2020 Holiday letter

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope you had a Merry, if different, Christmas! Obviously, this year has probably been the most unusual one we’ll ever experienced! And some of those unwanted aspects will continue for a few months into 2021! 

For us, the various forms of isolation have given lots of opportunity for reflection on the blessings, opportunities and failures in our lives. But God’s presence is always there, sometimes guiding, sometimes holding, and sometimes shielding and often all at the same time.  That is the beauty of the relationship He desires for us all.

The year started out as Dan traveled to India in January to help with IT support of a Nazarene Regional conference. Since the pandemic hit, being retired, we have not been affected nearly as much as friends with full-time jobs and school-aged children. But we felt like we got quite a number of things done at home. I completed quite a few knitting projects, lots of cooking and baking, and Dan has become quite a tree trimmer along with all the house, yard and garden, and computer maintenance! We have continued to exercise at home and walk our neighborhood, especially when our YMCA had to close!  Our blackberry vines grew like crazy; I was picking 3-4 quarts of berries each week, freezing most of them. And our crab apple trees were so happy that they produced full-sized apples; we got really good at sharing the work to make several large crock-pot batches of apple butter that we shared with friends and froze some too.

Our subdivision stepped up to the challenge of school and work at home too! On our Briar Lake Facebook page, mothers asked that we put teddy bears in a window for the little ones to count on morning walks. We all added Easter eggs and encouraging signs in windows as well. We met more neighbors while walking. We shared games and puzzles. One woman baked lots of bread and we purchased several kinds. I helped communicate with food trucks to bring in some no-cooking nights through the summer. The shaved ice truck may have been the most popular!

Dylan graduated from high school; Monica had an outdoor, drive-by party for him at home. We reluctantly helped Erica load a U-Haul and move to Columbus, Ohio; she currently works in an Amazon facility but is still looking for something more closely related to her food service/ inventory experience. Marcy’s daughter Megan married a great guy, Ben, in 2019, but had to postpone their big 2020 wedding reception until October of 2021… However, we just found out that she is expecting a little one in June (who will be our 6th great-grandchild), so we’ll see what kind of parties will really be planned for 2021! 

We changed church membership to Belleville First Church of the Nazarene over the summer. Shortly after we joined them the pastor resigned to take a church in Florida (NOT our fault…). We have a new pastor coming at the end of January. With this and all the COVID isolation we’re looking forward to becoming closer to this group of new friends (we shared blackberry cobbler with some on our screened porch) and to new ways of serving there.

In September we ventured out, driving to Gulf Shores, Alabama, for a couple of days of beach time to celebrate our 24th anniversary. It was good to get away, enjoying the sun and salt water and plenty of good food! 

We’re so grateful to God for keeping us healthy and supplying everything we need! We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas by ourselves (and on family Zoom meetings), stayed well so far, and are looking forward to surviving the winter and getting a vaccine as soon as it’s our turn! Facebook has been a great place to stay in touch with people! We love hearing from you and can’t wait to take road trips again!  

Take care of each other and Happy New Year 2021!