Dear Friends and Family,
As if to make up for the sorrows of last year, 2008 has showered us with many joys. The most momentous occasion has been the addition of a son (in-law) to our family. Tabitha became engaged to Rich Colie on Valentine’s Day, and they were married September 5th in a beautiful wedding with a Mt. Hood backdrop. Rich is a terrific young man, all we could ever hope for our daughter. We also added a new fur-covered member of the family: Buster, their yellow lab puppy.
Insitu has continued to grow under Steve’s leadership, now topping 400 employees in over 18 facilities in the Columbia Gorge area. In September, culminating a long process of negotiation, Boeing agreed to acquire Insitu as a wholly-owned subsidiary for a price very favorable to Insitu’s investors and employees. But as Nancy’s father used to say, “Hard work means success, and success means more hard work.” Steve continues as a relatively independent CEO, now reporting to a board of Boeing executives rather than investors. Even with the change in the U.S. administration, Insitu’s business is expected to grow significantly next year.
Most of Steve’s income from the Boeing sale went to savings and donations (and taxes!), but we decided to acquire one major toy. We are now the proud owners of a bouncing baby airplane, a Cirrus SR22 Turbo Perspective fresh off the assembly line: N355T, nicknamed Toby. It is sleek, sexy, and the hottest thing in the general aviation propeller industry.Since neither of us had flown much in the last 10 years, we spent several weeks flying and studying to get re-current and to master the new glass-cockpit technology in the Cirrus. We each did three days of training at the factory and accepted delivery in mid-October in Duluth, MN, then flew Toby home to the Dallesport airport where he’ll be hangared. We took a trip to San Jose, CA for the AOPA convention, and to Helena, MT for an Embry-Riddle basketball tournament. A planned Thanksgiving trip to San Antonio, TX had to be scrubbed due to pervasive convection and icing over the western U.S., and now that we’ve just shoveled out from 8 inches of snow, we’ll probably have to wait till spring for much more flying.
By dint of identifying several food sensitivities* and assiduous use of our new home gym, Nancy has lost 50 pounds since the first of January and is ecstatic with her new level of health and energy. She has several pounds still to lose, but is finally hopeful of a permanent change for the better.
Extra time for exercising and flying and wedding preparation had to come from somewhere in Nancy’s schedule; unfortunately it came from the time she formerly spent writing. In spite of that, she made some progress this year — she started her second novel and completed a research trip to Newfoundland and New Brunswick in Canada, where she met some of the world’s nicest people. However, after talking with three professional editors and getting some emotional distance from her first novel, she agrees that it is somewhat melodramatic and over-written for a mystery, and has begun the process of re-writing and condensing it.
House remodeling work was kept to a minimum this year, consisting only of installing an ensuite laundry in the master bedroom, repaving the driveway, installing a new privacy fence and upgrading our landscaping.
Pixie, Angel, and Casper are all doing well, enjoying weekly visits with their nephew Buster. They’ve become completely spoiled by their new petsitter Rosalie, and now are eager rather than sad to see us pull out our suitcases. They’ve also enjoyed the several houseguests we’ve entertained during the year who have made the transition to Insitu employment and the Columbia Gorge housing market.For Tabitha’s wedding, Nancy composed and read a prose poem about the four Greek words for love: eros, phileo, storge, and agape. Those words remind us that much of the love in our hearts is not meant to be just between spouses, but rather how precious our relationships with friends and family can be. We are enriched to have you in our hearts. In honor of you all in this year of abundant blessings, we have donated a Gift Ark through Heifer International (www.heifer.org).
May the Christmas gift of agape love be yours forever,
Steve, Nancy, Pixie, Angel, and Casper
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