A Christmas Letter from Ken and Elizabeth, Christmas 2005It is our wish and prayer that you will be enjoying Christmas, and be anticipating the New Year, in full knowledge of the Shalom peace: the peace of God you have found in knowing Jesus as Saviour and Lord. |
One thing we cannot say of ourselves is that we have retired. Yes, we sold our business 2 years ago, and neither of us is in full-time employment. However Elizabeth works part-time at the local hospital and Ken as a casual teacher at Nowra Anglican College and occasional computer and website work. Elizabeth is in her third year as secretary and public officer for Shoalhaven Employers of Christian Education Teachers (SECET): see www.secet.org.au) and Ken looks after the SECET Newsletter and website. Ken plays the piano fortnightly at church and takes a 2-hour radio programme the same day. Elizabeth helps with Sunday school and crèche etc. Elizabeth has a very productive vegetable garden, stocked with interesting produce including purple carrots and purple beans and is keen on growing heritage vegetables. Ken has brought the rest of the garden into a semblance of order and it is all much more attractive. There are plans for future development that would put TV lifestyle programmes to shame! Together and separately we have spent time baby-sitting our 11 grandchildren. Together in May we spent time looking after Peter and Virginia's Ethan (3) and Elliot (1) in Coolah where Peter is head teacher for senior school, while Virginia did some orientation at the local hospital. For a week in July we went to Armidale to look after Zachary (18 months) while Anna attended the University there, |
then for a month in August, in Mildura, while Anna was completing her DipEd training by practice teaching (passed at high distinction level) and helped with Joshua (9), Elisha (7), Jacob (5) as well as Zachary. Elizabeth in particular has helped look after Laura (3) and Lily (born January this year) in Nowra for Brooke and Chris. Ken has just spent a week in Coolah again caring for Ethan and Elliot while Virginia undertook some training for her swimming supervisor's course. We also travel up to Sydney regularly (almost 300km return trip) to see Ken's Mum (91) and Dad (94) still in their own home unit and Liz's Mum (91) who was placed in a Nursing Home in April. In May we booked onto the Spirit of Tasmania, and, with our car stowed below, sailed overnight from Sydney to Devonport in Tasmania. We spent a week touring the Island State, then cruised back to Sydney. We loved every minute of it (including the meals!) For the month in Mildura, (and for some other travelling eg a great weekend away with Chris's older children - Sam (14), Ben (12) and Eliza (10)), we used our campervan (a 1992 Mazda 2000 pop-top van) in Anna and Andrew's backyard as our bedroom. We were able to climb into bed, sit up and watch our TV then snuggle down when we were ready. Late in the year we went to Brisbane, Maroochydore and Maryborough to visit Elizabeth's nieces and her sister Prue (and their families). Our 4 children, all now married (Simeon and Kelly married in April with a beautiful service at St Lukes Anglican Church Berry and a whole weekend of wedding celebrations at the elegant Woodbyne Hotel and its magnificent gardens) and our 11 grandchildren take up a lot of our thoughts and prayers and are all very dear to us. When a grandchild suffers we all suffer, and pray the harder. |
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God has been good to us in giving us so many people as family and friends. We pray together daily for them. We thank you for your interest in us - and for reading this far! We have kept it brief to spare your time, but if you would like to see some pictures of most of the family and its events look up our picture gallery - follow the link at the top. |