December 2010



Dear Friends:

Christmas is almost here and I'm enjoying all the festivities of the season! For me it's a precious time to rejoice in our Savior's Birth and to remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas! Right now many of you may be rushing to finish last minute shopping and baking before all the family arrives. As for me & Jack we're about ready for a long winters nap:) The trees and decorations have been up since the first week of December and we've been enjoying the glow of it all! It's like walking into a winter wonderland of trees! I love it!

Our first event in celebrating the season was Thanksgiving weekend at the Festival of Trees in downtown Boise. Talk about a forest of trees…. it made my nine trees look like I needed more! Yeah, right! I can hear Jack now! But he did buy me a snow flocked tree this year so I think my set is complete! The first two weekends of December we met up with our dear friends, the O'Connor's. Beginning with some shopping time at the fairgrounds Christmas Show and I found some wonderful additions for my new tree! Then the next weekend it was on to dinner and a show! We had the thrill of seeing the play "White Christmas"! What a spectacular event! It was such a great take on the old movie and the cast did a fantastic job! I haven't been to a show like that in years! It truly was a special time! Last and most importantly is our annual Christmas party which leads right up to the week before Christmas. This is always such a special time for us! Our friends are so dear to us and this is our way of expressing our love and thanks for the way they have stood by our side all year. If we had a bigger house we'd invite a lot more people because we have so many dear friends! It's always hard to leave some out. But we try to rotate them in every other year so be patient, next year might be your turn.

Well, let me back up to the beginning of 2010 for those of you who don't have the internet…. In March we had to replace our Buick Rendezvous as it was slowly falling apart. We loved that car but we're adjusting to our new Kia Sorento and finding it gets even better gas mileage. So that's a blessing for us with all the traveling we do. In April we made the trip to Washington State for our annual concert tour. Had a great time and met a lot of people while singing at some new churches! Even saw quite a few old friends I haven't seen in years. Some mentors and others I grew up with in church. Very sentimental! The next four months we were back in WA due to some health concerns of Jack's Mom. She was very near to death and it took a lot of doctors and time to figure out what was wrong. We're still not sure if all the diagnoses are right and she lives on a day to day basis with a rare condition that the doctors are still trying to figure out. But she is still with us and hanging in there every day. So we're thankful for God's continued care.

After returning home in August we had a few short weeks to get ready for our six week Fall Concert Tour across the country. What an exciting time we had as we toured so many new places and sang at a lot of great churches! To list it all would be too much. We took a gazillion pictures and visited so many new and old friends as well as family we haven't seen in awhile. The memories will last forever, especially the concerts! Every where we went we were welcomed with open arms and the songs touched so many hearts, including ours. We have made some new friends and added them to our prayer list as well as email lists and Facebook! It's been exciting to hear how God has moved in their lives and to know that we have had a part in that.

After we got home it was time for our annual Holiday Benefit Concert for the Boise Rescue Mission. Due to our trip I only had a month to prepare but we had some awesome talent this year and the night was blessed in spite of the low attendance. We still managed to raise over $2,000! Times are hard for everyone right now so we know this was a stretch for some and yet it will be multiplied to feed 4,000 people. That's truly God and that's why I do it each year!

So now it's Christmas and I look back on all the year has brought… and even through heartache, hard times and rough patches God's blessings have still been greater than all we've endured! I find myself being sentimental and thinking about the important things that matter most! Not about the gifts or even the lights and decorations… but that we in America still have the freedom to worship the Baby Jesus in a manger. For if He had not been born there would be no Calvary, no hope or salvation! So Happy Birthday Jesus!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! May it be a blessed one for all!

Love & Blessings,