Christmas Letter/Year in Review

Greetings family and friends,

We hope the Christmas season is finding you all enjoying the spirit of the season and the conclusion to a wonderful year!  The carols especially have meant so much to us this year, like these lines from Hark the Herald Angels Sing:

 Mild He lays his glory by,

Born that man no more may die.

Great lines sung portraying a great truth about the great grace from our Great God to man.  May that truth keep your heart's warm and illuminate your mind into the new year!

It has truly been a blessed year for us in so many different aspects.  In this past year, we were able to purchase a bicycle for Arthur, which has provided opportunities for great adventure and fun.  We have enjoyed riding our bikes together around the area as well as participating in an organized sixty five mile road ride (which was a little longer than our current comfort level) and competing in a triathlon together.

Besides the wonders opened up to us via bicycle, we have had the opportunity to go on some wonderful vacations, including a honeymoon to Arkansas (Lake Catherine and Petit Jean state parks, both extraordinary) and a week at Horn Creek camp in Colorado.  The week was especially meaningful as it was the first time Alex's family returned to the camp with all her parents, siblings, and their spouses (plus our adorable niece).  It was a truly wonderful time.

While staying at home, Alex utilized her limited outdoor space and started gardening in containers.  We have both enjoyed the fruits of her labor and, now that the weather is too cold for outdoor gardening, we have plants set up in our basement under grow lights.  After a weekend at a Mother Earth News conference, we look forward to trying new techniques and self-sustainability skills in the coming year.

We both continue enjoying our jobs and the benefits of no longer being "rookies."  Alex works as a physical therapist and strives to make lame people awesome (a more accurate description may be that she helps people walk and be independent).  Arthur daily engages in his never ending quest to rid the world of inefficient manufacturing process as a process engineer at a company that produces control parts for airplanes.

Finally, we have enjoyed an active social life through our church, to which we have become official members (Arthur gets a huge amount of enjoyment in how fitting it is that a process engineer should be a Methodist.)  We are involved with a small group with whom we get together for watching football games, holiday parties (for our Halloween party we went as Sheldon and Amy from the Big Bang Theory), and even some hiking.  Arthur looks forward to his first role in church governance in the upcoming year, and we both have enjoyed working as mentors with the youth.

As great as 2014 has been for us, we look forward excitedly to the challenges and opportunities awaiting in 2015.  We thank you all for your continued love and involvement in our lives and wish you the greatest of happiness.  Merry Christmas!

Alex and Arthur