We are
sitting looking out at the frosty wintry landscape of the Pacific
Northwest. It is nearly Christmas
again. The fireplace is crackling and we
are safe and warm. Another year has come
and gone. We are very grateful for the
blessings of the Lord upon us and our family.
We are
including pictures of our children and grandchildren. As you will notice – the grandchildren are
growing into wonderful children and young adults, our children haven’t aged
much and Kathy and I haven’t changed a bit.
We feel so
blessed to have two of our four families close by. Christy and Jeremy live in Arlington. We see them often. Christy and the children come over every
week. Nicole is taking piano lessons
from Grandma and Christy and Kathy work on genealogy. Grandpa usually has some kind of project that
the grandkids want to help with. Russ
and Kristin live in Stanwood – just about 10 miles to the northwest of us. We see them frequently and have enjoyed being
able to see Nate and Camille in several soccer games this past fall.
Eric has
enjoyed Boise with its wonderful fall and spring weather. Eric has always had antifreeze in his veins –
so winter is also great in Boise. He
loves his German shepherd – Landit
Robert and
Laura moved from Washington DC – after he graduated with a master’s degree from
George Washington University – back to Rexburg Idaho. Robert was hired by BYU Idaho as an English
Professor for one to three years.
Kathy has
had rewarding experiences learning about her ancestors. She is becoming quite good at locating and
translating the German and Swiss records from the 1700 and early 1800’s that
are written in “old German”. She loves
to work in her gardens and be in the country where there are so many birds to
feed and watch. Kathy serves every
Friday in the Seattle Temple.
Jeff seems
to always be in the middle of a project or two.
This past summer and fall he designed and built a solar water heating
system. He is busy in his church
assignment and working with the Boy Scout group in our ward.
We recently
attended a Nativity celebration sponsored by the Arlington Stake(our larger
church group- with wards in it). Amid 550 nativity displays and a marvelous
musical night was a large room that was filled with art work about the life of
Jesus Christ. In the center of the room
was a representation of a sepulcher – with the clothing that they had wrapped
the Savior in – but he was not there.
We visited and revisited that room – because we could feel the power of
the Savior amid all of that art. Above
all else – we testify that He lives and that He has blessed and supported us …
and that we love Him.
Jeff and
Kathy
PS. Yes, it is after Christmas and we feel so very grateful for the wonderful times that we had with everyone except Eric home for the holiday! It was so very sweet. We have enjoyed receiving cards from so many of you and love to learn and see how everyone is doing! The best pictures I had of Russ and Kristin's family were from Memorial Day when Jeff's Dad came up and we had a wonderful afternoon with him! We will leave our Christmas decorations up for a few more days and I hope to have this out to all of you before they are down! Close counts! Love to all of you!!!
PS. Yes, it is after Christmas and we feel so very grateful for the wonderful times that we had with everyone except Eric home for the holiday! It was so very sweet. We have enjoyed receiving cards from so many of you and love to learn and see how everyone is doing! The best pictures I had of Russ and Kristin's family were from Memorial Day when Jeff's Dad came up and we had a wonderful afternoon with him! We will leave our Christmas decorations up for a few more days and I hope to have this out to all of you before they are down! Close counts! Love to all of you!!!
