by Dear Family and Friends:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 2014 has gone by in the blink of an eye! It seems true what they say, that time goes faster as you get older. Either that or we have to sleep more so there is less time to notice going by! In any event, we are all in good health and the boys continue to carry on the Moore name very well.
Dave ran the mile and 2-mile races in track this spring and advanced to the Area meet in both events.
This year he is a senior and hung up his football cleats to concentrate on school, which includes 2 college credit classes, Calculus, and Anatomy, a tougher schedule than Iola has offered in the past. On weekends he works for a local rancher to make extra money and he attends church with friends in Bedias regularly. He’s planning to have another go at track in the spring and 2 Moore Dynasty records – Marc’s 1-mile time of 5:05 and Mitch’s 2-mile time of 11:19 – are up for grabs.
Jake continued his college education, first at Blinn Junior College in the spring and back at Sam Houston in the fall. He’s living at home again to save on his student loans and has recently decided to change his major to Criminal Justice. He works out regularly, often with me at my office gym, and has even begun to run fairly regularly, a big change for him. After gaining some weight while away at college, he’s now very trim as a result.
The three of us ran the Iola 5K this fall and finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (Dave, me, and Jake).
The three of us play disc golf together fairly regularly too.
Mitch is 18 months into his 4-year hitch with the Army. He was able to pay us a visit over the summer while on leave and earned his Expert Field Medic badge earlier this fall.
He’s in a relationship with a neat girl named BethAnne who is a ROTC student from NC-Charlotte and we got to meet her for the first time when we traveled to Columbus, Georgia for Thanksgiving last month.
In addition to his regular duties, Mitch started taking college classes online in the fall, something I hope he continues to do. He’s done very well in his unit thus far and hopes to be promoted to Specialist any day now.
Monica is in the middle of her 8th year of teaching 2nd grade at Iola Elementary and is the master of her classroom and an officer in the Band Boosters group. She is also very active at Iola Missionary, planning the Wednesday night meals, running the sound board on Sunday morning, and helping me out with the youth fairly regularly, including 2 trips to camp this year, and went with her mom and her friend Tammy to the Women of Joy conference in San Antonio in the fall.
I’ve been wrangling the youth at Iola Missionary since the end of January and we have had some good lessons and fun trips, including Hot Hearts in Austin and youth camp at Piney Woods with Monica, Dave, and the rest. Unfortunately, my time in that ministry is coming to an end because, starting in January, I’ll be taking online Masters classes via Georgia Tech in order to get my college teaching creds back in order. On the professional front, work is work, as they say. I’m near the end of my 10th year with the A&M System. I work out with Jake regularly and completed my 2nd – and absolutely final – marathon last week.
Of course, the biggest news of the year is that Monica and I hit a major milestone – 25 years of marriage – and celebrated with a trip to Austin and a big night out on the town after getting home:
There are few dull moments around here and the furry members of the family help keep life exciting. They say that you can’t have just one Mini Australian Shepherd and that seems to be true. We got Dagny in March to keep Tucker company and after a lengthy acquaintanceship, equilibrium finally seems to have been reached in recent weeks. They are sweet, loyal dogs and love to chase rolling discs and bring them again and again and again…
In closing, although we are far away from most of you geographically, know that we are all well and abiding in God’s blessings, which have always been bestowed on the Moore Dynasty in plenty. This year has passed, but that has not changed and we thank Him for all that we have.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Marc, Monica, Mitch, Jake, and David Moore
