, GA; ate and fellowshipped a lot; and basically enjoyed getting to know each other better. Patrice and I love having guests in our home, so it was great fun. Josiah also enjoyed having the gang around, and didn't seem to mind being crammed into the back seat with a few of the girls.

The event was a great opportunity for us to get a bit of experience regarding what life will be like for us during The Confab, which is scheduled to begin on January 23rd. A few of the staff and students are interested in attending one of our confabs next year, so that was encouraging. The leadership couple, Todd & Sarah Thibault, hope to come back sometime for a visit as well. They are a very cool young couple who think way out of the box, and have a strong call to missions. Nothing thrills me more than the opportunity to positively influence young people who want to work full-time in some aspect of ministry, particularly foreign missions.

Homecoming & Fall Colors

Patrice and I spent the weekend in Cleveland, TN, at the Lee University Homecoming. We had an awesome time with Jill and Desmund, my sister and brother-in-law, Paul and Darlia Conn, and other friends and family. I graduated from Lee in 1980, so it was a blast to also be reunited with a few old friends that I was in school with so long ago.

One of the events was a 5K race, that Patrice excitedly competed in. She loves to run, and has participated in a number of half-marathons, and various other distance races. She ran a very good time, doing better than a lot of Lee students.

Coming home we drove through the mountains of North Georgia, enjoying the lovely Fall colors. This is my favorite time of year here in Georgia, and this must have been the peak weekend for the brilliant yellows, reds, and oranges.

Long-Time-No-Blog!

Oops! It's just been way too long since we've updated our blog. Sorry about that. So what's happened since May? All sorts of stuff! First, we attended an incredible family reunion in Canada for the Reesor clan (Derryck's mom's side of the family). We enjoyed 10 days of Canadian adventure, from a trip to the Canadian Rockies, to hanging out with over 90 family members on the old Reesor Ranch. Ben was the only one of our little tribe who wasn't able to go with us due to his school schedule.

Next, we said good-bye to Zoe as she launched into her missionary career in Bogota, Colombia. That was a bit tough, but also full of joy since she finally reached the culmination of a calling the Lord placed in her heart 10 years ago. You can read all about her happenings by clicking on her blog in the right column.

Jill is just about to wrap up her college education. She'll graduate from Lee University in early December. Check out her blog in the right column as well. Ben is set to graduate from Universal Technical Institute, in Mooresville, NC, also in December. Josiah is in the 8th grade, and just played his last football game for this season a few days ago.

Derryck's latest news is that he's developing a discipleship ministry called "Inside Out". It's a bit of a long story, but you can view the new website by clicking on the link in the Links section. Also, please let us know if you would like to receive Derryck's Inside-Out E-letter.

The most recent, and most exciting news took place only 2 days ago, so is hot off the press: Zoe is engaged to be married! We're all extremely excited for her, and are also crazy about Aaron, her fiancee, who is also called to Latin America as a missionary. Following his missions internship in Honduras, he went to visit Zoe for a few weeks in Bogota, then popped the question last Saturday.
As you can tell, our lives are changing at a hectic pace. We'll try to do better keeping the blog updated. Thanks so much for stopping by, and stay tuned for more news.

They did it!

Patrice figures she's run 180 miles so far this year, and Zoe's estimate is 160 miles. All in preparation for the "big event" - the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN. The ladies ran the half-marathon, but that is still 13.1 miles. Early last Saturday morning, both of them were ready to run - poised close to the start line, along with 30,000 other runners that included my sister and her husband, Darlia and Paul Conn, their son, Brian, and their daughter and son-in-law, Vanessa and Jerome Hammond. It was a fun event, even though both Patrice and Zoe had sore legs and feet for a few days.

Zoe got home from language school in Costa Rica a few days before the race, so the timing worked out perfectly. We're thrilled to have her home for a few months until she heads to Bogota, Colombia, as a missionary with the Latin American Mission. You can read all about it on her blog, which you can find on the blog list to the right.

Welcome to our family blog!

Thanks for stopping by! In the spirit of true relationship, we're leveraging the power and convenience of the internet to help our extended family and friends stay connected to us. Please visit often to catch the updates on what's happening with each of us.

We are actually two families harmonized into one. Derryck and Zoe represent the McLuhan contingent, while Patrice, Jill, Ben, and Josiah bring the Hammond flavor to our family. So we enjoy referring to ourselves as the "McHamm Clan".

Our home is in Woodstock, GA, in the greater Atlanta area. Zoe will be home from Language School in Costa Rica soon, only to make preparations to move to Bogota, Colombia sometime this summer. Jill will graduate this August from Lee University with a degree in Psychology. Ben is more than half way through his program at Universal Technical Institute (NASCAR Tech) in Mooresville, NC. And since Josiah is in the 7th grade, he's the sole "live-at-home-with-the-old-folks" child we have. Sometimes he thinks that's great, and at other times . . . well, you probably understand.

As we regularly develop and add to this blog, you'll find specific links to the kids' own blog sites, MySpace, etc., so please click on those links to find more detailed info and updates on them.