Merry Christmas from the Jeubs!

The following is our 2006 Christmas Letter. Download a PDF version here.

When life seems to have dealt you all you can take, God shakes things up to make it all the more interesting. Just wait till you hear our exciting news of 2006…
Probably the biggest news is our experience with The Learning Channel. We began speaking about a year ago with the folks in New York about being one of three families to do a mini-series on large families. The requirement was at least 12 children (Whew! We just cleared it). We’re the small family of the group set to air January 29 (the other two families—16 and 14 kids—are scheduled for Jan. 15 and 22). While the general fascination that TLC wants to capture includes laundry, shopping, cleaning, etc., the main event that the camera crew captured was the Jeub Birthday Bash. We had a whopping 190 people attend this year’s Jeubilee! TLC filmed six days of preparation prior to the Bash. They have returned twice to capture our unique relationship with our oldest daughter, Alicia (more on that later), as well as additional sound bites. So, mark your calendars for January 29 and tune into The Learning Channel. We’re actually thinking of getting cable for the month so we can watch it ourselves.

Havilah, Joshua & Josiah

Twins have been quite the experience for the entire family! You may recall that Joshua, though younger, came out at 2 pounds bigger than Havilah. They have kept the same weight ratio (3:2) since, Joshua being the big lug who will eat anything, Havilah the petite “little bird” who pecks at her food. Joshua and Josiah look more like twins. Josiah is likely our biggest personality of any of our kids, the life of the party 24/7. All three went through a bout of Whooping Cough (as did most of the kids), but the twins got it particularly tough. We are thankful to be through that trial. Now we’re training them to sleep through the night again!

Hannah, Keilah, Tabitha

Our 4, 5 and 6 year old girls are beautiful. Not yet able to read, Hannah and Keilah are often found with paper and pencils drawing elaborate pictures. Sometimes these pictures end up on toys or walls throughout the house. Tabitha enjoys reading and taking care of her little brothers and sisters. She is quite the little mom around the Jeub home.

Noah, Micah, Isaiah

Our 8, 9 and 10 year old boys are awesome. Noah, like Tabitha, is an avid reader. He is also quite the gymnast, able to do more acrobatic twists and turns on the trampoline than anyone in the family. Micah, the Stratego Champion of the family, takes credit for engineering the tree fort bridge to the neighboring tree and third level penthouse (it really is quite something). Isaiah frequents his older sister’s debate tournaments as timer enthusiast. He is looking forward to getting into debate next year.

Lydia & Cynthia

Seeing our older daughters grow into young ladies (ages 12 and 14) has been pleasant. Lydia has always been fond of tiny details and meticulous playing, but this has grown into a more mature love for sewing. She aspires to get her hunters safety certificate and take on elk hunting in ’07. Cynthia has continued her debate activity, but has pulled back with hopes to focus on impromptu speaking skills. Cynthia comes into Dad’s office twice a week as his administrative assistant to help keep Dad on task.

Alissa & Alicia

Alissa (20) still lives in Vail, but she dropped her nanny position to pursue four jobs. She works at two massage spas helping all those skiers work out soar muscles. Her 3rd job is a receptionist for a racquetball club. She is quite fond of her 4th job at Starbucks (and so are we…Starbucks gift cards this year!!!). The only downside is that she drank so much coffee her hair turned black. She aspires to move to San Diego or Florida to see what it’s like to live in a warm climate.

Alicia, you may recall, has not been in the Christmas letter for two years. The Learning Channel experience pulled all of us forward to seriously reconsider our separation. If Love can truly overcome all obstacles, then why couldn’t we love ourselves back into relationship? We are currently working on that, and it is amazing how much ground we have covered in such a short period of time (and this, too, is a featured theme on TLC in January!). Alicia continues to work at the dental office as office manager and raises her 2-year-old son, Isaak, in Colorado Springs.

Mom and Dad

You should see Mama Jeub. She’s lookin’ so fine it is a wonder that she isn’t pregnant yet. While she won’t tell anyone what her actual weight is, she is proud to say that she weighs less than she did on her wedding day. She leads a Women’s Encouragement Group weekly, schools the children daily, and still nurses the twins—getting a thorough workout everyday. Wendy was interviewed for several hours by TLC, and when it was transcribed in New York, it totaled 750 pages of documentation. Wendy has an incredible message of love that has been coming together for the past year (actually, for the last 23 years). Be sure to tune in to hear about it. We’re quite curious how 100 hours of footage is going to be whittled down to 45 minutes.

Papa Jeub works like a dog with his three businesses, all of which make just enough to keep the bills paid and the kids fed. (Chris skips a meal now and then, but no worries.) Training Minds Ministry, the educational nonprofit, hosted four debate camps across the country this year, but is looking to cut back next year. Monument Publishing has had its best year yet and plans to expand its product line in 2007. Internet Asset Management & Consulting hired a bunch of Internet developers (all home-school kids) who are teaching Chris a few things about Internet development. Chris is looking to merge many of the aspects of the three businesses to make things more lucrative and more efficient in 2007.