The Journey: Merry Christmas 2015

Christmas 2015

Greetings! We hope that you are doing well and are enjoying the delights of the season. It's beginning to look, smell, and sound a lot like Christmas here. Too soon it will be past, leaving us with good memories and a few extra packages of Tom's special meatballs. But, for now, we bask in the glow of Advent, waiting for Emmanuel.

The Thompsons have been deeply blessed with a very good year. It started on a stellar note with an extended Christmas visit from Jay's and Sarah's families. It's always good to have them back under our roof again. We are delighted to have Sally living nearby and it was great fun to have the entire gang together including our grands who are tweens and teens.

The Thompsons 2015

Ann, Tom, Andy, Milla, Sally, Jay, Toren

Lilja & Anna

Ella

Sarah, Katie, Emily, Kevin

After Christmas we settled back into our enjoyable retirement routine. We begin our week with worship at Hope Lutheran which brings us so many blessings. What a delightful family of faith we have there! As the week rolls out, you'll find us at the gym, back at Hope for classes and choir practice, and at Community Bible Study where we're studying the book of Isaiah. Tom continues in his role as a small group leader and Ann prays for the class. These two communities of faith keep us actively involved in ministry and in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

There are also patterns that unfold through the year. Winter is fun and a little quieter for us. This year we enjoyed beautiful snow. In February, we volunteered at our church for Tim Tebow's Night to Shine, a prom for special needs adults. Spring found us with dirt under our nails as the garden awakened and we spread 50 yards of mulch. (Garden pics)

Notice our blue glass ball at the base of tree.

Oops!

Tom snagged this great snow pic.

Our yucca gave us an unexpected treat when it blossomed.

We visited Charleston, SC, for our annual spring adventure with friends. This summer Ann hosted a small group of friends to study Beth Moore's Children of the Day. What a gift of Amazing Grace! Fall brought a lovely leaf show, volunteering at Touched by Hope - a free medical/dental clinic at our church, and the church women's retreat. Fall also brings a heavy choir practice schedule as we work hard to prepare for our Christmas cantata. Before we knew it, the holidays were pressing upon us. Thanksgiving was extra special as we hosted dear friends. Then came the holiday festivities including the Scandinavian fair and a European market, making lefse and meatballs, and celebrating with family and friends. Through the year, we enjoyed geocaching, visiting our lovely local gardens, Killer Sudoku and Kakuro challenges. Ann enjoys quilting (Ann's Stitchery) and gardening. Tom keeps busy with technical support; lawn, garden, and drip irrigation management; and critter control. He does take some time off to cheer on his favorite teams. We're still working on documenting our 2014 Norway adventure and Tom's genealogy. (Norway pics, links to blog entries on the left) We greatly appreciate the help of his Norwegian 2nd cousin Jorunn Sandstøl Birkeland in this research. We enjoyed Carolina Ballet performances, Artsplosure, helping screen a new Civil War movie called UnionBound, a local performance by Garrison Keillor on his farewell tour, and a jaunt to visit our new Cabela's.

Andy, Ella, Sally, Anna

We enjoy the gift of family. It is such a blessing to have Sally's family nearby! They generously include us in their lives. Ella (12) is our Instagram coach and the volleyball queen and imaginative Anna (10) enjoys swimming, tennis, and performs for us in Broadway Bound. In July, the girls took us to Grand Camp at Camp Lutheridge near Asheville. What fun we had! Our retreat leader was the pastor that baptized both girls. It was special to reconnect with him and his family.

The happy campers

Precious friendships were made.

Ella's baptism

Anna's baptism

Ella, Pastor David Hood, Anna

Pastor Hood, his wife Jo and their grands.

This summer we joined the Bobers for an evening of live music and a picnic on the hillside under shade trees in the quaint little riverside town of Saxapahaw. We've had fun hosting sleepovers with the girls and their friends, shopping in ritzy stores with Ella, touring the vet school with Anna, and introducing them to the International Festival.

Our sleepover buddies

International Festival

Grandpuppy Ruby also enjoys hanging with the oldsters. She's very bright, so we taught her to write and to text.

Get this girl and IPhone!

For the first time in his NC life, Tom has a cousin living nearby. Jan and Gary Wysocki are delightful folks and it is great fun to have them here! And believe it or not, Tom's nephew Larry, whose company is in Mitchell, SD, is working on a project with Google's fiber installation in Raleigh. It was delightful to have him visit.

In late August, we visited Tom's Berg cousins in South Carolina. Violet Berg is the historian for that branch of the family. She generously shared her research with us. We got to meet her son Jim and his wife Pat who are on the faculty of Bob Jones University. We hope to reconnect when he comes to our area to take courses.

Sarah, Katie, Emily, Kevin in Franklin, TN

Dad and Sarah

Kevin and Sarah

Emily, Katie, Papa

Best Baker Award!

From Greenville, we traveled west to visit Sarah's in Franklin, Tennessee. We got to see Katie (12 ) practice softball and Tom got to cheer the Packers on with Sarah and Kevin and their Packer Backer club. Ann assisted chef Katie in making a delicious, beautifully decorated cake, which Katie was preparing as a birthday surprise for her - a real treat. Emily (14) is a lovely young woman who enjoys photography, her church, and high school, especially ROTC. We had fun with the family at a ballonfest that included a car show. Worshiping with them was a blessing. As you can imagine, the music in a church near Nashville is incredible! On the trek back, we met Ann's cousin Pattie and her husband Jim in Knoxville for lunch, then took the Parkway to Asheville. Before returning home, we explored Asheville's River Arts District.

Observing a family tradition

Oscar, JD, David, Tom

Margaret, John

Darrell, David, Thomas, Oscar

The guys in front of their childhood home

In October, we flew to the Midwest for a brothers reunion. It coincided with brother Dave's birthday, so we shared a few birthday traditions and got to see many friends and relatives at his birthday party. The brothers spent precious time sharing and recording memories. In Mitchell, we toured an archeological research site for the Mandan Indians. Our guide, one of Tom's grade school schoolmates, was excellent. In Sioux Falls, we had a delightful visits with Alice Ann Stange and Lyle and Jean Eidsness. We ended our Midwest tour in Omaha. We enjoyed our visit with Dave and Lila, special time with Todd's and visiting Omaha's highly acclaimed zoo.

Lila, Dave, Tom, Ann

In November, Tom joined Ann in Wilmington after the women's retreat for a few days of exploration, geocaching, and a visit with dear friends Ted and Ellen Prevatte. Wrightsville Beach was lovely, as was Airlie Gardens. We also took ~~our yacht~~ the ferry to Southport and explored that quaint little seaport.

Ann's retreat table group

The Airlie Oak

Wrightsville Beach art

Wrightsville sound sunset

Pyrates in Southport

Our Finns

Toren, Milla, Lilja, Jay

Jay and his family remain in Finland. Toren (just turned 15) and Lilja (10) are fluent in both Finnish and English. Their school opened this year in a new facility. Toren was honored with the opportunity to introduce the American ambassador to the opening assembly. Lilja is an artist and quite the social butterfly. The family added our newest grandpuppy, Kacey, who's a real hit. Milla's family suffered the unexpected loss of her father in mid-December to a brief, but tough battle with cancer. It is very difficult to believe that Kai is gone. He was a talented baker, successful businessman, artist, and a very creative man who renovated autos, designed and built a huge addition to their home and a pontoon complete with sauna. He left an honorable legacy and was a blessing to his family in so many ways.

Kai's untimely death has given our Advent and Christmas celebrations even deeper meaning. Remembering the gift of Immanuel, His death on the cross for our atonement and the assurance of eternal life, and anticipating His glorious return to claim His Kingdom ground us in the assurance that we will join Kai and all those precious ones who have gone before us to worship and praise God in His eternal Kingdom. To God be the glory, blessing, and honor!

May God abundantly bless you and fill you with His perfect peace in 2016.

Tom & Ann

A few post notes:

Alert!