Dear family and friends:

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family out there across the fruited plain. What a year! Change is in the air, and although nothing radical changed for us, we didn’t let things get stagnant!

After more than a year without a placement, we fostered two brothers for about 6 weeks this fall just about the same time that Hurricane Ike came through Ohio. Technically, we think it was considered a tropical depression, but boy was it windy. We’ll remember it for quite some time since it gave Rachel a birthday party like no other, and our insurance company felt compelled to buy us a new roof!

	The kids are growing up. All four continue at Delaware Christian School for which we are so thankful. The girls continue to be great fun! They both played soccer in the spring and again this fall. Abby (3rd grade) experienced both extremes on her teams – the dominating and the dominated. Rachel (2nd grade) really enjoys playing defense. She anticipates the ball and the other players very well. We are very hopeful the boys won’t completely corrupt the girls, but sometimes, it seems an impossibility. Between our dinner conversations and over-exposure to “Dirty Jobs”, they will at least make good “tom-boys”. 😉 Both girls are good students. They are lucky they don’t get a grade for “Practicing the Piano without being asked”. The boys’ grade would suffer there, too.
	The boys are still enjoying all of the computer and video time they can grab. With the rest of their spare time, they are creating welts on each other using their air soft guns. Mom doesn’t always understand why they need to be “boys”, but those of us who are do! Earlier this year, Dad bought an Ebay store where carbon filters are sold. The boys are able to perform most of the labor, but dad does most of the administrative functions. And, they earn enough money to support their “gun” habit. We also directed their excess energy into mowing as much as possible. At school, Jeffy is busy with student council. Tim has a full load this year including 2 high school classes. Tim’s basketball team won its tournament last winter, and both boys played on the conference winning soccer team this fall. They are as tall as Judy, so they bring good height to the team this year. Tim is playing on the 8th grade team and Jeffy is playing on the 7th grade team. After a several year hiatus, both boys have informed us they are in the school spelling bee in January.
	Judy continues with the same old same old. She’s been at Chase (or its predecessors) for almost 15 years. She still does anti-money laundering compliance work which has continued to be very very busy. She’s not complaining, though. She’s glad to be working for such a strong bank in light of all the others that are failing. She enjoys scrapbooking using Shutterfly and is busy being the head Room Mother at school.Andy is building on what he started last year. Besides the Ebay store mentioned above, Andy bought another sign website in October. Andy’s Limo Sign site allowed him to experience the “pleasures” of dealing with a Chinese supplier and an American supplier-the Americans are preferred! 😉
The family vacations this year were a combination of something old and something new. Andy had a sign trade show in Orlando over spring break, and we used our time share to go with the whole family and Andy’s mom. The “new” was our trip to Mammoth Cave, KY. The cave wasn’t new to all of us, but staying in a cabin for 5 days was! We had a kitchen and air-conditioning. It wasn’t the roomiest, but when you have wireless internet, you can’t complain. While in Kentucky, we also visited the Stephen Foster home, and Abe Lincoln’s boyhood home. Well, we tried to visit Abe’s boyhood home, but we missed the exit and didn’t really see much. We all received “baby bats” after our Louisville Slugger tour and ended the trip with a night in Cincinnati.Judy’s parents and sister’s family moved to Durham, NC over the summer. We are looking forward to heading south after Christmas to celebrate her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. With the financial challenges and the results of the recent elections, changes will be occurring again in the coming year. Whether your personal changes are mild or great, we hope and pray you will rely on the One who doesn’t change and is always there to listen. May the coming year bless you all.