CHRISTMAS 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope that 2009 is treating you well thus far.  Every year seems to be another one of transitions for our family.  (photo)

Anna (17 yrs) is now a Senior in high school and has sent off her applications to college.  She is leaning toward small, liberal arts schools in the Midwest.  She is serving as a youth deacon at our church and has been active in the Mobile Food Pantry as part of this service.  In July, she and Ben and Elizabeth went on a mission trip to Belize City where they built and rehabilitated homes.  She is now a brown belt in karate and continues to play piano and handbells and to sing in the senior high church choir.

Ben (16 yrs) is a Junior in high school and is eager to get his driver's license.  Like Anna, he play handbells and sings in the senior high church choir.  He continues to play guitar and plays tuba in the top band at the high school.   Over spring break, Ben traveled on a cruise ship to the Bahamas with the band.  (Duke and Elizabeth took the younger four children to a water park over spring break and pretended we were at the beach.  At least the youngest two seemed convinced.)  Ben is now a purple belt in karate.

Sarah (14 yrs) is now in the 8th grade.   She enjoyed working on the crew for the middle school musical last spring and has been taking violin lessons and playing in the school orchestra.  she is also learning to knit and just began karate.  Sarah plays handbells and sing in the junior high choir at church.  She and Jonathan spent a week up in Greenlake, WI at a music camp where Sarah played in the adult orchestra.

Jonathan (11 yrs) is in the 5th grade.  This year was his turn to make an international trip with his parents and we went to Costa Rica this fall.  His favorite part of the trip was a very wet guided tour crawling through a very wet, cramped cave.  this was not his mother's favorite part of the trip.  Jonathan plays bass in the school orchestra and handbells at church with his older three siblings.  He sings in the church choir as well as a local community children's choir.  He continues in karate and is now a yellow belt.

Rebecca (5 yrs) is in kindergarten and absolutely loves school.  Rebecca is an outgoing and sunny child.  she loves to paint and draw and especially likes to incorporate different materials and textures in her artwork.  She has been taking ballet lessons and sings in one of the children's choirs at the church.

Rachel (2) adores her ig sister, Rebecca.   She loves to share a bath with Rebecca and will spontaneously sing while bathing, while playing with toys, while getting dressed.... Her vocabulary is growing rapidly and she delights us with her names for each family member:  Mom-mom, Pop-pop, Ani, Men, Wo-Wo-, Byu, Dee-dee.  We cannot figure out the derivation of those last three names ("Sara, Johathan, Rebecca") but she keeps us smiling with her marvelous 2 year old antics.

After three years in private practice, Elizabeth and her partner Arpita sold their practice to Aurora Health Care located in Wisconsin.  Their practice is Aurora's first foray into the Northern Illinois market.  Aside from a regular paycheck and handing over the administrative responsibilities, not much seems different - the office and staff are the same and the practice continues to grow.

Duke participated in a Visiting Scientist Program within Abbott.  He was on "loan" to the Neuroscience Biomarker group for a while to assist in biomarker development.   He will be moving to a new group that is a step further beyond discovery in the drug development process.  Duke agreed to serve another three year term as a deacon in the church and has enjoyed serving with Anna this past year.

We wish you all a Happy New Year and hope you continue to enjoy life's blessings.