Merry Christmas 2011

We haven't sent Christmas cards in many years.  We've loved many of your cards and posts and we'd like to respond in kind.  It's a little strange as many of you already know many of our goings on via facebook, but maybe you'll still hear something new.
We're in the middle of our fifth year here in Okinawa and we still love this beautiful, small town place.  We still don't know where we're going next year.  The latest possibilities are DC, Camp Pendleton or another year here.  They all sound good to us.

Elijah just turned 8 and was baptized.  It was a wonderful experience with many dear friends, though we missed our extended family across the ocean.

Summer 13 is in middle school.  She's a great student and especially excels at art.  Unfortunately her artwork rarely fits on the scanner. ;)  She can always be found with a baby in her arms and her babysitting skills are always in high demand.  She and Brenda took a mother daughter trip to Tokyo in March for a swim meet that was cancelled due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami.  We were not alarmed when we felt the earthquake but were heartbroken  later to discover how bad it really was.  Thankfully Summer was still able to do baptisms for her first time, in the Tokyo Temple.  The Marines flew us home to Okinawa on C130s.

With cousin Evelyn