Christmas 2002
Dear Friends and Family,
We’ll be celebrating Christmas
in Alabama this year. Yes…we’ve moved
again! We had mixed emotions about
leaving DC behind—it was a great assignment and afforded us many once-in-a-lifetime
opportunities. However, there’s
certainly something to be said for the laid back pace of Prattville, AL. Everyone’s friendly, and no one’s in a
hurry. God has sent so many special
people our way through the years, and it’s been a blessing to catch up with a
few of them now that our move has brought us closer.
We vacationed with family
between assignments this summer in the foothills of the Smokies—rafting,
tubing, and sight seeing. Next stop,
Chattanooga to visit friends and meet our newest family member, Jeff’s new
nephew, “Baby” Noah—who is absolutely adorable, of course! The fun over, we headed for Prattville, 100+
º temp., and three weeks of unpacking.
We unpacked the computer day one and finally found the power cord on day
five. I wonder how many more times we
will have to do this?!
Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to… Daniel (10) is in 4th grade and
still loves being home schooled. He is
playing the saxophone in beginner band this year and is making so much progress
that his teacher is moving him up to intermediate band next semester. He plays soccer, bowls, takes piano, and
spends lots of time jumping on the trampoline and playing with Legos and
Gameboy.
Bethany (12) is in 7th
this year and is home schooled as well.
She’s in her 3rd year of piano and has recently begun playing
flute in the band and playing soccer.
Moving slowed her down socially for a while; she missed her DC friends
terribly, but she almost has a full social calendar again. She and Daniel are involved in a p.e. class
that meets on base, and for the first five weeks, she was the only girl in the
class with about 11 boys (which did NOT make her happy). She solved the problem herself by recruiting
a few other girls, and now p.e. is one more opportunity for “girl talk.”
Nicole (14) is keeping busy with
AFJROTC and honors classes as a sophomore at Prattville High School this
year. She is also a Cadet MSgt in the
Civil Air Patrol squadron on the base and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of
taking the controls of a Cessna for a whole hour and later flying a glider this
year. Good prep for Driver’s Ed next
semester! Now…if I could just get her
to clean her room…
Jeff is enjoying Air Command and
Staff College at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery this school year. It’s been a much more comfortable pace than
previous assignments—a bit of reading (which he is enjoying--now that he has
the time) and a few essay tests with some softball and golf mixed in along the
way. But…we’ll be packing up again in June
for a destination yet unknown. Our five
top choices were scattered all over the world, and odds are the AF won’t send
us to any of them!
I’m still home schooling two of
the kids, and I edit a monthly home school newsletter. I’ve also been concentrating my efforts
catching up several years’ worth of photo albums. I’ve fallen WAY behind and would like to see the “shoe box”
pictures find a permanent home. It’s
been fun re-living the memories as I scrapbook, and it’s been a reminder of how
quickly the kids are growing up.
That’s about it for us. We pray that this Christmas season finds
your family well and that you’ll be truly blessed as you celebrate this season
of Christ’s birth.
Lots of love to you all – Gale for Jeff, Nicole, Bethany, and Daniel