Christmas 2011

We hope this Christmas letter finds you and your family well. This time of life has been filled with joy and challenges. Ev has been retired for almost 5 years and Al has been retired for 3 years. Retirement years have been busier than we could have imagined.

Our wonderful sons, David and Ryan, and their respectively wives, Quan and Siska, continue to bring us joy. David is still with Liberty Mutual and Ryan is busy at BECU as a lawyer. Quan is an engineer at Boeings and Siska is a computer expert at ATT. David and Quan’s sons, Caden, 4, and Liam, 2, bombard us with stories, and singing songs from the Vacation Bible School they attended this summer at our church.



We asked Caden what he is into and his reply was space and world history. Liam is the encyclopedia for superheroes and transformers. Ryan and Siska’s daughters, Isabel, 4, and Audrey, 1, love music. Isabel can play some simple songs on the piano and both girls love to dance. Isabel loves classical music because it is “ballet” music. Audrey enjoys playing with Isabel’s Calico Critters.
Ryan’s family has been living with us since September while they remodel their house. This year we had our 4 grandchildren attend the Easter Egg Hunt and Harvest Festival put on by our church for the neighborhood in April and October.


At the Harvest Festival, Caden, 4, was Optimus Prime and Liam, 2, was Bumblebee.

The Transformer theme continued to our one-year old granddaughter, Audrey, who was also Optimus Prime. Ryan made the costume but Siska decided to add a silver tutu to the outfit so people would know she was a girl. It was great. Our 4 year-old granddaughter, Isabel, was a cute bumblebee.

All our grandkids love books which, as retired teachers, we are grateful for. Caden is reading books on his own and Isabel has started to read words by herself. Liam and Audrey love grabbing books off the shelf and beg to be read to.
We are not only busy babysitting grandkids but also spending time with our mothers. We continue to thank God that they are still with us.



The two big events we had this year was a two-week mission trip to Japan and a week-long trip to Kauai in October with David’s family. This August we went to Tokorozawa, a suburb of Tokyo, to help run a Vacation Bible School with Jon and Cheiko Reasoner who are SEND missionaries and to help at the Okutama Bible Camp.





In October, we went to Kauai to relax for a week. David’s family joined us in the middle of the week.

We had a great time swimming in the resort pool, exploring and eating.


Before they arrived we had our share of hiking and going on a catamaran to snorkel and see dolphins swim right up to us.



Of all the Hawaiian Islands, this was the most beautiful. We were surprised to find out that Na Pali Coast and Waimea Canyon were listed as the most beautiful places in the world and we had an opportunity to see them both!

Part of the Na Pali Coast

View of Waimea Canyon

This year Al also found time to coach JV tennis this spring for Lindbergh HS and work on house repairs.Lindbergh’s JV tennis team

We continue to attend Lighthouse Christian Church in Bellevue and are challenged to strengthen our walk with the Lord. Al is still working on the sound team and strike team (people who take down our church because we meet in a public school). Ev is still enjoying teaching in Children’s Ministry, and serving in the hospitality/welcome center.

We both find encouragement in our couples’ small group that meets in our home and appreciate their prayer support and fellowship.
This summer some people from our small group and from Steve and Betty Mar’s small group took off to Leavenworth to see “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” which was a lot of fun.

As this year closes and we reflect on 2011, we are grateful to God for being the constant in an inconstant world. Our prayer for 2012 is that there will be peace and hope in this world and, that in some small way, all of us would cause it to happen.


And in another place Isaiah (Old Testament prophet) said,
“The heir to David’s throne (Jesus) will come,
and he will rule over the Gentiles (people who are non-Jews).
They will place their hope on him.”
I (Apostle Paul) pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit).
Romans 15:12-13

May you and your family have a Joyous Christmas! Al and Ev