1965

Hi!

It is Christmas letter time again - I'm later at it this year - deer hunting season is over. Vince went out one day but it was so foggy that he couldn't see a thing so he came home early. The rest of his deer hunting spent lying around the house with flu. His hunting this fall has been minimal - very few pheasants (we're told) and he's been after squirrels only once or twice.

This has been a busy year (aren't they all?) and these last few weeks seem especially so. Vince has finished the Bethel teacher trainee course, and in November the first unit was offered to the congregation. Vince was one of the teachers teaching this unit, which finished this past Wednesday. He is also teaching the next unit which will start in January. He finds that he puts almost as much time in preparation for teaching each hour as he did on his lessons himself. But it is worth it - I hear from members of his class that he is a good teacher. I find it hard to find enough "quiet" hours in the week to get the reading and memorizing done. There are so many things I put aside to do while Arik is napping that his nap times just don't reach to everything.

Now I don't want you to get the idea that Arik is a bad boy. It's just that he is a typical 21-month old boy who loves to climb, loves to play with the vacuum cleaner, loves to help with the dishes, with the baking, and most anything else he can get his fingers into. But he has such an endearing smile when scolded for doing something he shouldn't be doing; and he really feels like he is being such a big help. He even looks like a Dennis the Menace - I can't keep his "rooster tail" down, no matter how many times a day I comb his hair.

Mark and Dawn are busy in school. Dawn is in third grade this year and Mark is in second. Dawn is in Brownies and will be starting piano lessons after the first of the year. We've just gotten a second-hand piano, and Dawn is practicing at it when I come down to make breakfast in the mornings. (Every time I sit down to play, Arik is there to help me, and to sing along. His favorite songs are Jesus Loves Me, Away in a Manger, and Brahm's Lullaby.)

The week of Iowa's heat wave this summer past we were vacationing at a cottage on Spirit Lake. Every time we got too hot for comfort, we took a dip in the lake. The kids especially enjoyed it, swimming morning, noon and night. They really practiced what they'd learned in their swimming lessons. The week following the three kids went to visit Grandpa and Grandma Blakey on the farm while Vince and I spent our time in Madison, Wisc., attending a session for Bethel Teacher Trainees. It was a concentrated week of many hours of classes taught by Pastor Swiggum, mostly on teaching principles. It was an interesting, beneficial, and enjoyable week.

Arik spent ten days on Grandpa's farm later this fall. He really has a ball as do Grandpa and Grandma. He loves to be outdoors and follow Grandpa around - helping feed the cattle, pigs, and chickens. I was busily doing my fall housecleaning while he was gone, and what I didn't get done then still isn't done.

We have taken our usual trips throughout the year - the state dental meeting in Des Moines in May, the Iowa City homecoming in October and Vince's fishing trip (unproductive) to Canada in late September. Vince's folks so willingly come over and stay with the kids when we take these jaunts.

Vince did some work in his dental operatories this spring. He has a new reclining chair, new cabinets, and new unit in one operatory. The other one was left pretty much the same, except for the new tile on the floor, and a fresh paint job on the walls and woodwork. He feels he is pretty well equipped now to do dentistry efficiently and effectively.

May the meaning of Christmas be deeper, and its hopes brighter is our prayer for you this year.

Joyously,

Vince, Verla, Dawn, Mark and Arik