Today we received our first Christmas Card which inspires us to write to you and send both our Christmas and New Year’s greetings. Right now we are finishing up our volunteer assignment at Montreat Conference Center. It truly has been a quick 3 ½ months and we have enjoyed our stay and our volunteer work here. Being within 2 hours from David’s family in Charlotte has been helpful after Ashley’s June 4 surgery. She is doing well as the last cast was removed Nov 16 and is now going through therapy to strengthen her leg.
Being close to son David and family has been great but makes us miss daughter Cindi and family in Texas even more; our last visit there was in July. December will involve lots of travel and we plan to be in Texas for several days and catch up on all the things that have been happening down there. Cindi and family finally moved into their new house and they are settling in. We’ll even be there to see the Grandview Christmas parade. We understand that at least one grandchild will be in it.
The foliage this fall in the NC mountains near Asheville was really beautiful. The dry conditions made the colors last well into November. As you may know, the Southeast is suffering through a terrible drought so even though we’ve enjoyed great weather, we would much prefer that it rain. We would say that some of the areas would rival New England in color.
A question we are often asked is “where to next?” especially as folks get the idea that we plan on being on this adventure for some time. Anyway, this past summer while in Hartford for a church bi-annual meeting and award, we were asked by our supervisor if we would consider going to Cleveland. Well, as much as we are not crazy about seeing snow again, we have agreed to go. Cleveland is where the headquarters of our church denomination is located. We’re in the process of working out the details but will probably be there from Feb 1 until the middle of November. Of course, that will include time off to see family. We’ll write more about that as we know more details. Being Boston Red Sox fans, we’ll try not to hassle the Cleveland fans after beating them in the playoffs. We’ve also been tentatively recruited for 2009 at a place to be mentioned later.
During the past 5 years of our volunteer service, we’ve had the opportunity to speak to many groups and individuals about volunteer programs and are glad to recruit and promote the program. We’re happy to say that several individuals and couples have signed up to venture forth. We continue to seek God’s direction for our lives and trust Him with our future.
We hope this note finds you and your family healthy and happy. And we look forward to hearing from or visiting with you soon.
