2008 Diercks family Christmas LetterMerry Christmas 2008!Hello friends, We’ve had another good year in California. Caris loves being in Kindergarten; she’s a very good reader and has a great number sense. She also is very good at crafts and is very musical, a very good singer, but most of all, she’s a real socialite. She has a very loving, friendly heart. Davis is enjoying 5th grade very much. His teacher this year has a passion for science, as does Davis, and a light, fun sense of humor, as does Davis. They’re a good match. Davis is very good at math, he’s an advanced reader and a truly excellent writer. Davis is also a wonderful musician; he’s now in formal piano lessons and plays the trumpet at school, he’s progressing very nicely, and is still a great singer, too. Davis loves making his own computer programs and games in a programming language for kids called “scratch” (scratch.mit.edu). He’s also a remarkable engineer using Legos and K’Nex. Keli has enjoyed having 2 kids in school for part of each day. I love spending time with Caris in the mornings, then having some house time in the afternoon. I’ve taken this opportunity while the kids are both in the same school to accept a position as co-editor of the weekly school newsletter. I really enjoy it. I also still sing in the church choir, and am still the conductor of our hand bell choir that practices each week and plays in church once a month. It’s a very fun, lively group! Jon has been involved in several interesting projects this year, including performing jazz at a fund-raising event for breast cancer research, producing a how-to video for some productivity software, installing a completely new phone system at the company where he works. He has had fun doing things together with the family like playing tennis, going to the circus, and taking a horse-drawn carriage ride to view neighborhood Christmas light displays. We had a wonderful summer vacation this year. We saw Jon’s family in Chicago, then went to the North American Convention of the Church of God in Anderson, IN, then Jon & the kids came home while Keli attended her nephew, Josiah’s, bar mitzvah in Virginia. It was a really nice time to see Keli’s parents and siblings. We’ve been trying to take advantage of the dismal economy by looking for a house to purchase while prices and interest rates are so low. We haven’t found quite that perfect fit yet , but at least a few possibilities have come into view over the past months. We’ll see what God has for us. We’d love to hear how all of our friends are doing, so drop us a line, email, blog update, check Jon’s blog (it gets updated regularly-like twice a year), catch Jon or Keli on facebook, linkedin, classmates.com… Hope this finds all of you well! Love, Jon, Keli, Davis and Caris Diercks
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