MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016!! Dear Family and Friends … It’s time we got out our Christmas letter, or, as Judy puts it, “It’s time to share some Christmas cheer!” Tomorrow is the end of November. Truly, Christmas comes earlier each year. While it’s only my 77th this time, it is Judy’s 78th so she feels it even more sharply. What a comfort it is that we know our times are in God’s Hand. Christmas 2016 finds us in good health generally and still Squaring and Birding. We are Stephen Ministers, Church Book Club Members, regular at the fitness center, and eating well. Judy is still an avid nutritionist and learning all the time. We enjoy the great walking, biking, and occasional swimming weather that prevail in Southern Arizona. We were in MI with Erma & Tom and celebrated Barb’s 89th birthday, returning via the Pennings’ farm, another good stay. When Gord and Lou came to Tucson we had great times and had them here a couple nights. We enjoy our church congregation on many levels, and we still regularly go into the Sonoran Desert to find distressed migrants who are losing their way and potentially their life. We remind you that over 6,000 have died out there over the past 15 years or so. We have read books such as: The New Jim Crow, Journey To The Common Good, All The Things I Never Told You, Being Mortal, The Underground Church. We are convinced that as responsible citizens who are followers of The Christ we must keep informed of the conditions and situations of our community and nation, in the context of all nations, and continually upgrade our response to God’s urging and direction. We have had this realization sharpened by our experiences of being a part of the Church in Taiwan and in the Philippines. How wonderfully our outlook on the world grew, and being in those churches helped equip us for joining in the opportunities here. Our children and their families are celebrating Christmas in their respective places which continue to be in Kansas and in Kenya: Rowland and Jane teaching at St. Paul’s University and Seminary, Jim teaching at Salina Tech, Amy pastoring in Ellsworth, Scot spreading cheer in his building and bringing special cheer to our home for the season. Each is responding to their situations as God directs them, and they report joy in doing so – along with some frustrations, of course. Aaron finds time for hunting and running and singing as well as being a sophomore in HS. Jamie is a freshman at U of Kansas in Lawrence pursuing a future in writing. Jenna has graduated from Hope and works on its campus at Haworth Center. Michelle is a sophomore at Hope and searching for the courses that will prepare her for employment with her math skills and human resource interests. Along with you and the rest of the world, we watch how our new USA administration and government will gel and where they will seek to lead us. We are hoping for a peaceful, shalom-marked year of health- care provision and poverty relieving progress, in which our nation develops better care of those who until now still languish as underclass and outsiders forced to the fringe of society, making it possible for them to live in dignity and to participate freely in a community of neighborliness and love. We wish the same sense of wholeness for all of you in the name of the One who makes all things new, and who shows us extreme generosity and abundance that is meant for all people. May the spirit that is in the Christ invigorate us all and grant us courage to follow in God’s way. With hope at Christmas,
Rowland & Judy 
Family Fun in Wisconsin
 |  | | Birding fun with Red-breasted Nuthatch & Kirtland’s Warbler | |