Maples Messenger

Dear Friends and Family:

This has been a year of change in the our home. The biggest one is that our beautiful daughter finished up her senior year of high-school and we enjoyed every moment of her being home knowing that she would have a chapter change in her life in the fall as she ventured out into college life. We are so proud of her and we are so thankful that she is only an hour away, but still she was not in her room down the hall at night and we did not get to see her smile everyday other then in the picture frames that are around our house. Pictures are a very big deal to this Mom!! She finished up high-school and her graduation was fun and she felt so loved as friends and family gathered to celebrate her. We took every moment in, every one of them. As she worked at her Starbucks (our family Starbucks - The Mighty Power and McDowell) over the summer and got ready to move to her college dorm we were so thankful that she met a cool girl named Megan that would be her roommate first semester. Breanna went through the typical freshman freak out and so did we. It was hard adjusting to having her gone as we are a very close family, but she/we made it. When we were really missing her bad or she just needed us, we all piled in the car and headed over for a late night visit at Denny’s. Now she is home for her first Christmas break and we are loving it!!

Another change, in April we made a very difficult decision for Nathan to resign from his position from Executive Pastor of Student Ministries at Cornerstone in Chandler. We love the church and the people, but the philosophy of ministry was different from where we felt the Lord leading us and therefore it was time to go. Not having another job lined up, I turned up the notch on my Pampered Chef business and my catering business and Nathan did some speaking at different churches. God completely took care of us and we are so thankful!! Nathan has enjoyed a time of refreshment and we have completed many house projects and enjoyed being a team and working together! As of recent, we are excited to announce that he will be doing some consulting work for a church in Tempe and we are so excited about this new venture. Waiting and trusting in the Lord to lead us has been good for us to totally rely on HIS PLAN for us and not our own.

At the end of April Nathan and I took our dream trip to Napa Valley, CA to celebrate 20 years of marriage!! We stayed in the neatest town called Walnut Creek, it was perfectly in the middle of all that we wanted to do. We went to Napa and Sonoma and had a blast in the wine country. We rented a convertible Mustang and drove to each winery , the scenery was breath taking. We went to Sonoma another day and then to Modesto to visit Nathan’s Dad and Brother. Then we spent 2 days in San Francisco enjoying the Pier and eating awesome seafood and shopping.

In July all four of us went to the cabin we have been going to for years and took our dogs and had a blast in the mountains, going on hikes, BBQing, laughing, snuggling watching movies, adventures, and just some really sweet family time as we knew Breanna would be moving out to go to college in just a few short weeks. I love our family vacations!! Such treasured memories that I will always carry in my heart!!

Jared has had an awesome year as a senior in high-school and the emotions of getting ready to have him graduate and leave for college are right in the middle of my throat. He has the sweetest girlfriend and we love her. He has stayed at Cornerstone as a leader in the youth ministry there and we are so proud of him,
He also works at Starbucks and has really learned about responsibility and hard work. I am so glad that our kids have good work ethic!! That is very important in this family, we work hard and play hard too!

Another change, as many of you know we have had a dog named Daisey for many, many years and she has been an amazing part of our family. This October it was time to let her rest and we had to make the very difficult, difficult decision to put her down. It was so hard on all of us!! We knew it was time as she was 16 years old and having a hard time doing the normal things in a dogs life. We miss her a lot and we have a void in our hearts that she filled. Lilly and Addie are missing her too, but we were so glad that at Christmas last year Nathan got me a puppy and we named her Addie and she has been a great companion for Lilly and the two of them are best friends! It is amazing how our animals just become part of the family! There is a small wooden cross down at the end of the hall way where Daisey used to sleep in her comfy bed and we are reminded of her every time we see it.

The blessings of kicking up my Pampered Chef business was fun!! I was number one in the company in August and in the top 10 for most of this year. I earned a trip to Chicago and a shopping spree and had a blast! I also earned a trip to Maui that Nathan and I will be taking in May and we are so looking forward to that. This month we hosted our annual Pampered Chef Hosts Appreciation Party and it was the biggest one we had ever had. I did 228 shows this year and we had 160 Hosts come to the party. We gave away $4500 in FREE products and raised almost $800 for a ministry called Streelight.com that Breanna is involved in serving with. We have also done several catering/personal chef jobs and that has been so fun!!

We pray that you and yours are well and that you have had a blessed year and may you have a very Merry Christmas remembering that baby who came to this earth who has forever changed our lives and set us free!

Grateful and Blessed,

The Maples Family
Nathan, Trudy, Breanna, Jared, Lilly Lou and Addie Too