Rear View News of 2011
Since I can’t figure out how to send this month-belated Christmas greeting as a PDF document that’s under the 25MB limit, I’ve posted it on my blog. (For those of you who read my blog every once in awhile…please forgive the repetition!)
Our entire family made plans to be home for Christmas (Mike’s first in four years), so I decided to delay writing a Christmas greeting until I could also send you a formal portrait.
However, flu struck with a fury, so we had to cancel our appointment, and I am contenting myself with some informal shots from around home.
For our “News in a Nutshell,” we’re all doing well, and four of the gals are expecting babies this spring.
On a more sober note, Alan spent the first three months of the year having radiation treatments for prostate cancer. Everybody but Michael’s family was able to join us afterward for a week of sunshine down in Disney World to celebrate life, encourage their dad, and enjoy the pleasure of being together again, which is always a great joy to Alan and me!
What we didn’t anticipate were the days of rain where 15 of us tried to stay dry during meal times in our motor home.
But, over Christmas Jonathan thought of the perfect solution for future reunions: we’re going to start “Camp Armstrong” for a week each summer here at the homestead where we have all the comforts of home!
Alan and Kathi: Beyond the “same old same old” wonderful stuff of life and work, Alan and I have been on a fireworks of trips this year. I think the awareness that life and health are gifts from God of uncertain duration really gave us (particularly Alan) a “Bucket List” type push to go for the gusto at top speed.
We went on a Ward family reunion to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and had some special adventures with my sibs. We actually connected with all of our brothers and sisters on both sides of the family over the course of the summer, which may be a first since we’ve been married!
We took a cruise through the Middle East and spent my birthday in Jerusalem.
We took a Southern Caribbean cruise and tried lots of things we’d never done before, like zip-lining, mud bathing in a volcanic spring, cruising in a submarine, and riding horseback along the beach and into the ocean.
We visited Jonathan and Linda in Washington,
my sister’s family in Oregon,
and Aaron’s family in Connecticut.
So, let me tell you a little about each of the kids:
Aaron and Carleen: are continuing to live out East, where Aaron works as a computer consultant with a NYC firm. They’ve bought a grand old (80-year-old) home with a delightfully big back yard where they’ve been gardening and bee hiving. Reuben turned five this year and they’ve begun home schooling. Carleen paints and blogs in her “spare time.” They’re expecting their fourth child on Alan’s 62nd birthday, June 5th!
Michael and Grace: have moved to Hawaii with their two girls. Michael is taking a two-year residency with the army in specialized dental procedures, such as orthodontics, prosthedonics, oral surgery, etc.
He’s working long, hard hours, but on the weekends they definitely enjoy the beaches and learning to surf! Michael and grace are expecting their third baby around the middle of March, and guess who will get to go help out?!
Jonathan and Gerlinde: Jonathan took a job as the head of the Bible department at Moody, Spokane, and he just loves teaching and writing. He’s also working hard with his Aqueduct Project, trying to funnel theological education resources to anybody and everybody who’s interested in learning more about the Scriptures. Linda is teaching German at Moody and has been working as a speech therapist, although she’s given up much of her work in order to prepare for becoming a mom. Their first baby is due on my mother’s birthday: February 17th!
Carl and Kathy: are also expecting their first around March 1. So, if 2011 was the year of travel for us, we are hoping that 2012 will be the year of grand babies! Carl is continuing his work in video graphics at a large church in the Detroit area, and he also has an active side business of free lance work. They just bought a wonderful home, and Kathy is busy getting ready for the baby as well as continuing her writing.
Dan and Brianna: Dan has been working as a dentist in Battle Creek at a community health services facility that treats the under-served population, and Brianna is continuing her nursing on a neonatal unit. Dan has been approached about the possibility of coming back to work at a similar type of outreach here in town, which would be totally thrilling for both sets of parents! Meanwhile, they do visit often and are full of love and good cheer (and delicious cookies).
Stephen: Stephen and Joel are still pursuing their academic careers. They were both home with us this past spring, and the four of us have had some wonderful times together!
Perhaps the most spectacular was an unforgettably beautiful, two-week trip to the British Isles, driving around Ireland, through Scotland, and down to London. Stephen is now working on two master’s degrees at Michigan Sate University: musicology and piano performance. He’s also working as a T.A., editing doctoral research for Asian students in the music department, and playing on the worship team at our church as well as another area church.
Joel’s: most exciting accomplishment this year was co-authoring a book with Lu Anne DeVries, called Bright Hope, which should be available on Amazon soon. One of Joel’s professors recommended him as a ghost writer for Lu Anne, who was trying to write a grief memoir after her twenty-three-year-old daughter died suddenly in her sleep one night. Joel worked very hard for many months, and Lu Anne was so pleased with his work that instead of just calling him a “ghost writer” (one who writes someone else’s story), she named him as a co-author, which will definitely look good on his resumé as he applies to graduate school for next fall! Meanwhile, Joel’s been pursuing his love of writing, taking language classes, working in the clothing department of Land’s End, playing drums with our worship team at church, keeping up with various friends, and is living at home this year. I’m not quite sure what we’ll do without him when he leaves for graduate school, but I am truly hoping he gets admitted somewhere for this coming fall!
So, that is the long version of our year…or the short version, depending on how you look at it! If you’re a glutton for punishment, I have oodles of pictures on facebook. If you’re on facebook and not my friend yet, I would love to be friends!
Please keep in touch as you can. Know that if you’re getting this, you’re in my heart and prayers, and I sincerely hope you pray for our family too, because we are deeply in need of prayer. Truly. I’ve had two precious friends whose marriages ended this past year. One couple had been married 40 years, and her Christmas “magazine” always looked like a series of Norman Rockwell paintings. After her husband took off and began a homosexual relationship with someone, one of her daughters lamented to her, “So, was Dad’s life just a lie?” My friend wisely replied, “No. The good things were also real. It’s just that sometimes bad things happen.” None of us are immune from temptation, struggles, and failure, although the grace of God is also available to all of us, and we must choose day by day if we’re going to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus through the storms, or attempt to live for ourselves and our own pleasure.
Jesus came to die for us so that we can live a life of joy and goodness, but the choice is ours. It is my prayer that each of us will continue to find the courage and grace to choose to walk in the ways of truth and light in a very dark world.
May God bless and keep you,
Kathi (for our family)