William Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame noted that don’t the days seem lank and long, When all goes right and nothing goes wrong. We cannot say that nothing goes wrong in our lives, but there is certainly a lot which goes right. While our friends and family are getting older, and we have lost some of the people whom we love in our extended family and friends, we still have so many people who we are close to. We are blessed.
When this letter was started, I was thinking that we really did not do too much this year. But looking at my blog, we have been busy. Definitely putting the “tired” into “retired”. In February, we went to Death Valley with our friend Don. The trip was somewhat a bust as our alternator and battery went out. A mechanic spent 2+ days working on it. Once fixed, we got out of there.
Margaret Mitchel House
Then
Sherri and Gary went to Atlanta for close to two weeks. Lots of
wonderful things like the botanical gardens, the history museum,
MLK’s house and church-which filled us with hope for the future,
and the Margaret Mitchell’s House. Among the many other things is
the Carter Presidential Library which showed how Roslyn and Jimmy’s
faith drove their lives. Their faith continued to guide them after
his Presidency to reach out to others in the world in working towards
fair elections, providing wells with fresh water so less people were
dying in those areas. Also Jimmy gave real power to Roslyn. She was
an advisor, activist, reformer and diplomat. She helped to expand
childhood Immunization to all 50 states as well as her work in mental
health. Like in many places in Atlanta happened serendipitously,
such as stumbling on a museum jazz night or relaxing peacefully at
Lenox Park, were very memorable.
We had a family trip to Ireland for 10 days in July. Besides an assortment of plane issues, we enjoyed being with family in Belfast, Dublin and Galway. The single thing which impressed the most was the Black Cab Tour of the Troubles in Belfast. Sobering how infusing religion and politics is so corrupting on both.
Us at Connemara NP
For
us the F in Family means fun. Whether it is going to Salem to be with
Andrea and Lawrence or David in Eureka or Margaret, Joe, Ryan, and
Yolanda in Turlock, or enjoying hiking, or Thanksgiving, or
celebrating Steven’s 40th birthday in Disneyland.
As Sherri thought back over this year, she enjoyed our trips. Regarding Ireland, Sherri was impressed by the amazing castles. One line of her family’s genealogy moved to the USA, between 1700 and 1720 from Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was great to see so many red heads across Ireland that are also in her family. Along with Gary, Sherri loves to hike in the Sierra’s as well as being part of our church, book group and House Church, a small group Bible study. She has been listening to the Holy Post, The Russell Moore show, No Small Endeavor, Good Faith, and Trinity Forum Podcasts. They help her to see there is still hope in our divided Society.
Park Ridge LO
And
now it is Gary’s turn. The year has been pretty much the same as
previous years, but with a bit less. Such as I still hike, but maybe
not as far, I still go up to the Park Ridge fire lookout, but for
less days and one which is only 20’ off the ground-hopefully next
year I will be at Delilah again. I still lead Bible studies and a
book group and attend OSHER classes. I do keep active enough
Andrea in 2024 took up Dragon Boat racing. She continued it this year along with her hiking and running which she does with Lawrence. Between home ownership, second year of marriage and almost always doing something outdoors, they have lives which are full. She still managed to tour Scotland with her sister before joining us in Ireland.
Steven turned 40 this year. He celebrated by doing a family trip to Disneyland. Other than that, he spent his time with his dog, Korra, taking her to the park and on hikes.
Rachel has taken the 2025 off and has made the most of it. Earlier this year she hiked the Milford Track in New Zealand with our neighbor Don, then bounded around Australia, Thailand and Vietnam before returning home. She spent some time with us before going to Europe where she went to Portugal, Scotland, Ireland-with us, France and Spain before returning back to Fresno.
The New Testament ends with the words The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. And it is that grace which our Lord has sent to the earth which we celebrate during this time of year. May you too be able to enjoy and celebrate Jesus’ coming as a baby, a foreigner in this world, who would give his all for all of us.
