We are one of those families who generously share our year’s
happenings with acquaintances in a Christmas letter each year. Here’s one I
found recently.
December, 2006
John 10: 10: I came that they might have life and have it
abundantly.
Dear Family and Friends,
What’s new with the McKinseys? We have three kids in high school this
year. We love saying that, and we are
still amazed by it. We remember when
those same three kids were in three baby seats in the back of our little white
car. Now they’re all nearly as tall as
we are.
Other than that, we are basically healthy and marginally
sane. We put one foot in front of the
other, each day, longing for our promised reward.
Ping-Hwei has been working at the Metal Fabricating company
now for over two years, doing general factory work, packing, loading, and the
like. He seems very happy to be
there. He has a good sense of humor, and
helps keep our household organized.
Ping-Hwei loves to take himself places.
He goes to the local library 3 or 4 times a week to use the computers,
and takes a train to down town Cleveland several times a month to watch a movie
and play the arcade games. Our church
has begun a young adult service on Tuesday evenings, and Ping-Hwei enjoys
attending.
Caleb is a junior in high school. He is a serious student of the Bible, is
thinking about college in less than two years, and he’s hoping to get a guide
dog next summer. He’s still in marching
band, and loves it, in spite of the football team’s record. Caleb seems to enjoy his classes, especially
psychology. He often has psychological
things to talk about, including body parts, processes, and theories.
Rebecca is a sophomore, and she has a whole new look this
year—contacts, longer hair (remember that her head was shaved for a fund
raiser, less than 3 years ago?), and no more braces. She and Murray have been having a
delightful(?) time this year as Rebecca learns to drive. Kathy is thrilled because Rebecca will be
able to take her places. She is still
playing the violin, and this year even practices often. She is also thinking a lot about
college. Rebecca is very studious, stays
up late, gets up early, always a textbook open.
Sarah is a freshman in high school. She is more sweet and unpredictable than
ever. She is adapting to High School
better than we might have hoped – seamlessly going from studying when she had
to in middle school to studying all the time -- with all her teachers saying
that she is a great student. She sings
in the choir at school and in the shower at home. Sarah has a weekly paper route now, so she
enjoys having a little money of her own.
When she is lucky, Murray even bags the papers before she gets home from
school. Sarah enjoys going for walks in
this city, and has been involved with the high school youth group at church.
Benjamin is in fourth grade, and has almost hit double
digits. He’s a great math student,
according to his teacher. He is getting
better about doing school work without prompting. We can only prompt so much. He loves reading magazines including SMART
COMPUTING and PC WORLD, and has his own subscription to both of those. For a week after he gets SMART COMPUTING, he
tells Murray about the many different programs he thinks should be purchased
for the household computer. He’s still
taking piano lessons, spends a lot of time using his own personal computer, and
tolerates school. For reasons unknown,
Benjamin enjoys rap. We are trying, a
little, to steer him toward Christian rap.
Murray keeps busy with helping kids with their math
homework, and operating the McKinsey Family Taxi Service, math homework,
teaching Sunday school, math homework, delivering food to those hungry people
with Meals on Wheels, math homework, helping out with the Ohio gubernatorial
and senatorial elections (he’s never
been on the winning side before), math homework. He is thinking about getting a doctorate. In
anything – sociology, theater, special education, history – he would just
really love to be addressed as Doctor McKinsey.
Kathy has been working at the Cleveland Sight Center for six
years now, and she enjoys the many interesting people she gets to work
with. Because of changes in the
supervisory chain, she has assumed a few of the administrative duties in the
department. When she is not too tired,
Kathy asks Murray to put in a West Wing CD – they are on the third year. Kathy is having a good time watching the kids
grow, develop, and mature.
Murray and Kathy will reach 20 years of marriage during this
next year. Held together by the bond of
the Spirit.
We praise God for His goodness and faithfulness to us. We pray that you know how much Jesus loves
you,
If you get emails about Nigerian money laundering schemes,
stock tips, or foreign lotteries, please forward them to us. We could always use the money.
Merry Christmas!
Murray, Kathy, Ping-Hwei, Caleb, Rebecca, Sarah, Benjamin