Tart Christmas Letter 2006
May the Peace and Joy of Christ be with you!
Three kids at UT! Their Great Great-grandfather welded these wild mustangs on the UT campus. Wonder if he ever thought his offspring would go to school here?
Dear Friends and Family,
We
hope all is going well and wish you all the best of this
great season of joy and peace. In the midst of the turmoil of our world,
the Word made flesh speaks powerfully of our creator's presence in
the world. He is the Prince of Peace.
Highlights from 2006 Karen had a big
year. She performed a
wonderful senior piano recital in April. She worked for
two weeks at the ELCA National Youth Gathering in San Antonio and
enjoyed herself tremendously. She graduated
number 14 in her class of 610. She was accepted at UT and
is majoring in biology. She rushed and joined the Alpha Delta Pi Sorority
(the oldest sorority in the world) and is thoroughly enjoying the
college life. James and Paul are seniors at UT and still
petroleum engineering majors. Both had very good
summer internships. Paul has a job from Dominion E&P in Houston.
James is certain to have one by May. We are very proud of both of them
and their accomplishments. The studies have been incredibly challenging
to say the least. Most of all we are happy that they have both found
careers that they are excited about doing. Kathryn moved into the new Texas Woman's
University campus in Houston in August. It is a beautiful new building
and you can see it by going to
http://www.twu.edu/houston/ She was also hired for a faculty
practice by The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center as a
faculty liaison for a nurse internship program. One of her projects is
that she and David take weekend trips once a month. So far we have
gone to Arlington, Austin and New Braunfels. This month our whole family
will go to Hot Springs for her dad's 70th
birthday party. We will have a family reunion with all of Kathryn's
siblings and their families. David and the kids will see Kathryn's
mother in Eureka Springs for a few days after the reunion. David is half way through his masters in
instructional technology at the University of Houston. For him his
studying is like a hobby. He enjoys the challenge of
learning at this stage in life and is able to apply much of what he
learns. He is excited about how the internet can impact ministry and the
life of the church. Hosanna approved a three month sabbatical in 2007.
He is not sure what he will be doing in the sabbatical however he will
get some much needed rest and relaxation. Hosanna is doing well. Our web site won an award from
The Lutheran as one of the top 13 websites in the ELCA. Please visit it
at www.welcometohosanna.com.
We are planning even more web site development in 2007. As a family we went to Vail, Colorado in
January of 2006. It was great fun to ski and be in the snow for a week!
Then in August we went to Padre Island for sea, sand, surf and sun. David's mother still continues to struggle with
Alzheimer's disease. Between her nursing home, Bill, Linda, family and friends she is receiving the best of care and lots of love. Our family dog of 13 years, Seal, died this August. She was
a great dog. God bless, David, Kathryn, James,
Paul and Karen
Kathryn, James, Karen, David, Paul 
Paul, Karen, James in Vail, Colorado