Christmas 2025

The beginning of 2025 had us shuffling around a townhouse to see how we could fit. Joel was on a short contract, Rachel’s business was still basically an idea. The girls were discovering that their new school made demands of them that they were trying to meet. Maddie was on a potentially year-long waitlist for an behavioral evaluation and IEP.

But as we close the year, we realize that those needs have become a long list of answered prayers. Our house feels like a home. And while a Christmas letter by definition is the highlight reel of the year, coming through all the changes we had in 2024 makes 2025 seem amazing by contrast!

Elise (almost as tall as her Dad!) is best friends with the two girls she entered the school with last year, and she is working hard to prepare for the rigors of high school. Grade eight graduation is a big deal here in Canada and she can’t wait to find her dress and celebrate the end of elementary with her friends. This past year she was baptized and recently asked for membership in the church. Curious and a critical thinker, she is full of questions about life, God, the Bible and her faith. We are thrilled to find answers with her, and our own faith has deepened as a result. 

Adele is surprised that she makes top grades. She starts out the school year convinced she is failing, puts 110% into everything and comes out with great success. Learning to manage her assignments and the workload, she has bloomed in her abilities to organize her tasks and space. The big girls recently got new loft beds and desks so Adele has been organizing and enjoying having a lot more room to build with different materials and make her experimental problem solving solutions. Recently she was working on an apparatus to turn off the lights from her bed with a system of pulleys and strings. Careful, reflective, and reserved as always, she is also an avid reader and we can’t keep fresh books on her kindle fast enough.

Maddie loves her school and her teacher. Her enthusiasm is contagious and her literal interpretation of everything has given us many hilarious situations for her and us - like telling Daddy “your calendar is not a beast! It is here, it is paper!” Or correcting Elise, who is “her favorite sister.” Later in the year we found out that she is actually on the autism spectrum, which is not a surprise. It means that she will be getting several more evaluations and the support and help she needs at school. It has given us a deeper understanding of her and the ways we can serve her, but we wouldn’t have her any other way. Her innocence, freedom and enthusiasm is an incredible gift to our family. 

Hannah is brimming with stories, explanations, big plans, and arguments. Her strong will, quick mind and volume get her into scrapes with her sisters almost daily. We were shocked again to hear that she is perfectly behaved at school - saving all her mischief for home. Of this she commented that “I kept all my grumpy inside all day and I can’t help but let it out after school.” Fair enough. She remembers where everything is in the house, unless she doesn’t - in that case we check under her pillow for the “forgotten” items of concern. She is currently planning to be a Ninja, and has plans for HQ to be built under Niagara Falls (so that the Falls can power her base, of course).  

As for the grown ups, Joel was hired full-time at Scotiabank in the fall. He’s busy teaching Sunday school, preaching on Sundays, or leading Bible study on Wednesdays. He continues to hone his cyber security skills with the current challenge being “Hackmas”.

Rachel is working part-time on her business offering advanced English pronunciation classes to professionals all over the world. She was volunteer teaching a class full of new immigrants mostly from China in September when she got news that the director of the school had passed away. It left an opening that no one wanted - a volunteer directorship of a thriving ESL school. We feel that in some ways, this is why we came - to reach out to the newcomers of Toronto, specifically from China. 

So we find ourselves figuring out how to lead a nonprofit ESL school that has been in the community for over 30 years. It’s basically free to its students and run by a staff of dedicated (mostly retired) teachers that volunteer their time once a week. Joel is busy providing tech support, advertising and wifi; while Rachel is sorting through very scant paperwork. Incredibly, a CPA, a lawyer and an experienced curriculum planner have all offered their services to get the nonprofit updated, track students and bring some order to the curriculum of the school. Things are coming together and one of the teachers said during a staff meeting, “it’s almost like you were sent to us. We were worried we would have to close down.” 

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading our family update. We wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Love, the Holmes family

“But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8