CHRISTMAS LETTER 2019

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a “Christmas Letter” with a whole family update so I thought I’d stay up tonight and get one written for 2019. If nobody reads it, at least I’ve recorded our family status for posterity.

Jessi (34) left her job at Cardinal Health and moved to Russellville, taking a job in account collections with Transco Lines, Inc. She bought the camper we lived in during our house remodel and is currently living in our driveway! She’s taking some time to figure out what she wants to do next, maybe grad school, maybe buy a house near by. In the mean time, we are enjoying having her around! Her dog, Moony, is happy as a clam down at the barn where he was born, with the other dogs and livestock.

Joshua (33) has an apartment in Conway but rarely spends the night there. He travels constantly doing non-destructive testing for Applied Inspection Systems. What this means is that he tests welds and metal integrity through radiography, sonography, and other methods. Most of this work is done in power plants. Joshua successfully passed is CWI course this year also and is now a Certified Welding Inspector. We don’t see him often enough, but he stops by every once in a while and we mange to catch lunch with him in Conway on occasion.

Katie (28) lives in North Little Rock and got her own apartment for the first time last February. She has a terrific job that she loves at Sowell Management, an investment management company. She is excelling there and since being with Sowell she has become interested in going back to school for accounting. She is active in her church and volunteering in the Little Rock area. About once a month, she and her dog Ladybug come spend the weekend with us.

ClaireAnna (18) graduated from High School last May and started classes at Arkansas TECH University in August. She was awarded an ATU academic scholarship as well as the AR state lottery scholarship and a scholarship from Ted’s company! We told her to take it easy at school just so long as she keeps her scholarships but she finished her first semester with a 4.0! She is majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in Spanish. She works in the ATU library about 15 hours/ week for spending cash. ClaireAnna is no longer in 4H or showing animals and it was very strange for Ted and I to not step even a foot on the county fair grounds this year! My, how life changes! She has taken up Karate, though, and goes to class twice a week. She sings on the worship team at church, volunteers with various organizations, was a camp counselor at Camp Caudle again this year, and went to Bogota, Columbia for the second time this summer with our church doing street evangelism.

One of the most exciting changes in our family this year has been the addition of our bonus daughter, Sydni! What a surprise and a blessing she has been to us! She is 18, graduated high school in May with ClaireAnna, and started ATU in August majoring in Emergency Management with a minor in Spanish. Sydni was valedictorian of her HS class, is also on scholarships at ATU, and finished her first university semester with a 4.0! If that weren’t enough to be proud of, she became a black belt in Karate this year, having been studying at the same Dojo since she was 10 years old! Sydni also works at the ATU library as well as at her Karate Dojo. Both Syndi and ClaireAnna are living at home during college to save money for travel and missions trips during the summers.

Ted and I are doing well. We celebrated our 35^th wedding anniversary this year and are grateful to God for each other and our marriage. We hope and pray for 35 more! It’s hard for us to believe that Ted has completed sixteen years as shipping manager with his company, which is now called Amcor. (The 4^th name change since he’s been there!) We are getting close to the number of years he worked for Pfanstiehl! I have started working again, as a substitute teacher, and I really love it! It’s flexible so I pick and choose the jobs I want to accept and the days I want to work. I’m trying to work 3 days a week to help pay for my new Tacoma!

We have slowed way down on the farm over the last 2 years since ClaireAnna is occupied with other things now, and have sold nearly all the sheep and goats and cut back on cattle numbers. We now raise purebred Dexter cattle, which are miniature cattle and very easy to handle and work with. We like them very much! We sell pasture raised, hormone and antibiotic free whole or half steers and also beef by the package out of our freezer, USDA inspected. We do expect a few goat kids this spring which will be fun.

We are really loving life in our remodeled home. It’s just a lovely space now that it’s finished. Thank God that’s over! (Actually, we are still waiting on sidewalks, a deck, and a driveway gate!) We are active in our church as always, doing weekly nursery duty where all of the babies love Ted more than me as always (It’s true!). I enjoy attending our women’s Bible study with Jessi, and Ted leads the deacon team. We’ve had no major health issues this year, but many minor ones. Ted ruptured the tendons on his right pointer finger and it looks like that will be something that bothers him for the foreseeable future. There have been a few kidney stones and sore backs and joints, but all in all, we are doing great!

God has blessed our family in so many ways, but none compare to the blessing of being adopted into his family by the redeeming blood of Christ! We wish this same blessing to all who read this letter. Merry, Merry Christmas! 

Sonnet 82

by Lisa Marie Harmon

His eyes are gentle, glancing toward her face: 

Abashed to hold her gaze, they are not bold. 

His confidence slips in and out of Grace: 

Yet within the man, a will that keeps it's hold.

His words, like honey, stick, struggle to flow.

The sweetest of them, only God has heard. 

His heart knows secrets her heart needs to know. 

He prays there really is a little bird. 

For lack of words he offers up his form.

In sacrifice, a Greater Love has he. 

Each limb and muscle pressed against the storm; 

No harbor safer than his arms could be. 

The white winged Dove does whisper in her ears; 

All to the man she gives, joys, tears, and years. 

Sniper

by Lisa Marie Harmon

He leaps and bounds, and spins around, 

A giddy grin has he. 

When ere I open full his gate, 

His heart is filled with glee. 

He doesn't spy a cat to fright

Or hunt for morsels free, 

But sits, instead, square at my feet

And waits obediently.

For the fulfillment of his need, 

His fervent reverie,

A hug, a rub, and yes, a kiss, 

Then by my side, to be. 

For if a dog finds joy in life, 

It certainly is he. 

But the object of his overt love

Is absolutely me. 

Those eyes that shine aim deep in mine; 

He knows not what I see.

That I'm the one to receive from

A heart as true as he.