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Millennial Christmas 2000 from the Holwicks Dear friends, The turning of the millennium finds us older, grayer and thinner (all of us are the first, Celeste and I are the second, and I guess I am all three if you limit it to hair). In one month even Sarah will be able to drive and Becca is set to graduate in the spring; she is applying to Seattle Pacific in Washington because it is Christian and verrry far away. For her Senior year she decided to try a Christian boarding school and found Houghton Academy (New York) on the internet. It was pricey but we are very pleased with how she has done. She even plays basketball as a forward and got three points in her first game. In the second game they hinted she could not park herself under the basket (she had no clue). She has a new snowboard and keeps hurting her wrist. Sarah has been in the high school choir (real high class) and tennis and swim team. Everyone likes her because she is so easy to pass in the ratings. Daniel has a new baby grand piano and practices an hour a day so that he has moved up to the third spot in the recitals. He is in the county choir and does beautiful solos in church; he also gave a beautiful testimony for his baptism this month. Josiah is Josiah. He has lots of friends but Daniel is his best and they play with Lego for hours. A town, complete with power grid, fills the entire floor of their oversized room. Every Thursday the homeschool science class comes over and they cut up dead stuff and then play with the Lego. Josiah picked out our tree this year but Becca says it looks emaciated (the Lego train happens to fit under it nicely). In February the boys drove down to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We all returned for Thanksgiving, which we spent at Denny's across the street from the condo. They forgot to take mom's order, forgot to serve her food, and (worst of all) forgot to ask her if she wanted dessert. I doubt we'll go there next Thanksgiving. Josiah went fishing every day and caught some ugly ocean catfish at the condo pier. We saw manatees, too. For our summer vacation we spent a week in Celeste's parents' cabin in Maine. The boys love to fool around in the water and we explored their lake in a canoe. Celeste and I took a lighthouse tour that was beautiful. It is like dating all over again - she cut her hair so she looks like a different woman to me. Our church has had many activities and I went on a house-building trip to Haiti with a small crew. The conditions were incredible but we got the foundation of the house done and met the family who would move into it. The young people are enthusiastic about going back again. I became a teacher this year for the Lay Leaders Institute, leading classes on Biblical Interpretation and the Pentateuch. It is fun giving pop quizzes and term papers. My website has gotten some inspiring letters from Fiji, Germany, England, Australia and the Czech Republic. I am now an official (low-value) dot-com at http://www.holwick.com. Maybe next year I will update my personal page! We began our Christmas season with a walking tour of New York City and included a trip to the top of the Empire State Building, per Josiah's request. We made the obligatory trek to the Rockefeller tree and the Macy's windows and returned home to breath-taking New Jersey. It does grow on you here, believe it or not. We wish each of you the happiest Christmas and extend an open invitation to visit us. We can host 30 at a time and have room to spare. Love, |