A full year in review

It’s been an active year for us with our growing faith, family, and friends! By God’s grace, our health remains strong, and we’ve been able to spend quality time throughout the year hosting, visiting, vacationing, and sharing some holidays with our 4 grown kids and 8 grands (pics above, top right).

This year we were even able to travel to the West Coast for an extended visit with Susan’s older brother Hal and wife Carol in Oregon (above center left) and then with Bill’s sister Gail, Dick, and family on Vancouver Island. After spending a delightful time exploring the North Pacific Coast of Oregon with Hal and Carole, we traveled together up the coast, staying at an amazing lighthouse B&B at Heceta Head on our way north across the Columbia River, and up the Washington coast to Port Angeles. We then took a ferry over to Victoria and drove up the Island to visit Gail and Dick in Cassidy, BC.

Here we are pictured (above, center right) with Hal, Carol, and Dick in Gail’s art studio beside their home on Vancouver Island where they’ve lived on 160 acres of remote mountain forest and farmland with two other families for over 50 years! After organic farming and serving the community with a thriving roadside market for decades, Dick and Gail retired from the farm business, freeing Gail up to pursue her art where she’s become very prolific and well-known throughout the province. Their son David and his wife Ang and two growing teens live nearby. What a wonderful time we all had together!

We’ve also spent lots of time in each season at our cabin swimming, hiking about, hunting, and just generally hanging out. On August this year we took a beautiful canoe camping trip to the Adirondacks with Johanna and kids (above, bottom right)! Throughout it all Bill’s group studies, writing, and speaking engagements are keeping pace with Susan’s harp ministry and community work. God is Good!!