Merry Christmas to all our family
and friends! We pray that in this season you will understand and
know more of the ‘Reason for the Season’ – Jesus Christ!
This has been a DIFFERENT
year for us in several ways!
It was different initially in that
we spent the first entire winter in 5 years at home in Columbia,
Illinois – and it was cold!! The getting-away-in-the-winter
pattern was never our plan but I guess we’d gotten spoiled! In
April, my 18½-year-old cat, Dickens, passed away. She’d been such
a faithful companion, but had developed hypothyroid. We haven’t
replaced her with another pet yet; that will happen eventually, I
imagine.
Dan is still very active in his
role as Bible Quiz Trainer for our denominational global youth
ministry. He was fortunate to have been asked to participate at the
regional quiz event at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego
(and I was fortunate enough to get to go along!), so we enjoyed some
beautiful spring weather there at the end of May. Early in June, we
drove to Louisville, KY, to volunteer at the 2011 NYC (Nazarene Youth
Conference). We enjoy the varied aspects of volunteering at these
events which are life-changing for several thousand teens.
In early July, since I had never
been to Washington DC (but Dan had been stationed there as a Marine,
a long time ago!), we drove there to spend a few days on our way to
our first all-family vacation at Marcy’s! DC is awesome and we
stayed just a block from the White House. It was incredibly hot
then, but we really enjoyed the landmarks and especially 2 of the 19
Smithsonian museums. Driving on to Marcy and John’s home in
Fairhaven, MA, was fun too, as we took a detour to take a few photos
of Lady Liberty in New York Harbor. Monica and her kids flew out, as
did Erica, then Darin. Derick and Nola drove up from North Carolina.
At Marcy’s, we all enjoyed a beach, Plymouth Rock, and lots of
great food and time together. Morgan’s softball team was excellent
this year and we had fun being the grandparents whose presence seemed
to help them win!
A couple of weeks later, Caitlyn &
Dylan spent a week with us before school started. We look forward to
this week each summer and we plan fun things to eat and interesting
outings to enjoy different sights around St Louis. This summer, we
toured Cahokia Mounds, rode bikes, went peach-picking (which turned
into blackberry-picking
and peach-buying
before going out to lunch in Alton, IL).
In September, after a couple of
years talking about it, we celebrated our 15th
wedding anniversary in Hawaii! Maui was absolutely gorgeous! Dan
did the driving, as we toured the northern coast (Road to Hana) and
drove up Haleakala Volcano. We enjoyed lots of good food, some
beaches, and a sunset dinner cruise.
Our “empty nest” is
DIFFERENT now too!
I finally have retired from JoyFM!
It was a good time to go, after 8 years. With this decision, along
with the awareness that God always has a plan, we asked Erica if
she’d like to move in with us and take care of the house when we
are gone. Without hesitating, she said, “Sure!” She moved in
near the end of July, with her cat Phantom, and is enjoying the lower
level of our home. She keeps busy with her job and her friends; they
enjoy movies and hockey games and girls-out-nights! We are really
enjoying having her around and she doesn't seem to mind the lower
living costs.
And, now our life is really
DIFFERENT, we’re in Argentina! We learned of a volunteer
opportunity – the SAM (South America) Region was looking for a
volunteer couple to spend 2 years at the Regional Office. They needed
accounting and administrative help. We asked about a shorter period
of time and did they need computer skills too – and we have been
here since mid-October! We have met some great new missionary
friends! Unfortunately many have gone back to the U.S. for Christmas
and Home Assignment (to raise support). Learning to get along with
limited Spanish knowledge – very DIFFERENT - has proved more
challenging than we imagined, but we’re learning! Thanksgiving in
Argentina was DIFFERENT but lots of fun with a dinner with 20
missionaries; we had turkey and everyone fixed traditional dishes!
Christmas will be really DIFFERENT in the warm weather and away from
home. Argentines celebrate here on the 24th
ending with midnight (all night) fireworks. We’ll spend Christmas
Day Skyping, I think!
You can catch up on more of our
Argentine experiences on our blog: http://ReinhartsRoad.blogspot.com.
You can also ‘subscribe’ and get emails when updates are posted…
We’ll spend 6 months here, returning 2 days after Easter 2012 to
be available for duties at U.S. Bible Quiz events in the spring and
summer.
Yes our year has been
DIFFERENT and we would love hearing about yours!
We have pretty good Internet
service here, so please let us know what’s keeping you busy! Send
us an email and/or let’s plan a Skype time to talk face-to-face!
We wish you the best in the upcoming year and hope that you’ll
someday consider volunteering, using your learned and God-given
skills to benefit others!
Blessings to you!
Dan & Janet Reinhart
Blessings to you!
Dan & Janet Reinhart
No comments:
Post a Comment