Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from AZ,

This year is a special year of giving thanks for Martha and me. We still have to pinch ourselves from time to time just to make sure we are not dreaming. By God's grace we are here, living out the dream we put in place over 15 years ago.

Things are great here in AZ. We are getting settled in, and a certain rhythm is starting to develop. On MWFs I do a Total Gym workout here in the house (we bought one recently) because I am not a big fan of going to a gym. Martha will probably do TG as well and goes to a Pilates class on MWF. I am golfing once a week for now but I hope once the house gets "done" I can make that twice a week. There are four or five nice city/county courses I have played so far, and they are easy to walk. I just bought a golf push cart so I don't have to carry my clubs anymore because my shoulder has been bothering me a bit more these days.

We went to see "The Blind Side" last weekend. It was a great movie, based on a true story. In fact Martha and I made sure we watched some of the Baltimore Ravens game this past weekend. Go see the movie and you will understand.

Last Saturday we joined Resurrection Lutheran Church (RLC) and signed up to volunteer with Interfaith Community Services (ICS). You may recall that Martha was raised Lutheran (I was raised Catholic) so this is like going home for her. It is also very familiar to me because for the first 12 years of our marriage we worshipped at Lutheran churches. RLC is very outward focused, trying to meet various needs in the community, and ICS is focused on meeting daily needs in the Tucson area, from Mobile Meals to augmenting the local food bank. Martha and I feel that RLC and ICS is a good fit for us to start volunteering and helping others.

The house is coming along. We had a landscaper do a lot of work in the front yard (clearing, planting, new timed drip irrigation system) and it looks great. The new plants are fun and give the front yard a clean and diverse look (see above). We are especially fond of the Santa Rita Prickly Pear cactus (thanks JoAnn, John and Anna). The back yard will probably be a two year project. Also, we are about to tear up the kitchen and family room area. We are putting in new tile and new cabinets, as well as some minor construction to give us some more storage space. So, for about three weeks starting Dec. 7th, things will be a bit messy and disorganized. But we hope to have everything done by Jan. 8th.

We will be heading to MN on Dec. 24th again this year for Christmas and New Year. It will be great to see family and friends, and get another reminder why it is great to live in a snow-free zone! Right now the temps have been great, with lows in the 40s and highs in the mid 70s. This is the nicest time of year in Tucson for sure. We have met many of our neighbors, and they all seem like nice folks.

As I said at the beginning, Martha and I are well aware of how blessed we are. We thank God for all the blessings He has poured into our lives, especially all of our family and friends. We cherish each one of you and look forward to seeing some of you in the very near future.