Merry Christmas 2017 from the Holwicks

Dear friends,

The first Christmas was a time of great transition. As the prophet Isaiah foretold it, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned" (Isaiah 9:2). Celeste and I are entering our 29^th year of bringing the light of Christ to Ledgewood and come next June we will transition to retirement; unlike most people who retire to the warm South, we will retire to the less-warm North. More on this in a bit.

In early spring Celeste and I traveled to a land we have not seen in a long time - Israel. It was wonderful to see the sights of the Holy Land again and so many archaeological sites have been developed since we were there in the 1980s. They have done so much digging underneath Jerusalem it is a wonder it hasn’t caved in. For added excitement, a pickpocket stole my cell phone so I have almost no photos of the trip. [To add insult to injury, just before Christmas someone broke into the church office and stole my computer which had all the original montage photos, so it is not "clickable" this year.]

In April our church celebrated the 100^th anniversary of our sanctuary. We had a combined service with both the English and Spanish-speaking congregations (over 290 people!) and a sermon by the new head of the American Baptist denomination, Lee Spitzer. Afterwards we had a big potluck dinner and took a photo of everyone in front of the church, just like they did back in 1917.

In late August into September we took our summer vacation out West. We started in Lakewood, Colorado, to visit Josiah and Julia and visited the mansion in the mountains where they will be married in July. Then Josiah and his buddy Diego joined us for a trek up to Wyoming to see the total eclipse of the sun. We had no idea where we would camp and ended up in a vast national forest north of Pinedale. It was the first time I had to use the 4-wheel-drive on my truck and I loved it. From our elevated position we had a clear view of one of the most stupendous experiences of my life. It was very dramatic as the sunlight dimmed and then went out. It was over before we knew it, and Celeste and I parted with Josiah and hiked up Jackass Pass to the Cirque of the Towers and its majestic peaks. It was an exhausting hike but even Celeste admitted our campsite was one of the most picturesque we have ever had.

For the end of the vacation we hightailed it over to Maine to do some househunting. We have never been homeowners before so it was all new for us. Celeste vacationed in Maine as a kid and it is conveniently located for (half) our family. We started in Stonington on Deer Isle in the north, then checked out Vinalhaven Island, Boothbay, and finally Harpswell. We found houses we loved in each location but Boothbay won out. The home is deep in the woods, fairly new (1989 - we always thought we would retire to an ancient house) and its north side is filled with windows to look out at a cove of the Cross River. It has a huge basement for my stained glass as well, and Daniel constructed an awesome studio. After the fun of getting a mortgage we signed the papers and it, and all its headaches, is now ours.

At Thanksgiving we had the whole family (or at least most of them) up to the house. Becca even flew out from Tahoe. (Josiah and Julia missed because they were traveling in Thailand and Kara had to do FEMA duty in Texas.) We did some kayaking and hiking, had a wonderful turkey dinner with lots of pies, and Matt even figured out how to view a football game using his phone and our TV. The highlight was taking everyone to the awesome Festival of Lights at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Local culture!

The joys of the year have been accompanied by a few sorrows. Karen, a church friend, was killed by a drunk driver at an annual conference we were attending. And in November my long-time secretary, Sharon Lesko, succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Her memorial service was truly a celebration of life. One who has beaten cancer (her doctor assured her of this) is Celeste. She has been cancer-free since 2006, though the treatments have had their consequences. On December 13 she had major surgery to remove 3 feet of her small intestine that had been damaged by radiation and after only two-and-a-half days they released her to go home. Hopefully she will be able to eat vegetables and fruit again!

We wish all of you a blessed Christmas filled with love and faith.