Merry Christmas and a Blessed
New Year from the Bartons!

2014 Reflections from each of the boys (can you guess who each is):

This year I played varsity soccer.
I continued my relationship with Ali.
I built a tree house with a friend.
I learned how to weld.

• Got braces.
• Got beats.
• Ate a whole Lemon.
• Learned how to land a front flip and a back flip on a trampoline

This year I played football.
This year I played basketball.
This year I went to camp.
This year I started 8th grade.

I was in Aladdin the musical.
I had a Wreck-it-Ralph b-day party.
I shared my room with a boy from another family for five months.
My cousins moved closer.

Anders, Sedric, Carson and Isaiah

 

Reflections from Joe:

2014 has been a monumental year, with many ups and downs.

My mother's health declined steadily since the end of January, and after much suffering, she passed away on 12-13-14. During the year, I was blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with her. We wrote a book together, called "See Ya There", which was simply a 1-hour interview I recorded and had transcribed (that's the secret to writing a book really fast!). She shared stories of her life, gave timeless advice we can pass on to our grandkids, and left a testimony for us to cherish until we see her again. Her obituary is here.

On the positive side, I partnered with my good friend Michael Tyrrell to create Wholetones, which is something a little different from what Barton Publishing has done in the past - a music therapy product. I call it "The Healing Frequency Music Project". It was something Michael had been working on for many years. We wrote the launch strategy out on napkins in late February, and he recorded the music just a few weeks later. I had a copy of the music by Easter, and when I played the music with my mother by my side, I knew there was something very special about it. We were both crying unexplainably when we listened to 741Hz. That happened to be the same frequency that healed Michael's mom of a pancreatic tumor 9 years before. This time, it helped heal my mother and I on an emotional level as we realized her battle against cancer was nearing the end. It was a beautiful experience that I will treasure forever. And then we launched Wholetones to the world on October 24th. The response has greatly exceeded my expectations... and I am realizing that this product truly is a gift from God that he wants everyone to experience. We receive amazing testimonials nearly every day of spontaneous healing - spiritual, emotional and physical. The music is therapeutic on so many levels. You just need to hear it. And you can hear it for free at www.Wholetones.com

I know that 2015 is going to be an amazing year. My family will be ringing in the new year on a cruise ship, with a well-deserved vacation. And like Amanda said, it will be a time to catch our breath, slow down and enjoy life. Our boys are growing up so fast. I want to treasure every minute we have with them while we can. There is nothing more important than our faith, our family, and our friends. Everything else is temporal and won't make it to eternity. But we'll always have Jesus, and so long as we put our faith in Him - we will always have our family and friends.

God bless you with His peace and presence, now more than ever. ~ Joe

Reflections From Amanda:

With each passing year, time seems to pass a little faster. As Joe said earlier this year, "Perhaps it's because a moment in view of a broader expanse of time is but a twinkling of an eye." What perspective it gives us on God's word recorded in II Peter 3:8-9 "But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."

How awesome to think God suspended time when He created the world in which we live and beyond that, He desires relationship with us, so much that He transcended time and came to earth in the form of a man; subject to the mortal realm.

This December we celebrate the homegoing of Joe's mom, Patty. After a courageous battle with cancer, she is now free from pain and home with our Savior – yet another reminder of how quickly our time passes.

A friend of ours posted this some tips for his weight-loss recently, one of which is to eat slower. As I reflected on this, I wondered if this tip could be applied to other areas of life. We lead a very active lifestyle and words like efficiency, maximize, results are at the top of my speech patterns. After reading this post with the realization of how quickly time is passing, I was convicted to live slower: less speeding through life, enjoying the moments of stillness with our family, engaging in conversations (though brief) with clerks, pause my thoughts, slow down in the kitchen and getting ready, the list goes on.

Time is but passing. This year, I want to continue to make the most of the time I'm given, but it may just look a little slower than it has in the past. Here's to a Blessed 2015!

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, Today is a Gift, that's why we call it the Present."