Christmas Wishes from us to you!

 It's Christmas time!!  And here are the signs of Christmas in our apartment!  And downtown:

It's helping us get into the Christmas spirit.  We're excited about the celebrations here, but also about the privilege of coming back to the states for two and a half weeks to see our kids and grandkids!!

It's hard to believe we've been in the UK for four and a half months!  What adventures we have had!!  As I was beginning to think about writing this, I was trying to even remember what had happened in the first seven months of the year.  It seems so long ago - - -

But a couple of milestones came to mind.  Buist was celebrated for 40 years on the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary.

 He had reunion activities with his seminary graduation class--40 years.  And that same weekend, I was up at Wheaton with two of my roommates from many years ago, celebrating our 45th reunion.

In June I retired from my job as School Partnership Catalyst and founder/director of School Works.  I left that post in very capable hands to a lady that is carrying on that ministry for Irving Bible Church.  It was the end of my serving on staff at IBC for more than 22 years--as Children's Pastor and then in my more recent ministry.

Buist and I celebrated 45 years of marriage on June 14th.  And then in late June, our family all gathered together at a beautiful house on a lake in East Texas for a week.

It's always such a highlight to have our families all together and see the cousins interacting with each other and to see the relationship of aunts and uncles to all the kids--and of course, for us to have all our grandchildren together.

Our kids have had momentous years as well.  Joe and Jenny welcomed a sweet new baby girl Ellis in February.  She's a cutie!  And Joe has returned to teaching math at a middle school in Fort Worth, while taking graduate courses in Administration, while Jenny is working part time as a nurse anesthetist.

Ben and Emily are living in our house for this year and taking care of our dog.  Their kids are all doing well.  And Ben has started a new business Dependable Handyman DFW (http://www.dependablehandymandfw.com/) while Emily is working in a new job at Michaels.

Lydia and Kevin haven't had big changes this year.  Kevin has had two extended trips to China in his work as a mechanical engineer.  Lydia continues to homeschool, this year having two students as Caleb has started kindergarten.  And their youngest is absorbing lots in the process.

Martin and Shelly are doing well in Alabama.  They decided to try homeschooling this year, and Shelly is teaching all three of them at home.  They were able to do a trip to VA this fall--going to Jamestown and Williamsburg (as well as visiting family) as part of their home school curriculum.  This spring they are planning to visit us and take in much history while they are here.

Then in late July we packed up and headed on our way!

We started our time in the UK with a trip to northern Scotland as a celebration of our 45th anniversary.

We saw some amazing sights, and had a wonderful time seeing a part of the world that we had never gotten to see before.

Then on August 1st, we moved into our apartment for the year at Tyndale House, a wonderful evangelical study center and library.

Since then Buist has been working hard on writing the commentary on Revelation that he is under contract to write.  He spends his days at his study desk in the library working hard.

I've gotten involved with a Bible study/prayer group here at Tyndale House and with the International Women's Group at our church and with a One to One mentor relationship with a student at Cambridge University.  Those activities have given my week form and function, and I've also had a wonderful time getting to know the men and women from all over the world studying here at Tyndale House.

We've enjoyed getting to explore the city of Cambridge.

 We've taken a couple of smaller trips on weekends to see various sights around this area.

 And we've enjoyed our first set of company that came to stay with us.

So it is with full hearts that we look back over this year and think of the many, many ways that God has met us in our plans, and in our travels, and in the work we are doing here, and in the amazing people we have had the privilege to meet and interact with here at Tyndale House.

We'll look forward to hearing about your year.  And we hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
                                                      With love, Jan and Buist