Merry
Christmas! We’re SO blessed to be home to spend the holidays with family again
this year! Every year, God continues to
lead us to a variety of places to serve.
Home for the
first 8 months of 2017, we returned to group classes at our local YMCA (sore
muscles!), planted our vegetable garden, got more involved at church, and got
some projects done at home. In April, we took a road trip to visit Dan’s
cousins in Louisiana, to shop at Magnolia in Waco (TX), and to see Pioneer
Woman’s Mercantile in Pawhuska, OK. In September, we took a 10-week volunteer
assignment in our denominations Eurasia Regional Office in Büsingen, Germany. That resulted in our being asked to join that
team in a longer-term commitment on a 3-months-in-country, 3-months-at-home
schedule for 2018 and maybe 2019. (See the previous post for details) Home for now, we are certainly looking
forward to Christmas at home with our local family and friends.
This past year Dan marked another decade of life and the family surprised him by all showing up for the celebration.
Marcy is a local police officer in
Fairhaven, MA. Husband John is still with Samsonite. Megan is in grad school at Simmons College in Boston, working on a masters program in social work.
Morgan is
a senior at Curry College near Boston, majoring in Nursing. Both girls will
graduate in May 2018! Tucker is a
high school freshman enjoying life with both sisters away at school.
Monica is enjoying her hospital CPA job, now in St. Louis City. Dylan is a sophomore and Caitlyn is a senior at Belleville East
High School. Monica has spent lots of time training and ran 3 marathons this
year! Dylan is on the high school cross-country team. We love attending
Caitlyn’s madrigal concerts and Monica’s church choir Christmas concert.
Derick travels all over the U.S. with a variety of jobs, all involving
climbing and tall structures! We so enjoy all the Facebook photos of Derick’s
daughter Tessie who lives in Pennsylvania
with her daughter Tatum
(age 3 ½).
Darin still lives in Raleigh, NC, where he works to fund
his passion for building custom motorcycles in his off-hours.
Adam does computer work. He and fiancée Dana Anderson (she works for
Caterpillar) live in Peoria, IL.
Erica is enjoying a new Chef Manager position after 11 years with Lutheran
Senior Services. She loves her cute apartment in St. Louis with her cats. When
she’s not working, her newest passion is fostering kittens. Thankfully, she
still enjoys spending time with her mom shopping or cooking.
God continues
to provide rich experiences and wonderful people to work with in our retirement
from paid careers. Along this pathway, there are a couple of important things
we continue to learn (or relearn):
- The special, never-ending value of
family and friends like you. We are truly blessed with your ongoing friendship,
prayers, and support as we follow His leading. We so appreciate being able to
keep in touch electronically when we can’t be with you in person!
- “God’s Retirement Plan” is WAY
better than any we might have ever dreamed of! He is keeping us
active, useful, challenged, excited, and growing (see Romans 8:14-15 in The
Message).
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May your
Christmas season be blessed and your New Year filled with joy!
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