Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year 2010

We want to wish all our fine guests a very Merry Christmas and the best New Year yet! No matter what is going on around us in this troubled world, those who trust in, depend on and love our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord can experience His peace, love, joy, and provision. It's a whole different kingdom than the kingdom of this world. There is no anxiety, worry or fear in His kingdom. It's the best life possible.
What a wonderfully fun and exciting Christmas it has been this year with all our children HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. Our youngest is Jonathan who with his wife, Reseth, is stationed at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, OK. We don't get to see them very often, so it was especially nice to have them at camp for a good week, along with our oldest, Cherish, who lives in Ely,MN and Joanna who stays with us. It's a joy for John and I to watch and listen to them interact with each other when they are together. They have a great mutual love and admiration for each other. Our days were filled with laughter, fun and games and lots of outdoor activities like dog sledding, snowmobiling and hiking. Reseth is a budding photographer for weddings and other events, so she took quite a few pictures of our times together. You can see some of her work at www.resethphotography.com. Cherish too, captured some excellent candid photos for remembrance sake. Jonathan is a true northerner and was hoping there would be a good amount of snow for him to enjoy while he was here. His desire came true as we had about a foot of fresh snow fall during the week and when they got to Knife River near Duluth,MN to visit his wife's relatives, they really got dumped on with 20 inches of fresh snow. Just to make sure he got his fill of snow, even Oklahoma City got fourteen inches. Now he can go home and throw a snowball. We aim to please, Jonathan.

My Trip South To Visit Family

I had originally planned to fly down and visit my parents in Franklin, North Carolina in October. That was before I took my Humpty Dumpty fall off a ladder, breaking my ankle. After two months of recovery time, I rescheduled for the Thankgiving holidays and was driven down to Ely by Joanna where I connected with our other daughter, Cherish. She drove us down to Duluth to catch a flight which took us to Detroit and then Ashville, North Carolina. Cherish was quite a trooper helping me find wheelchairs at the airports and carrying extra bags for me. She is our oldest child at 32 and works at a real estate office in Ely as the advertising executive and also pastors Oasis Intl. church in Ely. Being the busy girl that she is, she was in need of a relaxing vacation to visit her grandparents.
We had such fun with Mom and Dad who are 83 and 85 respectively and still in very good health. My sister Wendy and her family also live in Franklin, so we got to spend lots of time with them. My brother Rick and his family live in Gainesville and came up for Thanksgiving day. Each day had some exciting adventure or fun activity planned. Relationships are more important than anything else in life. I so enjoy spending time with family and friends. My sister and brother in central Florida were not able to make it this time, but hopefully I can plan a spring fling on the Florida beaches with them. Right John???