Hello Sue!
We just wanted to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a New Year
full of God's blessings!
I have attached a copy of our Christmas Letter. Since I don't have your new
address, I'm having to send greetings via email!
I hope that you are well and enjoying a holiday free from tons of puppies! You
always seemed to have several litters coming around the holidays. I'll never
forget driving to Denver through lots of snow to pick Drummer up at DIA on
December 14th 4 years ago!
I have been very busy baking LOTS of cookies. I bake hundreds of them - some
to keep, but most of them we give away to clients, friends, neighbors, etc.
I'm always done-in by Christmas, but it's worth it!
We do have snow this year (it's been on the ground for a few weeks now), so
we'll have a white Christmas. I did manage to make a little snowman with our
first snow and stuck him in the freezer - just in case there was no more snow
for Christmas. No problem with that this year!
God Bless and Big Hugs!
Glenn, Mary, Tim, and Drummer
Christmas Greetings 2013!
We hope that you have had a good 2013, and that you are well. It seems that the year sailed by so swiftly and, suddenly, here we are at the holiday season again. This year, have patience, because Mary has taken the bold risk of letting me write our “annual report”.
I got the opportunity to go to North Dakota in June to help my mother celebrate her 80th birthday. It was a wonderful time, not just in getting to spend time with Mom, but also to catch up with other relatives and friends. The time flew by too quickly, leaving so much left to talk about, and so many more people to see. All of the relatives were able to drive out to our old farm, and relive good memories from the past. Although all of the buildings were gone, we had memories of sledding on the hills, family gatherings, field work and play, and even got to see where my grandparents homesteaded around 1900. Everything was so green and lush.
Unfortunately, Mary and Tim were not able to accompany me on the trip. Tim had to work, and Mary had to handle all of my customers while I was away. (The disadvantage of being self-employed, I guess, and not having employees other than the two of us.)
Tim is still working at the main post office annex in town. It always astounds us how much mail goes through in a single day. Tim is one of many machine operators there, yet, some nights, he has 60 to 70,000 pieces of mail that go through his machine alone! Tim has also spent a lot of time this last year “enhancing” his car’s performance. He really has an amazing aptitude for diagnosing and working on performance engines. We are entirely blown away by his abilities in this realm, because he didn’t get it from either of us.
Mary’s Little Drummer Boy (Drummer) continues to bring smiles to our faces. He continues to make us laugh with his antic-filled days and unconditional love for us (especially Mary!) that we can all use when we have had a stressful day. Laughing at the simple joys of a puppy really is good medicine that we can always use more of.
Leaving the best for last, that brings me to my wonderful wife, Mary, the glue that holds all of our lives (and sanity) together. The old adage “A man may work from …” definitely holds true here. I can walk in at 7 PM from a hard day of client paperwork, and Mary will be fixing dinner, after having worked on my clients’ data entry, shopped, done the housework, etc., etc., and then want to know how my day went! Plus, Tim has to sleep during the day, since he works all night, and she has easily worked all of her stuff around his schedule, too. What a keeper!!!
I can say all of this mushy stuff because she let me write the letter.
Mary still does her couponing to help our budget, plus assists other ladies in helping with theirs. It has really been a benefit to us and the others. And, no, she doesn’t do the Extreme Couponing, just knowing how to use sales cycles and taking advantage of sales plus coupons.
I am so proud of Mary and her lifestyle change this last year and a half. As you can see from the pictures below, she has had to buy a new wardrobe, and has found a local store that has new and almost-new clothes in brand names and more, for pennies on the dollar. That in itself has helped the budget too, as you might guess. I am so proud of her that, by listening when God showed her how to do it, and simply eating 2/3 of everything she was already eating, she has been able to do so much. Don’t look at the pictures too closely, because I have only lost 20 pounds.
Mary and I continue to help with the Greeter program at our church, making sure everyone feels welcome when attending a service, and we are both on the prayer team, where we have seen God do some pretty amazing things.
We pray that you have a great Christmas, and that you will be able to see God’s hand of goodness and encouragement on you and your family in 2013.
Merry Christmas!
Glenn, Mary & Tim
