Merry Christmas
In August, we moved to from Michigan to Washington state. I now teach and run the computer network for Upper Columbia Academy near Spokane, Washington. God had blessed us and while we miss our friends in Michigan we see God’s clear leading in the change. The move, however, canceled our plans for a bike tour near Washington DC this last summer. I’ll try and recap some of the highlights from the year.
Cycling
As I already mentioned, We didn’t make the tour this last summer. We are, however, dreaming of the future. We purchased a used Santana Tandem bicycle and have only ridden it once so far so we don’t know if we will like it or not. If we get used to it we plan on purchasing a trailer for it and touring with it. Otherwise we will probably sell it and use our Surleys. Spring Break this year will take us to Northern California for a high school reunion and we are planning on taking some time and touring in the area for 4-5 days while there. This summer we are thinking about either the Lewis and Clark Trail from the west or a tour down the Oregon and California coast.
Upper Columbia Academy
I’m now teaching Computer Literacy and running the computer network at UCA. I’ve inherited quite a challenge as the department has been underfunded for quite a while and the computer systems need to be brought up to standard. The first big improvement was adding a Linux Terminal Server to run the Library computers. For not a lot of money this has taken them from being underpowered Pentium III’s to very fast, state-of-the-art systems.
Lois is the Librarian at UCA and is enjoying the organizational and management challenges the library presents. She is an avid reader herself and enjoys helping students find an interesting book. Its a great place for her to put her customer service skills to work.
Keith is a Freshman (9th grade) at UCA. He is enjoying the new friendships, activities, and challenges presented on a boarding academy campus. He has the best of both worlds as he can live a home but still take advantage of the great program here at UCA. He started taking guitar lessons form a friend and neighbor, Mr. Chris Duckett. He didn’t get the short gene in our family (if there ever was one) and has passed his mother in height and is proudly challenging his father’s long-standing record of being the tallest his his family. Keith still misses his friends in Michigan and communicates with them regularly by MSN Messenger.
One of great advantages of living here is that our commute went from 1/2 hour each way in Michigan to 600 feet here. Its great to be able to come home for lunch and enjoy it with the family.
Pets
We still have our cat, Grumps. Grumps, how is no longer very grumpy, came with our house in Michigan. She was an outdoor cat that was pretty grumpy when we first got her but has mellowed and is now just big mushball. Our dog, Intel, was put to sleep before we decided to move from Michigan. Intel was a 12-14 year old Rottweiler that we loved very much. We miss her but probably won’t replace her as it give us more flexibility to travel without having to care for a dog as well. Over the Christmas break, Lois in enjoying taking care of the pets of a number of staff members, including a host of snakes, lizards, mice, birds and other critters in the school Biology department.
Property
We sold our commercial building in Buchanan, which has been a real blessing as it allowed us to pay off a considerable amount of debt. We still have a really nice country house for sale near Lansing, Michigan if anyone needs a house! Here at UCA we are renting a house from the academy. The house is very adequate for our needs.
Projects
Over the last several years it has been fun to be involved in several projects.
- Rubicon Technologies – I still host web pages and do web design for a couple dozen friends and business associates.
- Adventist Robotics League – I started this with a great team of people in Michigan and still coordinate it for the Adventist schools in North America.
- Adventist Education Forum – This was started about 8 years ago and has moved from an online bulletin board for Adventist Educators to a Google Group.
- Pathfinders – Up until we moved our family was very involved in the local Pathfinder Club.
- Weimar Academy Alumni Association – Its been fun to help friends stay connected from high school.
Blessings
We feel very blessed. God opened many doors unexpectedly to bring us here. He has continued to bless us here in many ways. It is our families prayer that God will bless you this coming year as he as blessed us.
I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. Ezekiel 34:25-27