2006 Xmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

As an engineer in charge of this year’s letter, here is the year as concise as possible… school, murder, community group, home, Singapore, loneliness. Okay just kidding, here are some details…

In January, Carey started classes at a culinary school here in Austin. She has done amazingly well – top of her class! December 21^st, she finishes her last class and will officially graduate this spring after her internship. It has gone so fast and it has been a blessing to see her grow and discover something at which she excels and loves. Plus, I’ve been eating good!

Our first tragedy as a married couple happened at the end of April. In short, we witnessed the accidental shooting that resulted in the death of our next door neighbor. Even eight months after the event we still feel some emotion in writing about it.

Partially in response to what we witnessed, but mostly tired of renting, we got serious about buying a house. In May, we found a place we liked and walked through the scary, yet exciting steps of buying our first home. I don’t think either of us slept a wink the night we put an offer on the house.

The new home has been great. We have been remodeling the guest bathroom, eating breakfast with our squirrel friend in our backyard, and hosting a community group from our church. Carey’s computer is still sitting on the floor in the study, but we are getting there.

Not five days after we moved in, I left my wife to a box of houses for Singapore. AMD sent me over for three weeks of long hours of problem solving and training the Singapore team. It was a productive trip for work and also for ministry. While there I was able to visit Chinese, Malaysian, and Filipino churches with co-workers. I had no idea they were believers and it was mutually encouraging to discover each others’ faiths in Christ. Truly the Church of Christ is without boarders and crosses all cultures.

It’s been an eventful and stretching year for us. We’ve both learned a lot about personal discipline and the value of faithfulness in the small things. In some ways it has been a lonely year as our friendships here are young, but it has also been a very fulfilling year. We have both overcome obstacles that have left us with truer understandings of ourselves.

We look forward to another year of life and marriage. Our prayer for you this Christmas is that you would gain a genuine understanding of the transforming love of Christ.
May your life never be the same.

Merry Christmas, Chris and Carey