Christmas, 2009
Dear Friends and Family,

Blessings on all of you during this wonderful Christmas season. It is hard to believe that time flies so quickly but we are grateful “for being able to be busy!”
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Summer provided many traveling opportunities.  We went on a mission trip to South Dakota to work on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in June.  Thirty two adults from Maple Grove boarded a bus and spent 10 days together.  The Indian Reservation provided various options for the volunteers to choose from—renovation of houses, setting up a food pantry and clothing center, gardening and even a group of ladies spent the week on sewing projects.  It was a lot of hard work but very inspirational.  We also had talks each night which gave us more insight as to the problems that Native Americans face.
   
Our family went to Oak Island, North Carolina for a vacation in July.  It brought back many memories of vacationing there when Jeremy and Megan were growing up.  It was so nice to have Evan and Corinne there to enjoy the surf and sand.  They loved it just as much as their parents!  Bill and I took off a week earlier and spent time visiting with friends in Tennessee and the Carolinas. 
Dorothy continues to enjoy her teaching at the Grove City Christian School.  Bill loves working with the people of Maple Grove United Methodist Church.  We are fortunate to be just one mile from Megan and Evan.  Megan is an associate pastor at North Broadway UMC.  She was ordained as an elder in the UMC at annual conference in June.  This was a very special day for all of us.  Many members of the family and friends made the trip to Lakeside for the beautiful service. 
We don’t get to see Jeremy and his family as often. He is now Assistant Athletic Director at Tiffin University along with his track and cross-country coaching responsibilities.  His wife, Meladie, keeps busy with her tax service and trying to keep tabs on Corinne who turned 4 in November.
We were able to spend many enjoyable days at Indian Lake this summer.  We will again be looking for another place because we sold our cottage to the son of our next door neighbor.  It was a difficult decision but we knew that we would need a larger place for retirement and felt that it would be wonderful for our neighbors to have two cottages next door to each other.
 
As you can see, we have been blessed with many wonderful times with church and family.  May this Christmas season provide a sense of peace to all of you as you celebrate the birth of the Christ Child!