2008 in Review

Here are a few passages from our most recent Christmas letter:

The year 2008 has been one of transitions. A brief summary:

January: Bob's cousin Cathy Wepner passed away after a valient fight with cancer.
March: Bob began working at Champaign (IL) Walmart after 20 years in factory work. Six days after beginning the job, Ingrid's mother Ursula Williams passed away after a strong 23 year battle with various cancers, at the age of 73.

The death of Ursula has dominated our year. Emotions are still raw at times. Hiving lost my (Bob) own father six years ago, and my mother 27 years ago, I can empathize, but each one grieves in their own way. Holidays and birthdays have been rough this year. Several of our friends have lost their mothers this year as well.

We did very little traveling this year, due mostly to simply not being able to financially. All of us understand that this year. The loss of a good paying job was a blow, but we are slowly recovering.

Through all of this, we know and understand that God is good, all the time. He is not limited by occurrences in this world; He is ultimately in control. He will not leave us or forsake us.

The day after Christmas, I fell in my icy driveway and hurt my left hip and hit the back of my head. I was fine until a week ago, at work, when I lifted a heavy box and aggravated the injury. I have been diagnosed with sciatica. At Walmart, if you call off work 4 days in a row, you get suspended for a day without pay. At that point, you cannot miss work for SIX months, or you will be fired. So to avoid that, I have to put in today for a leave of absence. Great place to work, eh?

Well that's an update from here for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.............and your body off the ice. LOL