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Read our 2007 newsletter.

I'm writing our 2008 family letter in the last couple of hours left in 2008, using a Windows program running on an iMac. As Kiplin Dynamite once sang, "I love technology!" This year had less news than last year, but still had some milestones. I wilted under pressure from Matt Plett and finally got a Facebook account. I've enjoyed connecting with numerous college friends that I hadn't heard from in a quarter century.

The five of us still at home traveled to a wonderful family gathering in late June at Millar College of the Bible, enjoying a great time with many relatives. We especially enjoyed visiting Kirk & Lynette Wall on their farm, riding, shooting and generally acting like the Old West still exists.

Then in July, Joanna and I spent our 25th anniversary night in Bryan Ross's guest bedroom before heading off to a San Diego beach hotel the next day. We enjoyed visiting our old college where we first met in 1979.

I continue to work at "A Child's Touch..." childcare as an administrator and computer geek. I still play hockey twice a week (winning another championship in '08), read a novel a week, and do a little Bible teaching and speaking. In November I was invited up to Millar College of the Bible in Pambrun, Saskatchewan to speak on three topics: Truth, Reality & Logic in an Emerging World, The Shack, and Using Music in Youth Ministry. I had a great time and made some wonderful new friends. My biggest claim to fame in 2008 was creating a silly YouTube video parody called "emergent hitler." I got over 10,000 views in 10 days when many leading emerging church blogs featured it.

Joanna left Faith Christian after eight years to become a public school substitute teacher and work on her Master's in Curriculum Development. She's worked at over 30 schools in three districts while getting to know our area well enough to become a taxi driver.

Erika (21) came home for a week and a half. She's enjoying her new job at a vegetarian pizza place while working on her degrees in Anthropology and Classics at Grand Valley State. She is scheduled to spend a month on a dig in Egypt this summer through a Penn State program. Lucky! Her boyfriend Joe works at a car mirror factory for a living and makes short films when he doesn't have to be at work. He will not be going to Egypt.

Heather (23, but listed after Erika for picture formatting purposes) & our son-in-law Josh continue to live south of Dallas, Texas. Heather finishes her college degree in spring. They've talked of moving to Colorado in 2009, and we hope that happens. Josh is working in a group home and doing some video editing for Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Michael (17) is on pace to graduate from Faith Christian High School in spring as the sole male valedictorian (along with one female). He has registered at the University of Colorado in Boulder for next fall, planning to major in Math and Astrophysics with a minor in philosophy. His girlfriend Marnie changed her major at the U of Northern Colorado to criminal justice and plans to pursue law.

Amelia (14) continues riding horses weekly and loves to hang out with friends, taking goofy photos or shopping. She is near the top of her math class and doing well at Early College High School, hoping to get numerous college credits by graduation.

Matthew (14) is still drumming in multiple churches every week, taking weekly drum and piano lessons along with sporadic guitar lessons. He's writing music and doing well in high school. He spends a lot of time learning various card and magic tricks, and got to meet leading illusionist Brock Gill this summer. He's also at ECHS, and enjoys learning Tae Kwon Do.

As always, we thank God for another year. My mother was tested for a family cancer gene, and discovered she was the only one of four daughters in her family not carrying the gene, for which we're thankful, even as we pray for several relatives who were stricken with cancer in 2008.

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