1997
GREETINGS FRIENDS,
Praise the Lord and may you all have a happy Easter. We kind of missed the conventional time slot to send Christmas letters so I decided to start a new tradition - Easter Letters, and I am already way ahead. Disregard all the Christmas markings on this letter, we have a lot of leftover holiday stuff we had to get rid of.
Nicole is now 9, in fourth grade and is a world champion at giving hugs and greeting her dad at the door. She competes with our dog Molly for the first attention and always wins. Nicole is into that "Girl thing" of being in love with horses. She even keeps a "Horse Crazy" book filled with pictures of horses, research material, and networking phone numbers of others equally addicted. At our father/ daughter horse camp last Feb. we won the team horse race beating even the hired wranglers. It was a nearly perfect weekend except when Nicole tried to beat up an 18 year old wrangler for cleaning out the stable before she had a chance.
Jose (formerly known as Joseph) changed his name to make himself seem faster. He had a good year in football with numerous tackles, second place team in the league and only one slight concussion. Jose is a little impulsive at times and tends to be a whole lot obnoxious. When Michael bought a megaphone for two bucks, Jose decided to use it to announce that "Jesus is the Messiah" to the people driving by our house on their way to the Jewish temple. The temple has decided to move since the incident. Jose is very busy socially and seems to have little time for family anymore; I have to make appointments now to reprimand him when he's bad, and my name appears on his calendar quite often.
Michael, a sophomore in high school continues to grow in stature adding six inches since last year. All the growth occurred from the shoulders on down. He is the epitome of the movie "Big"; a boy's mind inside a man's body. He has started his own business using the internet to play arbitrage with used computer commodities. He has managed to generate handsome earnings of several hundred dollars working for roughly 2.5¢ per hour. Of course this leaves little time for homework causing school work to suffer. But low marks keep him from driving which is good because it saves his parents about $5 an hour. His business keeps him in his room nearly 100% of his time (we lock him out of his room as punishment) but it is forcing him to be inventive - like how to download a nutritious meal from the refrigerator from the internet.
Derrick is now a man-of-the-world in his sophomore year in college. He is doing well and taking life easy. His biggest worries seem to be how to get his friends to stop teasing him about having too many girlfriends and what to do during his next school break. He spent his summer as a camp counselor in a remote area of Canada and then delivering Pizza's. He has a great heart and is going through the typical stages of College idealism - like new and better ways to run the household for mom and dad; handing out sandwiches to the homeless; or donating his money to the Seattle Seahawks to buy tickets to the football game. Derrick is a great kid, fun to be around, good to his brothers and sister, and dreading the day he graduates and has to start working for a living.
Bobette has given up on trying to say no to volunteer work, so she is now trying the trick of covering her mouth with a piece of tape with "NO" printed on it. People laugh, pull the tape off and ask her to volunteer. She always says yes. Bobette is well known and seems to be loved by nearly everyone on Mercer Island for all her volunteer work; we are all very proud. She put on a Craft Bazaar in our house and did quite well; she sold about 2% of her crafts and made $800. Removing those crafts allowed me to clear a path all the way to the bed.
I'm still loving my job in the Coast Guard, but am due to get out in June. I'm looking for a job in the area working in production management. The years keeping Coast Guard helicopters flying were some of the most satisfying in my career, and that experience should translate pretty well in this area. Besides, companies like Boeing look like they could use some help. We hope to be able to stay in the area, but just recently Nicole decided she likes the Coast Guard and is now willing to move. Other than work I have been enjoying the area with lots of biking and hiking and coaching sports. I've never felt better, but Bobette thinks I need to gain some fat and the kids all say that I am shrinking.
God bless you all and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and the word of God dwell richly within you.
THE SCHEIDS, 1997
