Blessed Christmas 2023!

Cathy and I are pleased to send you our love as we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us. 

2023 was our first year of retirement as a couple and we have been quite busy. In *review:

• We became members of First Baptist Church of Port Orchard WA, where our first born and his family are members.
• Following Cathy’s birthday on March 14, we took a three month “road trip” in our 1995 motorhome from March 15 to June 10, traveling over 10,000 miles, visiting family and friends, passing through over half of the states and part of Canada, visiting historical sites and natural wonders, and relaxing while camping and cruising. We experienced every kind of weather from heavy snow to energy-sapping heat and peaceful calm to extreme winds while driving past wild fires and tornado damage. No regrets whatsoever except that we wish we could have seen more friends and family.
• We gave our vegetable garden a sabbatical but will go at it again in 2024.
• We returned briefly to Oklahoma in July to attend the funeral and memorial service of our dear friend, Pastor David Young, with whom I served for 22 ½ years.
• In September we took our fourth cruise to Alaska and met wonderful new friends when we attended the worship service at White Cliff Church (formerly FBC) in Ketchikan.
• Also in September, we attended the Northwest Baptist Convention’s “Life Enrichment Conference” in Cannon Beach OR. We will be going again in 2024!
• I turned 71 in October. I still have most of my teeth and will be getting a new (replacement) one in January.
• In December we took another trip across the country to attend a very special occasion for one of our kids. More on that in the family update.

*Each of these events could easily be a long chapter in a book of how God has blessed our lives. There simply isn’t room to mention all the wonderful people we had the privilege to see and visit and who treated us like royalty, nor describe the experiences we had such as all we did to celebrate our 49^th anniversary at Niagara Falls.

Updates on the family—

Mom is 94 and doing well. She still lives in her own home in Eugene OR and still drives her own car, although less frequently. She misses Dad but is at peace knowing he is in heaven and that she will join him someday. We are not ready for her to make that journey, yet, and are so grateful for my niece, René who stays with her each night.

All three offspring and their families are in the same places we left them in last year’s letter.

• Aaron is still working for the government at the shipyard in Bremerton. He, Denise, Sélah, and Emma still live in the same house here in Port Orchard but Jada is no longer their foster daughter/sister because on September 19 her adoption became official! To put it in its proper perspective, Cathy and I have our eighth grandchild.
• Alison does something with cryptocurrency and is, apparently, fairly good at it. She, Shane, Cecilia, and Avery are still in Eureka CA but Dr. Shane Calhoun will have finished working in the California State University system at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (formerly Humboldt State) by the end of December and will be growing his private counseling practice.
• David continues as the “Executive Pastor of Discipleship” at Graceland Church in New Albany IN. Earlier in December, we joined him, Jordan, Levi, Maelie, and Hank in Wake Forest NC as David was hooded, receiving his EdD (Doctorate in Education) from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, concluding five years of academic work. We are very proud of his accomplishment as well as all the extra work Jordan has done while David was studying and traveling for school.

Now that we are both retired, Cathy and I are “relaxing” by trying to learn how to operate our toys. Cathy has Cricut and Silhouette machines that are supposed to make letters, designs, and stuff. I think they are best at making her frustrated. For my birthday, Cathy gave me a laser engraver and, so far, I have learned how to fill a room with smoke and make wooden objects that may or may not resemble Christmas ornaments. I also now have a box of very dry and expensive kindling for whenever we want to cook some s’mores.
Additionally, I have been given the opportunity to write the “Group Plans” (teaching plans) to go along with three months of adult Bible study for next winter. I am already behind.

In the near future—
We are looking forward to taking our first trip to Hawaii in March, paying off the car right after observing our 50^th anniversary in May, and this coming October we plan to console ourselves regarding this aging thing by attending our 50 year class reunion at Oklahoma Baptist University. It will be our first in many years. Surely we will feel better after seeing how old everyone else is.

Please, know that you are in our prayers! If there is anything in particular you would like us praying about, just send us an email, text message, or one of those snail mail things.

In His love, 

Jim and Cathy