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| Luke during tree expedition |
It is December 6 (well, it was when Rick started the letter!) and it is
COLD!!! After a low of -6°F, we grabbed
Luke and headed for the mountains to cut our trees yesterday. It’s beginning to look like Christmas with snow on the ground and a chill in the air!
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| Luke 'on the job' during a summer work retreat at Westminster Woods |
As you may have noted above, Luke
is back in Baker City! He returned in May
to take the Youth Director position at our church. He is considering seminary with an emphasis
in youth work and decided to gain a little experience first. All parties seem to be pleased with the first
six months. His girlfriend, Kady, moved
here in September and is working at DHS until March when she leaves for
Indonesia with the Peace Corps. Sure is
fun having them in town.
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| A quick Jed visit always results in table tennis! |
Jed is working on finishing his doctoral
thesis with a spring graduation date.
New Mexico Tech had an opening and asked him to teach an Intro to
Mechanics class this fall. So he added three
lectures plus lab and recitation supervision of 70 students to his
schedule. He has incorporated his wit
into the recitation problems he prepares and is enjoying himself. He still is looking ahead to a professor position at a small college. We await his Christmas visit as well as a visit from our exchange son, Jack, who is still studying in Denver, CO.
We will travel to Portland to bring
Grandma Mac to Baker City for the holidays.
She just turned 94 and still loves and beach and her church in Bandon,
Oregon. Grandma R was here for two
months this summer, plus we saw her during our spring and fall trips. Albuquerque continues to treat her well.
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| Rick will tell you that 'mud' is NOT his favorite job! |
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| Tucson wasn't ALL work - this was taken from our campsite! |
Our spring trip started with two
weeks working in Tucson at the CHRPA organization Luke worked for during his
YAV year. It does community home
repairs, so we put on metal roofs, installed air conditioners, and did a ton of
plumbing repairs. It tended to be dirty
but humbling work as most jobs were to help very low income and/or disabled
folks. We then traveled to Hobbs, NM,
for a two week Habitat for Humanity build.
There we installed fencing, insulation, sheetrock, and mud.
After Hobbs and since we were only four
miles from the Texas border, it was time to visit San Antonio! We had a fabulous time with our hosts Jim and
Denise Schneider, Pastor Katy’s parents.
We also visited Port Aransas on the Gulf (near Corpus Christi) and Big
Bend National Park.
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| Habitat work with Team Bovais in Coatsville, PA! |
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| In the White Mts. of NH |
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| Elkhorn Mt. mural |
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| On top of an Elkhorn peak |
We stayed home for the summer! Time to hit the trails hiking, climb some peaks, and enjoy time with friends and family. Ginger also took some time to paint a mural on the back deck so we have mountain views 24/7 now!!
We are thoroughly enjoying this
thing called RETIREMENT and look forward to continuing on the same path for the
immediate future. We already have three
Habitat builds on the schedule for 2014!
We know we are blessed and we both try to make a habit of thanking God
often while paying it forward whenever or wherever we can!
We pray that all of you have a
blessed Christmas and new year to come. Stay
in touch and come visit Baker City (we might stay home to welcome you!)
1704
Broadway Street
Baker City, OR 97814 elkhornrandg@gmail.com
Rick 503-560-3269
Ginger 541-656-9622
(Please note: we discontinued our land line last January so these are our ONLY current phone numbers!)
And one last picture....we had a friend (Chuck Staten) take a 'family portrait' last December:
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| Yes, my hand is resting on the snow! Brrr! Luke, Jed, Ginger, Jack, Rick December 27, 2013 |
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