From My Family to Yours


We are so blessed to have all of our children and grandchildren living close by. And, I must say, our family seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.

We were pleased, but not really surprised, late last winter, when Erin called to let us know that Reed had proposed and they were planning to be married. The wedding, on November 4th, was a small, mostly family wedding, at an art gallery in Denver, with a string quartet consisting of cellos and guitars (!) that played tastefully appropriate Beetles music. The reception had a more traditional DJ, but Erin and Reed chose all of the music, because music is a big part of both of their lives. They are living in Cheyenne with their black Pugapoo, Bowie, for the time being, where Dr. Erin heads up the instrumental music department at Laramie County Community College. Reed commutes to Laramie, where he is a finance manager for a large group of orthopedic surgeons.


Meagan and Andy's family is growing. It's hard to believe that our little Lydia will soon be two, Evelyn will be four next week, and Tobin will be six in January. Meagan says she is done having winter babies, so Stobel baby #4 is due in June! Andy is always busy this time of year, teaching high school German and English, and coaching the GHS Mock Trial team, which placed a respectable fourth at state. Speech season has started, and it will soon be time for Andy to begin spring musical practices. Whew! Meagan is homeschooling her kids, working part time as the pastoral assistant for our church, babysitting one or two days a week, raising chickens, and taking lots of pictures as a result of her blossoming photography passion. (As word gets out, she has been taking some paying jobs, too.) I snapped this photo of her family this fall, after Meagan carefully set everything up.


A couple of weeks ago, Meagan needed to try out a new lens before she used it with paying customers, so she took our family pictures at the park. I like the silly one the best, but I've included a more traditional photo, too. Taken together, I think these two photos provide an excellent snapshot of family life in the Bauer household.



Here on the home front, I have been homeschooling Levi for eighth grade, but he is currently taking two classes at Gering Junior High, with hopes of adding more classes soon. He has been writing a couple of (short) books, and is a voracious reader. He is almost as tall as I am, and is maturing emotionally, too. 

Victoria got her driver's license this summer--woohoo!--and is taking a break from college classes for the time being. She staffs the nursery at church a few times a week, but we are encouraging her to find a real job. She and her boyfriend, Caleb, spend most of their free time together.

Bill is as busy as ever, but has hired a new right hand man to take some pressure off of him at work (we hope). Bill remains passionate about pole vaulting, coaching high school kids and competing whenever he can. For the last two or three years, he has participated in the Cornhusker State Games in Lincoln, winning first place in his age group each time. (He did well, it's true, but perhaps I should mention that he was the only vaulter in his age group...)

I stay busy with family and church, as usual, and continue to write Christian songs and a couple of books (in progress, slowly). I try to play my guitar every day, and work on my blog at least once a week--I love doing these things and, besides, moving my arthritic fingers keeps them nimble. When I have time, I dabble in art and photography.

You would think that, with a November wedding, I would be a little behind on Christmas preparations, but I've been amazed to find that I'm nearly done Christmas shopping, and I'm actually getting this Christmas blog/letter done two whole weeks before Christmas! I don't have any explanation, but I'm hoping this isn't a one-time phenomenon.

I hope that your Christmas preparations are going well, too. But, mostly, I pray that you will be able to rejoice with us in the blessings of family and, especially, in God's gift of His Son, Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate.

And with that, I will leave you with one more family picture:

We were so pleased that Bill's dad and my parents could make the trip
to Denver to help celebrate Erin and Reed's wedding.





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