Merry Christmas!!!

 

Christmas, December, 2022

Dear ones,

Another year is drawing to a close with lots of changes in our world.  And as the days are shorter and sometimes the darkness feels so deep, we look to God’s Word, the Bible, where we read, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). With God there is no darkness as He is light, and he is unchanging. In 2022 and forever.

Carl: It took Carl until now to remember it is 2022,  just in time for 2023! The year flew by with many enjoyable times with the family and church. Family highlights for him were snowboarding, seeing the Grand Tetons, and surfing for a week in Oceanside. On the church front: more and more members are serving in various ways and we have a pastoral intern (Liam) who fits in perfectly with everyone. We’ve also experienced an increasing number of new visitors who are a blessing to get to know. Kerstin, of course, continues to be the biggest blessing in his life after Christ Himself. He continually thanks the Lord to have the privilege of sharing this life with her. His favorite Bible verse continues to be John 17:3 where Jesus is praying to the Father and says “this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Kerstin: I (Kerstin) spent 2022 learning how to be a mom to teen and young adult children—and enjoying every moment together with loved ones. I have been blessed this year to spend time with family in Santa Barbara and host my father’s 86th birthday in Santa Rosa. I also enjoyed traveling to Germany (where Lily was already with friends in Berlin) and visiting relatives. After Lily’s high school graduation, Carl, Lily, Trey, and I celebrated my 50th birthday by traveling to the Tetons and Yellowstone. Amazing! Sweet times throughout the year. Camping, mountain, and beach time also provided precious moments with loved ones.  Throughout it all, I worked on art, with a new picture book (My Question for Jesus) newly published and available online. I was also blessed with being able to go to Africa and serve with a team from Harvesters Reaching the Nations (hrtn.org) in Uganda and South Sudan. This was an amazing time of meeting so many followers of Jesus Christ who are making real changes in the lives of orphans, widows, school children, and the vulnerable in incredibly beautiful but broken countries. People who have nothing (and have seen such violence) are helped by hope—to know God through Jesus gives strength to get better and not bitter. It is all about the heart, and if that heart is loving Jesus or not…being transformed by godly love and not hatred, and choices that bring peace. I loved how the children sang from morning to night, songs like “Comforter, Jesus is my comforter, I am not alone” and “Our God Reigns.” Yes, our God reigns—in Africa, Germany, America, and everywhere! Jesus saw the crowds and “had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). But Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10), who cares for those who follow Him so that they those who trust Him do not need to be harassed or helpless. He is in the One restoring souls (Psalm 23).

Hanna: Hanna kept busy working full-time for Bells Ambulance and part-time at Sonoma Life Support. More recently, she started working as a tech at Kaiser ER. She is also in school working towards nursing. Hanna has enjoyed snowboarding and time with friends and family, home or on trips away to the mountains, Hawaii, and even Texas, where she was born 25 years ago! She has also enjoyed 2 years dating Andrew and loves their adventures together. Isaiah 40:31-32 has been encouraging Hanna, stating that “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Paul & Maggie Bartholow:  Maggie and Paul have been busy working this year: Maggie in graphic design for Lipman Farms and Paul in engineering for Anritsu. They have also enjoyed exploring the Bay Area and towns neighboring Pleasanton, where they live. Maggie and Paul love their church community and serving there alongside each other. They also enjoy the times they come back to Santa Rosa to see and catch up with family. Maggie and Paul enjoyed traveling to Maui and Alaska this year and the joy of exploring God’s creation together. They are encouraged by Psalm 27:4. “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

Lily: Lily enjoyed her senior year of high school working at our local pool, dancing for the ballroom dance club, teaching Sunday school, playing piano for Sunday worship, arranging flowers for several events, and doing her spring semester abroad in Germany. A highlight was turning 18 in Germany while exploring both ancient and modern sights with her mom. She is currently studying for a BFA in Graphic Design at California State University at Chico. Lily enjoys being a part of Cru, a Christian university club, and is making new friends.  She keeps busy with photography, new designs, and her many plants, as well as exploring the local farmer’s market and trendy cafes. Her sisters and mom visited her in October as she passed her portfolio review with flying colors. Lily is clinging to Ephesians 6:10 which encourages, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”

Trey: Trey is a high school junior! He is also taking college classes concurrently, continues to play piano, and is a Junior Dance Instructor for Nordquist-Taylor Ballroom Dance Club. Trey enjoys skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, dirt biking, and thrifting. He likes hanging out with friends and having fun going to new places, like Alaska, where he served as part of Victory Bible Camp’s SALT program this summer. We think Trey has grown about a foot since he is now taller than all of his sisters! He keeps us chuckling with his witty comments. Trey likes how Ecclesiastes communicates that “life without God is meaningless.”

We’ve been pondering how God willingly placed himself in human form (Jesus) as a baby in a humble manger, experiencing exactly what being a human is like, growing up, and paying the ultimate payment (death) for all and any of our thoughts, words, and actions that displease and disobey the one and only holy God and separate humanity from Him (sin). He calls us to accept this indescribable gift and believe, trusting in Him with all of our hearts. It is our prayer this Christmas that you would trust in God, making peace with Him through Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). May you have peace with God through Jesus Christ, leading to peace in God today and forever. Merry Christmas and the peace of God in 2023!

The Fletcher Family

You can keep up with us on Facebook & Instagram (Kerstin Fletcher and Art By Kasteen).

You can hear Carl’s sermons at gracechurchsr.com 

and see Kerstin’s art at kerstinfletcher.com and artbykasteen.blogspot.com

To Blog Again...

Hello!

Here I am, beginning to blog again.  I used to have inspirational moments brought on by a movement of my heart. I would sit down and hammer away at my thoughts at the keyboard...eventually sending those thoughts into the virtual world and not looking back.  But these last years it has not happened quite so much.  So here goes again.

Today I was reading today about Mary coming to Jesus's tomb in John 20.  Can't you just picture her standing there, weeping?  I have felt that emotional deluge before.  I am not a crier, but there are moments of such utter loss that rivers stream forth from my soul.  I think this was such a moment for Mary.  I love how she says, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him" (verse 13). She calls him "my Lord." He was hers and she was His.  (Just like by grace through faith in Jesus, I am His and He is mine.)  It also struck me that she just had seen 2 angels in white...but she was not interested in them.  Only in Jesus. 

Then Mary sees Jesus.  When she recognizes Him, He tells her not to cling but to go tell others that he is ascending "to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" (verse 17).  The personal connections here are astonishing!  Jesus is acknowledging that His Father is also hers, His God also hers.  Siblings and servants together.  One with Christ.

Is this not amazing and beautiful? Is He your Lord?  Is He your Father and your God?

Merry Christmas!!!!

It’s always intriguing to look back on the past year as we prepare for a new one.  As you can tell by our family photo, we’ve added a son to our family!  We love Paul Bartholow!!!  He is such a gift from God.  We started the year with Maggie and Paul’s beautiful wedding.  Throughout the year, we’ve enjoyed time together in the Sierras, time visiting family in Santa Barbara, time with the church, time with dear friends and family visiting us here in Santa Rosa, as well as time on East Coast during which we were thrilled to see many loved ones.  Sweet times.  And more than ever we know with complete certainty that God holds all time.  “My times are in his hand” (Psalm 31:15).  We thank Him as we reflect on the time He’s given us in 2021.

Carl: Carl is now in his 23rd year of pastoring Grace Church of Santa Rosa. He’s enjoying watching our kids grow up and is thankful for a new church intern, Liam Mock. Carl was thankful for a trip back East to be a part of a friend’s wedding as well as have a visit with his aunt and uncle.  He just finished preaching through the book of 2 Corinthians. His verse of the year is 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 

Kerstin: Kerstin loves being married to Carl (28 years now!), managing household and garden, maintaining school and activity schedules for 2 amazing teenagers, keeping up with 3 amazing adult children, loving the people of Grace Church, the neighborhood, the community…, playing viola, visiting family and friends, teaching art to junior/senior high school students, working on commissioned art projects (loves!), and working on illustrations for a children’s book being published in 2022.  In her spare time, you can find Kerstin exercising in order to keep going (truly!), swimming, running trails (finishing the Santa Rosa Half Marathon one more time), planning a trip, reading through the Bible, or enjoying a decaf latte with someone fun.  After studying James with the women of Grace Church, the perspective of James 4:13-15 reminds Kerstin to hold plans loosely and lay each day into God’s hands. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”  If the Lord wills…trying to continually be praying like Jesus (Luke 22:42), “Not my will, but God’s will be done.”

Hanna: Hanna has been very busy this year and so grateful for all of her new adventures. She has been working two jobs at two different ambulance companies while taking classes to get into nursing school. Hoping to work as an ER Tech soon in a local hospital, she is on track to pursue a nursing degree and wants to specialize in pediatric oncology. Hanna has been dating Andrew for a year now, loves going on hikes with him as well as working on the ambulance together. She has also loved family time and growing her relationship with her family and God each and every day. Through the crazy of Covid and added stresses to her job and life, she remembers an old friend (Mrs. A) who often said, “The Lord is in charge, He makes no mistakes, and His timing is perfect!”  Hanna’s favorite Bible passage this year is Psalm 23: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Paul & Maggie Bartholow:  Maggie graduated from college with a degree in Communications Design in December, and got married to Paul Bartholow (who is her high school sweetheart) in January. They moved to Pleasanton, CA to begin their new life together as well as new jobs as a graphic designer (Maggie) and mechanical engineer (Paul). Maggie and Paul are loving married life, their new church, their jobs, and exploring the neighboring cities in their spare time. Their favorite Bible passage is Romans 1:16-17. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Lily: Lily is a high school senior!  After spending time serving at Victory Bible Camp in Alaska this summer, she is spending her senior year taking college classes while exploring what to study next, where to attend college, and what the future holds.  Step by step.  Lily enjoys babysitting, designing gorgeous floral creations, playing piano (for our worship too), and ballroom dancing.  She is a Junior Dance Instructor for a local dance company.  Lily will hopefully spend several months in Germany this spring, immersed in the language and culture. She is encouraged by Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Trey:  Trey is a high school sophomore!  He is also taking college classes concurrently.  Trey continues to play piano and violin (he’s phenomenal), enjoy video gaming, skateboarding, leaping in the air doing 360s, and dirt biking, but he is longing for snow boarding season to start!  He continues to keep us laughing with his humorous remarks. He wanted to share John 16:33 where Jesus encourages, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

It is our prayer this Christmas that you would trust in the God of all time today, through Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  Merry Christmas and the grace of God in 2022!

Photos from 2021

 Out of order but lots of photos from 2021!!!