Merry Christmas from the Stillers 2008

Dear Family and Friends –

This year we get to send out our Christmas pictures from the same address as last year! This is monumental for us. While we enjoyed renewing a lease instead of packing boxes, we still had an eventful 2008. And so, we bring you:
The Top 10 Highlights of 2008:

1. Danny started his second year as a student at DTS and is on his third semester of Greek. We are counting down the semesters until graduation in May 2011 and are open to what God has planned for us after seminary.


2. Laura left her job at Voice of Hope (the inner city ministry in West Dallas) in February to work as an administrative assistant at Bessemer Trust (a financial firm in The Crescent in downtown Dallas). Aside from the culture shock, the stable hours have been a blessing.


3. After a year of working at UPS and over 10 months of waking up at 2:00 am to work the pre-load shift, Danny quit his job as a package handler. He opted to increase his hours in the A/V department at DTS in order to have more time for our marriage, studying and life.


4. While Danny was working those early morning hours, Laura was running and in November ran her first half marathon. Marathon training was put on hold due to tendonitis and a strained hamstring, but look for the full-marathon photo on the blog some time in 2009.


5. Danny’s car was totaled in July. So, in true urbanite fashion, Danny opted to ride his bike to school, and Laura started taking the bus . . . until one day it rained! We enjoyed being a one-car couple when gas prices skyrocketed.


6. This summer Danny co-led a team of leaders from The Village Church in organizing three services projects at a school in South Dallas. His team led over 200 volunteers each weekend in creating mosaic murals, painting classrooms and renovating lockers.


7. In August, Danny and Laura traveled to Michigan for Laura’s family reunion. They enjoyed Lake Michigan, learning about Laura’s family history and taking over 1,000 pictures of relatives.


8. The trip to Michigan was intended to double as the 3rd anniversary celebration, but the very next weekend Danny surprised Laura with a night at the Corinthian Bed & Breakfast right here in Dallas after dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse and chocolate cake at TruLucks.


9. Our home group through The Village has become an integral part of our week, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed building relationships with other young couples. The group has grown by leaps and bounds, and we look forward to leading a home group in our apartment when our group splits into smaller units.


10. And finally, there were the countless date nights, more quarterly reviews, money saved through couponing and Danny's head shaved more times than we could count that make us smile at the last 12 months.

That is our year in a nutshell; check the blog for more details! We pray that you had a wonderful 2008!
Danny & Laura Stiller

Pictures of Christmas' Past:

• Christmas 2005


• Christmas 2006


• Christmas 2007