Christmas/New Year Letter

Happy holidays from our family to yours!

We have enjoyed reading cards and letters from so many friends during these holiday times and now we’re finally getting our own letter written! Hope you are all enjoying some quality family time. We went to Missoula to spend Christmas with Lani’s mom and her brother Brian’s family. Now we’re relaxing back at home for a few more days and getting a chance to visit with some friends. Though it wasn’t forecast, we got a nice little snowfall this week so I included a couple pictures from that fun event. Hope you enjoy reading about our family as much as we like hearing about yours!

Dan & Lani’s year. . .

Early 2009 had many challenges. Dan’s dad, Dick, lost his battle with cancer and moved on to that heavenly choir on Feb. 15. We were touched by the outpouring of memories and sympathy from so many friends and family members.
As Spring came to full bloom, many Oregon school districts found themselves faced with massive budget cuts due to the downturn in the economy. Lani’s job remained secure but Dan’s district made some program cuts; after a few weeks of uncertainty, Dan was offered a new assignment as a half-time choir director at Gordon Russell M.S. and a half-time district instructional technology coach. While it was a stressful transition, it has been a blessing.
We helped Dan’s mom, Sue, move over to the Portland area during June & July and later in the summer celebrated our 22nd anniversary with a nice getaway to Seattle.

This Fall we made a church change and are now part of the East County Church of Christ. We’ve stayed plenty busy keeping up with our kids and their activities.
Hannah – After spending her freshman year at Chapman University in Orange, CA, Hannah came back to the Portland area and is a music major at Concordia University. You can also find her serving up the best ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery in Gresham. We are enjoying having her back living at home, but don’t see her too much as she stays busy with school, work, friends, and church.
Micah – This is Micah’s senior year and he has really bloomed as a performer at school. He played Lazar Wolf in Gresham H.S.’s production of Fiddler On the Roof (and was fabulous!) and he will sing in the All-N.W. Choir in March. Micah has also grown past his dad and now stands 6’6”! Micah will graduate on June 10 this year.
Caleb – If you haven’t seen him in a while, you might walk right under him! He’s growing like a weed and is now a smidge over 6 feet. He is a great student, plays tuba in band, and is really improving as a basketball player. When not doing those activities you’ll find him either reading a book or playing video games.
Levi – Levi is in 5th grade this year (hard to believe it’s the last time we’ll have a child in elementary school) and is a great student! He’s been growing a lot too and is now up to 5’ 3.5” – not long until Lani looks up at all the rest of us! Levi plays football & basketball and just like his big brothers he loves to read and play video games!

Looking ahead. . .

We pray God’s blessings on each of you! As this letter goes out to friends far and near, we remember fondly our times with all of you. For our farther away friends, please know that you are always welcome to come visit and stay with us! Oregon is a beautiful place to go on vacation and we love showing our visitors around the area. We also hope that we might see some of you that live nearby too; if we haven’t seen each other for a while, let’s find time to get together.
This coming year may bring job changes (Dan will begin applying for Admin. jobs this Spring and of course who knows what will happen with state school funding), but God continues to be faithful and blessing in all that we do. Micah’s graduation is on June 10 and he is in the process of applying to colleges right now; we’ll see where he ends up in the next few months.

A Final Blessing: Colossians 1:9-12

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance in the kingdom of light.