Moss Family Christmas eLetter

Moss Family Christmas Letter 2010

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,
and the government shall be upon His shoulder;
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
— Chorus, Handel’s Messiah

We are grateful for the Child born in a manger, come to save us all. We are grateful for our own children, born just two decades ago, now released upon the world, making it a better, brighter place.  We are grateful for the bounties bestowed upon us this year.  We mourn for the passing a grandmothers and cherish the memories their lives bequeathed to us.

Spring:

Bitter cold snowy weather in January like I haven’t seen in Kansas since the 70s.  February/March attended the funeral of Barbara Parsons and visited with relatives in Winfield.  April/May traveled to Nebraska and Iowa to attend a couple of science fiction conventions.

Summer:

Rachelle flew back home in late May, but only stayed a few days before traveling overseas to study abroad in Europe, specifically Leipzig, Germany.  She celebrated her twenty-first birthday half a world away from where she was born.  During her five weeks in Europe, she visited many cities in Germany, Austria and also Prague in the Czech Republic.  She returned to the States on the eve of the Fourth of July and remained with us for the rest of the summer.

While Rachelle deeply immersed herself in learning German, my grandmother began to suffer from rapidly advancing congestive heart failure.  Just two days before my daughter’s birthday, and actually on my grandmother’s 88th birthday, she passed away.

I was glad to have visited her in her final days and to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her with my aunt and dad.  The next week became a blur as plans for the memorial service were ironed out and I offered my house as a staging area for family gatherings.   The first, and hopefully last time for many years to come, I actually took advantage of my bereavement leave employee benefit.

The following week, my husband finally attended his Social Security Disability hearing before an administrative law judge (via video conference since the judge lived in New Mexico).  We had been waiting years for this hearing, having been denied twice by bureaucrats in the SSA.  Just last week (middle of October), he received his first regular disability check, but the settlement check for previous years is still several weeks away.  The hearing, while stressful for Terry, relieved some of our agony of waiting.

In August, we mailed, er flew, Rachelle back to Texas and life settled back into it’s routine.  I’d joined a vanpool mid-Summer so I wasn’t putting any miles on any of my vehicles.  We received the welcome news that Terry’s appeal of denial of SSD benefits was awarded by the judge.

Autumn:

Fantastic birthday present from my father – an amazing telescope with a plethora of accessories, which I’ve been exploring and learning how to use.

We traveled to North Texas last week for Thanksgiving, leaving the dogs behind boarded at a local Leavenworth kennel and doggie day care facility.  We enjoyed the balmy weather and the kids.

In mid December, we will return to Texas, taking my dad with us, to attend my son’s graduation from SMU’s Guildhall, on Saturday, December 18, 2010. The best news of the year came in mid November when Derek informed us he had been hired by Halliburton for a very nice salary (close to six figures). If you’d like to send a card to Derek congratulating him, please send me an e-mail (jon@mossfam.net) and I’ll send you his mailing address, as I know most of you won’t be able to attend the graduation ceremonies.

We learned this week that Rachelle earned a retro-active scholarship for this school year (2010/2011) which allows her to attend UNT at the in-school tuition rate.  She’s being reimbursed for the out-of-state tuition she paid in August.

As with most years, 2010 had it’s ups and downs, and it’s sideways diversions, but we survived, we thrived, we lived and we loved.   And with God’s Grace, we will see many more to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jon and Terry Moss

And the angel said unto them,
Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
— Recitative (Soprano), Handel’s Messiah

A hard copy of the above will be included with our annual Christmas card mailing to family and friends.

And if you’ve made it this far down on this post, why not take a couple more seconds (or minutes) to vote on my unHoliday decorations poll?  🙂