March 29, 2024

2009 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends:

2009 has been an interesting year for our country and I imagine that the old Chinese blessing/curse – "May you live in interesting times!" – applies to many of us. Despite the financial and political turmoil we experienced this year, 2009 was a very good one for our family.

Significantly, Marc and Monica continue to work at their respective jobs with no indications of change in that necessary part of life. To paraphrase Paul, work is an imperative that must be performed should one expect to have dinner on the table. That may be less true in today’s welfare state but we aren’t planning to take any chances!

Since last Christmas, the twins ran JV track for Iola and brought home various medals and ribbons for their efforts. Construction is underway on the new football field that hopefully will be ringed by an actual track that will help a lot in future seasons. In the spring they finished their freshman year in high school while David wrapped up 6th grade, ending his elementary years.

The boys had a very busy summer helping run a vacation bible school in Hearne with the Iola Missionary youth group and traveling sans parents to Indiana to spend some time with their grandparents. After that trip we vacationed for 2 weeks as a family, first in the Texas hill country and later in the mountains of Colorado where we had a great time at Horn Creek camp. While there we visited a wolf sanctuary, played lots of sports, rode horses, and hiked in the mountains. One day Marc, Mitch, and Jake took a seven hour guided hike up Horn Peak (13,450 feet). We hope to go again this year if all continues to go well.

Fall is a blur, as it is every year, and we are glad that winter has brought an end to the hectic fall football and band season at Iola ISD where all three boys participate in both activities in addition to their academics. Jake was a starting linebacker on the varsity team this year and recently received honorable mention in the district for his play. Mitch played on the JV team, went both ways like an old-time iron man, and played nearly every down in each game. David played on the junior high team and had fun learning the game in his first season in the sport. The Iola band advanced out of the local area to the regional competition before bowing out. Jake plays trombone, Mitch is in the percussion group, and David plays French horn. Currently the older boys are doing workouts with the power lifting coach and can already bench press more than Marc ever has (or will).

We all continue to be active at Iola Missionary in our various areas of learning and service. We’ve been blessed with good friends, good teachers, and lots of opportunities for personal growth there. Overall we are all in good health, Monica’s upcoming surgery and Mitch’s short-lived bout with the dreaded swine flu notwithstanding.

Our location in Iola keeps us somewhat isolated from many of you. Rest assured that all is well with us here as we take on the challenges of making our ways in the world. Of the places we’ve lived, this is the most peaceful and suitable to the raising of a godly family.

Now, lest you think that things are overly placid at the Moore Dynasty, I should add that twins’ recent acquisition of driving permits threatens that hard-won sense of serenity! Soon they will be heading out on their own to begin the first steps in their independent lives. We have every confidence in them and know they will make us proud with what they do. Meanwhile, we will still have Dave at home with us to spoil with the riches due the youngest child!

We pray that the season of God’s great work finds you in similar good circumstances and that such difficulties as you face are overcome, if not easily then definitively, in time.

Love,

Marc, Monica, Mitch, Jake, and David

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