(Doug) I am writing this Christmas letter on a foggy grey day with the temperature outside hovering around freezing. No snow on the ground and the weather experts tell us we will have a green Christmas. Ugh. But a fire is burning in the fireplace, our old (plastic) Christmas tree is back up, lit beautifully in the front window for all to see and our family is relatively healthy and happy.
This has been a transition year for our family. By the grace of God and help from family and friends we have managed to make it a good one. Some time in the past Wanda & I were given a 'stress' test to measure what level of health risk we were at. Our transition years; 1996, 2001, 2007 and now 2011 would measure pretty high. I found the test at this link in Wikipedia, called the 'Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale', and by using this, we're right up there on the charts again this year; 288 which puts us at moderate risk of illness (300+ is 'at risk'). We are in good health, thank the Lord, as evidenced by the report from the insurance company who ran tests on Wanda & I to make sure we were within acceptable parameters health wise (and we were). In case you want to check yourselves on how stressful a year you had, here is that link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
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Transitions: Here are the transition highlights and lowlights for us
May and June – Saying Good-bye – We're not good at this yet.
We haven't figured out how to finish the work at hand, pack everything up and say good-bye to friends and partners at work without leaving loose ends. We didn't realize we should write a letter 30-60 days prior to our leaving to all MCC partners so that they would have a chance to say good-bye. It makes sense, closure. Some partners did find out and some gave us wonderful farewells. Others found out late and were disappointed they couldn't give us a farewell. To be honest, the 1/2 dozen farewells we had were just about all we could handle emotionally. For each partner it is but one meeting, but for us the emotions happen again and again with each farewell. The stress test didn't have a direct accounting for that so I added all the change factor points in.
June-August – Saying Hello – As we made plans to stop in Europe and travel to see friends and family, with at least 15 pieces of luggage, we kept telling ourselves that this huge effort would be worth it and someday, in the future, we would look back and be very glad we did spend those weeks in Europe. I believe that to this day.
In Amsterdam/ Almere we were hosted by family, Miriam and Bob Phillips. In the midst of their busy lives Bob & Mim accommodated us and our luggage (stashed in all corners) and let us crash in two rooms of their small urban Euro-home. We ate Dutch/American meals at their table and listened with fascination as they talked about their ministry and their lives as outsiders to becoming part of Euro-Dutch culture. Many highlights;
visiting the fastest growing church in Holland
riding public rail into Amsterdam
visiting the Rijks Museum, downtown Amsterdam, Anne Frank House
visiting Singelkerk on a Sunday when a Mennonite church choir from Winnipeg filled the empty space with beautiful music
visiting the cheese sale in Alkmaar and and the windmills in Zaandam
driving a car from Almere through north Holland, over the sea dijk to Friesland and back down to Almere in one day
watching Bob drag his potted blueberry plants into the shed as a storm approached (and then Bob telling the girls to pick those delicious blue berries and having them for breakfast!)
The girls discovering Stroopwafels for breakfast
Travelling in the train from Amsterdam to Basel overnight and back during the day.
In Basel we were hosted by 2 families; Andreas & Manuela Kohler Martin and by Bruno & Heidi Sagesser-Rich. Andy & Manuela made arrangements for us and the Sagesser-Rich family generously gave us the run of the 2nd floor of their home, a large building with a business on the ground level and their home on the first and second floors. Again, so many highlights, but here are a few;
Seeing Andy & Manuela again after all these years and meeting their family!
Wonderful Swiss breakfasts at Heidi's table.
riding the public rails in Basel, walking the streets of the city
visiting churches, museums and shops in Basel
Sunday service for a combined Swiss Reformed and Anabaptist group at the Reformed church where the Reformed hosts, inexplicably, performed an infant baptism on that Sunday!
A day trip south into (formerly) Anabaptist territory (Emmental, Langnau, Trachselwald castle) and over to Lake Thun and Interlaken
A day trip into the Juras, where I lived and worked as an MCC trainee near Tramelan.
A supper with Ernst & Ruth Sprunger after all these years. A supper meal with Aschli and Mary Friesen Amstutz and their daughter Anna, making new friends along the way.
In Canada and U.S. We travelled to visit friends and family after we arrived back in Toronto on July 12. For two months we stayed in Tavistock above Quehls Restaurant and at the Roth grandparents.
For those two months we travelled to visit family (Amstutz grandparents in Kidron) and then on to Pennsylvania and Virginia as well. One highlight was to meet up with our 'Ethiopian' friends in Harrisonburg, staying with Glenda Hostetter and her daughters at their house and with Darren & Cindy Schaupp and family when they came up from South Carolina.
August-October – Getting Settled – By the time school started we, as a family, were very ready not to live out of suitcases any longer. Some highlights include;
School – 'We can make it happen' Those words were music to our ears. Rockway Mennonite Collegiate was the school our daughters hoped to go to and although Wanda & I hoped for the same, we didn't think it would be possible. But a visit to RMC followed by a meeting with Tom Bileski made it happen. So far so very good. This is one blessing of many we are grateful to God for.
Work – Wanda was offered the interim pastor job at Stirling Ave. Mennonite Church and she began in September. She has had a great experience in the church, enjoying the leadership and the congregation. We all have made friends there, it's been a great church to 'land' into from overseas. What have I been doing? Yes, a question I hear often. We made the decision that, unless 2 jobs opened up immediately, one of us would organize the transition/ move. That has fallen to me. I have been the unpacker, the organizer, the handyman and the housekeeper. I have put my resume/ MLI into a couple of places but won't hear until the new year. In the meantime I have also been an MCC storyteller (Goshen, Indiana and Albuquerque, New Mexico) and will have 2 more stints; one in January in eastern Pennsylvania and in Harrisonburg, Virginia and one in February in Wayne/ Holmes counties, Ohio.
House – Another priority in August was to find a house. We eventually found a fixer upper in a good location to shopping areas and highway access in Kitchener. We got sticker shock looking for housing that fit our basic needs (we have a 4 bedroom house but with a postage stamp size back yard, we are in the city but on a busy street, the price was comparatively normative in this current market but lots of work involved). We moved into 153 McGarry Drive in Forest Heights on October 4 and have been renovating ever since. Carpets on the both floors taken out, painting and trimming done. Several windows replaced, complete overhaul of ensuite bathroom. We're almost done with stage 1. Stage 2 will be renovating the kitchen.
November-December – homecoming – As we continue to open luggage and boxes from our past and place it in the present, the house is becoming a home. I travelled for almost 2 weeks in November as an MCC storyteller and on the road I began to anticipate my homecoming. It will probably take some getting used to but at this point we will be continue to be city dwellers for the forseeable future. Here are a few points of living I have observed thus far at 153 McGarry Drive;
If you don't have curtains, the lights shine into your bedroom windows brightly at night (so does a full moon).
We'll just pull up the carpets and paint. I didn't anticipate how much work goes in to all that; it all takes time to prep a room for painting, much less the time it takes to paint.
Walking is free! And walking unaccosted is a freedom I no longer take for granted. No one bothers me when I go out and walk for exercise. Plus it costs me nothing to walk.
Water/utilities are not free but they are easy and clean. I can brush and rinse with water from the faucet. But I still cringe to hear my daughters take long showers (anything over 3 minutes is long). I just heard from the couple who replaced us that they are without water again and have to call in the water tanker for the MCC compound. I may never take water for granted again. I have stopped worrying about whether the power will go off in the middle of a TV program or internet download. Great story; one school day at Rockway, the power goes out for a couple of minutes. Kids start screaming but my daughters say, what's the big deal? Teachers admire our daughters' calmness.
Internet/phone is expensive but fast and reliable. OK, Ethiopia has the most expensive internet/ telecommunications in Africa but I sure miss my Nokia phone and calling anywhere in country for a relatively cheap price. Only the caller pays, not the receiver. A big rip off in North America to have both pay.
Finally, Milestones:
March 2 – Our 15th wedding anniversary. Now we do celebrate our anniversary every year with a special meal or event. But our personal tradition is that every 5 years Wanda & I do something extraordinary and each time it's been more extraordinary than the previous time. At our 5th it was a weekend at a B&B in Baden, Ontario (with 3 very young daughters taken care of by the grandparents Roth, thanks!). At our 10th it was 10 days of visiting spring training baseball in Florida in March (again, our girls hosted by grandparents Amstutz, thanks!). Our 15th was a trip for 2 to South Africa, Pretoria and Capetown. We rented a car in the Cape and travelled down to the tip of Africa and up into wine country. An amazing land with a heart wrenching history and a hopeful future (special thanks to our dear friends, the Hostetter family, who hosted our daughters for 10 days!!! And to our friends in Pretoria, Jason & Mary Trego for their warm hospitality).
March 4 – my 50th birthday. We celebrated that in the Cape as well as in Addis. The only thing that made it special was to be with my wife and friends.
April 8 – Amani and Abigail's 13th birthdays. Our daughters have become teenagers. We have had golden years with our daughters up until now and I hope that continues. But we are bracing for growing pains. At any rate it is great so far!
Night has fallen on this shortest night of the year in the northern hemisphere (Dec. 22). The fire still burns. The family is home.
I wonder what the next year has in store for us. In the meantime we are grateful for the basic necessities of life; health and access to health care, shelter, food, utilities that are clean and constant, transportation and income. We remember that many don't have these basic necessities/ luxuries (a vehicle is that, no?). We are are grateful to live in a western democracy. Yes, I know there are problems here with politics and politicians, but compared to other places, we are fortunate.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
In Christian peace and love,
Doug, Wanda, Amani, Abigail and Sophia
153 McGarry Drive
Kitchener, ON N2N 1A8
Canada
