Merry Christmas from the Shaffers 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

Sam has 4 hours left of school this year, and Ben is at his grandparent’s house playing with his cousin. If there is going to be a Christmas letter this year, I’ve got these last precious moments to get it written. Since it is the week of Christmas, we're trying something new this year (with our apologies to the post office for not spending money on stamps) a Christmas letter update on the blog, emailed to those near and dear to our hearts.

               

Sam is 8 and enjoying 2^nd grade. He thrives at McLean Science and Technology Magnet School and has been blessed with loving and caring teachers who have taken him under their wings. 

                                                     

 He continues to be an avid reader and won the award for having taken the most Accelerated Reading tests for the K-2 grades. We were aiming for 200, but finished with 198 tests passed.He now has his name on a plaque in the library for all to see!  

Sam spent his summer at the pool and mastered diving into the pool, and multiple trips off the high dive. He thinks he might try out for the swim team next summer.

 

Sam has had many a visit from “Toothie” the tooth fairy in 2011. 

  

He continues to be involved with the study of Acts in Bible Study Fellowship on Tuesday nights with Doug and Awana on Wednesday nights. We are blessed that he has such wonderful caring leaders that sacrifice their time and talents for Sam. 

 

This year, Sam’s school received a grant to have the children try out different fruits and vegetables each week. Sam has tried out spinach, and mushrooms, papaya, and zucchini. For those of you who know Sam well, you will understand this stretch for him. (He eats the same 5 foods in his lunch EVERY DAY!) He has even mentioned that the mushrooms were good, but when I ask if I should buy them at the store the answer is, “No.” It was all good until the day of the banana sampling. I’ll leave the experience with these 2 words, gag reflex.

          

Ben will be 5 in a week. He has enjoyed his 2^nd year at Asbury Preschool, and just finished with his Christmas program where he heartily sang all the words and verses to “We Three Kings” and “Angels We Have Heard On High.” He seems to have the same knack for memorization as his brother. Ben is into all things Lego and has become very proficient on the computer. Ben continues to be involved with Bible Study Fellowship with me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and he is also a proud Cubbie Bear at Awana.

                                                      

He is a wonderful cooking helper as together we make snacks and desserts for Wednesday BSF class day.  He loves making concoctions with flour, salt, food coloring, and water, or whatever else he can sneak out of the cabinet and combine in a bowl.

Ben won the award for the first child to go to the Emergency Room. One evening in November Ben was breathing really quickly and very shallow. Around midnight when he woke up and said that his stomach was hurting, I figured it was time for the ER. His blood oxygen level was at 85 when he got there, so they quickly game him a breathing treatment, some steroids and a fantastic penguin mask. When they got home at 3:00 am, Ben was back to normal. The doctors said that this had to happen again before they would give him a diagnosis of asthma. 

 

As the realization hits that this will be Ben’s last spring before all day kindergarten next fall, we are trying to spend as much time together as we can.

Kristin continues to serve with Bible Study Fellowship and loves to watch the children learn and the leaders teach and play with the kids in the Children’s program. She started her 15th year teaching flute at Bethel College in North Newton, as well as Hesston College. I was honored to be asked to solo with the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony for their May concert. 

It was a mix of “what was I thinking” and “this turned out to be fun" and "Man, I don't want to do this again for awhile.” I enjoyed returning to my college professor, Dr. Frances Shelly for some lessons, and encouragement.  
Doug and I celebrated our 10^th wedding anniversary this February. Time flies when you are having fun. 

           

Doug is closing in on his tenth year with Bank of the West.  He is the branch sales manager and enjoys helping customers.  There have been a lot of changes at the bank the last couple of years.  The staff is different, but it is also good as he is working for the best manager in his entire working career (That’s about 25 years now).  This last summer Doug went to his 20^th high school reunion.  It was fun seeing everyone and was small enough to really enjoy some good company.  He is leading a men’s small group from church that meets Wednesday mornings at 5:45 a.m.  He is also enjoying his study in Acts with BSF.  He invited a friend from a networking group and is enjoying watching the Lord work in his heart.  On the way home from BSF, Sam enjoys “tater tot Tuesday” from Sonic.  We usually don’t get tater tots.  Sam enjoys munching down on a couple of chicken strips from the dollar menu.  It’s the simple things that we enjoy.  Kristin enjoys iced tea and Doug enjoys coffee from Starbucks. 

             

We had many opportunities to travel this year; the most exciting trip was going to San Diego, CA to celebrate the Keefer’s 50^th Wedding anniversary. 

Kevin drove down from Pasadena, and Bob and Lila and our family flew together from Wichita. What a wonderful city and fantastic weather. 

 We visited Sea World,

the San Diego Zoo,

toured the Midway air craft carrier museum,

 swam in the ocean (well, the boys did. I watched from the shore), 

and a repeat visit to Legoland. 

 

Doug was the chauffer for the trip. His trusted GPS took us right to the guard shack of the Naval Base instead of the ocean at Coronado. But every trip has to have something to remember and laugh about.

Other shorter trips took us to Tulsa to see the Oklahoma Aquarium,

and to St. Louis to visit our great friends the Hudsons. The Hudsons were kind enough to let Sam take a horse riding lesson with their son Joey. Sam loved it.

Closer to home we visited the Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson, KS.  650 feet below the earth traveled by elevator in total darkness. 

To celebrate our anniversary in February, we went to Atchison, KS to visit Uncle Hugh at St. Benedicts Abbey.

 We didn’t know at the time, but it would be our last visit. Uncle Hugh passed away in June. For my 40^th birthday, Uncle Hugh had given me an envelope with some music inside. I looked at him, puzzled, and he told me that I would know the time to play it. I was able to play the music he had given me at his funeral.

It was good to meet and hear from so many people that he had been a part of their lives. We especially enjoyed meeting the ladies who made up room #2 each time we came up to visit to Hugh’s exact specifications. This Thanksgiving was our first away from the Abbey in 11 years.   

Taking a ride in the Abbey Elevator and the Abbey House Room #2

While we both are enjoying keeping up with what our friends are doing through facebook, Doug has also tried to keep our blog more updated this year. Let us know if you would like to follow us, we can send you an email to notify you whenever Doug updates it. 

We always enjoy hearing from everyone at Christmas, seeing pictures and hearing about the events in your life this past year. We pray that you know and experience the peace that comes through a personal relationship with the baby born at Christmas that grew to become our Savior, and lives today at the right hand of God interceding for us.   

Merry Christmas from the Shaffer family!