Season’s
Greetings!
After
going through sub-zero temperatures and six inches of snow before Thanksgiving,
it seems a bit strange to be writing our Christmas letter when it is 45 degrees
outside! But that has guaranteed good
weather as we flew to Denver for the college graduation of our exchange
student, Jack. Rick, Ginger, and Luke
went to Denver for the occasion, and Jed joined us at the Denver airport for a
family trip home (just prior to a Denver snowstorm!)
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A post-defense happy Jed! |
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March hike near Las Cruces |
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Graduation time for Jack Ho |
Or should I say Dr. Jed?? Yes, the PhD is finished! After some unexpected glitches last spring,
Jed finished an independent study course and rewrote the analysis portion of
his thesis this summer. He successfully
defended the beginning of November. We
will travel to Socorro in May for his graduation and hooding ceremony. Meanwhile, he has a post-doc with his advisor
tracking asteroids. He will be
researching small colleges seeking a physics instructor position, hopefully in
the northwest. Any leads out there?
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Luke in Palestine |
Luke is one and a half years into
his youth group ministry. He has a great
group of kids that he enjoys. He
traveled to Indonesia in October to visit his girlfriend, Kady, who started a
27-month Peace Corps assignment there in March.
They had a wonderful time, although Luke isn’t sure about Indonesia as a
vacation destination. He helped coach
tennis this spring, serves on two national church committees, and seems to be
gone almost as much as we are! His
travels also included a Presbyterian Peace Fellowship trip to Palestine in
January.
The three of us spent Thanksgiving
in Bandon with Ginger’s brother and mom, who turned 95 a week later. Rick’s mom is still doing well in
Albuquerque, although we hope to get her to Baker City for a visit this summer.
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Hawaii! |
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Hiking in Glacier NP |
Last spring, following our first
visit to Hawaii in February, we volunteered with Community Home Repair in Tucson, AZ and then
with Habitat for Humanity chapters in Las Cruces and Silver City, NM. In May we worked with Habitat near Kalispell,
Montana and explored the lower elevations of Glacier National Park. We went back to the same Habitat affiliate in
September for a month. We really got to
explore the upper regions of Glacier then with Rick hiking over 40 miles in the
park while we were there. (Ginger hiked
all but 14 of those miles, but she spent one day sailing on Flathead Lake
instead of the trail!) We then visited
White Sulphur Springs, MT with friends on the way to a week of exploring the
northern part of Yellowstone and the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge. We finished up the fall with a week in
Bozeman at their Habitat site.
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Rick enjoys the chance to explore with Luke |
Since arriving home, Rick has been
busy helping to finish projects at the church and manse. Such activities have cut into his hiking
time, but a few good hikes were tucked into his weeks. He enjoys when Luke is
free to hike together! He’s looking
forward to snowshoe season!
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Ginger in northern Montana |
Ginger has been as busy as ever
cooking and baking, drawing and creating.
She continues her work with our church in many capacities, and thanks
Luke for his help in maintaining a vegetable garden this year at the
house. Her many absences this year made
gardening a little tough! Ginger’s new
artistic endeavor has included the photography of naturally appearing letters
and creating artwork from them. Our
Christmas ‘header’ reflects some revealed this summer on the Bandon beach! She has also been ‘drawing’ prayers! (See pictures at end!)
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Concert time in SLC |
With Jed working all summer to finish up his PhD, we only managed ONE opportunity to connect - in Salt Lake City for an outdoor Doobie Brothers/Boston concert! What fun together as a family!
We love retirement! Coming up in 2013 are a return to CHRPA in
Tucson, more Habitat builds in Montana, and family visits to Albuquerque and
Bandon. Not to mention that May graduation in Socorro! Life is good, and we are more than
blessed!
We wish Christmas blessings for all
of you and a fantastic new year. Merry
Christmas!
Rick and Ginger
If you need updated address or phone numbers, please send an email!! Nothing has changed since last year!
The remaining photographs simply show that we really DID do a little work this year, both with CHRPA and Habitat for Humanity chapters. Rick is a willing painter, which many avoid, and he is steady on heights. You can guess where he spends most of his time! Ginger enjoyed learning new tools and skills! (And yes, she does wear tie dye everyday on the jobsite!)
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Cutting siding in Bozeman, MT |
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Rick on the roof...again...learning to install siding |
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Ginger develops coping skills on Las Cruces molding |
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Yup, Rick is on the roof in Las Cruces...painting. |
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Finishing up some floor molding in Silver City, NM |
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A prayer mandala from May |
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A Celtic Knot Prayer for Christmas |
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