A dog had followed his owner to school. His owner was a fourth grader at a public elementary school. However, when the bell rang, the dog sidled inside the building and made it all the way to the child's classroom before a teacher noticed and shoo'ed him outside, closing the door behind him. The dog sat down, whimpered and stared at the closed doors. Then God appeared beside the dog, patted his head, and said, "Don't feel bad fella'.... they won't let ME in either."

Will the Christ Child Come?

Written by Gaye Willis

One Christmas we had an interesting experience that I would like to share. Halfway through December we were doing the regular evening things when there was a knock at the door. We opened it to find a small package with a beautiful ceramic lamb inside. We looked at the calendar and realized that the 12 days of Christmas were beginning! We waited excitedly for the next night's surprise and only then, with the gift of a matching shepherd, did we realize that the lamb was part of a nativity set.Each night we grew more excited to see what piece we would receive. Each was exquisitely beautiful. The kids kept trying to catch the givers as we slowly built the scene at the manger and began to focus on Christ's birth.On Christmas Eve, all the pieces were in place, all but the Baby Jesus. My 12-year-old son really wanted to catch our benefactors and began to devise all kinds of ways to trap them. He ate dinner in the minivan, watching and waiting, but no one came. Finally, we called him in to go through our family's Christmas Eve traditions. But before the kids went to bed, we checked the front step - - no Baby Jesus! We began to worry that my son had scared them off. My husband suggested that maybe they dropped the Jesus and there wouldn't be anything coming. Somehow, something was missing that Christmas Eve.There was a feeling that things weren't complete. The kids went to bed and before I went to bed, I again checked to see if the Jesus had come - - no, the doorstep was empty.
In our family, the kids can open their stockings when they want to, but they have to wait to open any presents until Dad wakes up. So one by one they woke up very early and I also woke up to watch them. Even before they opened their stockings, each child checked to see if perhaps during the night the Baby Jesus had come.Missing that piece of the set seemed to have an odd effect. At least it changed my focus. I knew there were presents under the tree for me and I was excited to watch the children open their gifts, but first on my mind was the feeling of waiting for the ceramic Christ Child. We had opened just about all of the presents when one of the children found one more for me buried deep beneath the limbs of the tree.He handed me a small package from my former visiting teaching companion. This sister was somewhat less-active in the church. I had been her visiting teacher for a couple of years and then, when she was asked to be a visiting teacher, she requested to go with me. I had learned over time they didn't have much for Christmas, so that their focus was on the children. It sounded like she didn't get many gifts to open, so I had always given her a small package -- new dish towels, the next year's Relief Society lesson manual -- not much, but something for her to open.I was touched when at church on the day before Christmas, she had given me this small package, saying it was just a token of her love and appreciation. As I took off the bow, I remembered my friendship with her and was filled with gratitude for knowing her and for her kindness and sacrifice in this giving me a gift. But as the paper fell away, I began to tremble and cry. There in the small brown box was the Baby Jesus! He had come!I realized on that Christmas Day, that Christ will come into our lives in ways that we don't expect. The spirit of Christ comes into our hearts as we serve one another. We had waited and watched for Him to come, expecting the dramatic "knock at the door and scurrying of feet" but He came in a small, simple package that represented service, friendship, gratitude and love.This experience taught me that the beginning of the true spirit of Christmas comes as we open our hearts and actively focus on the Savior. But we will most likely find Him in the small and simple acts of love, friendship and service that we give to each other. This Christmas I want to feel again the joy of knowing that Christ is in our home. I want to focus on loving and serving. More than that, I want to open my heart to Him all year that I may see Him again.

Yes! This was a GREAT Christmas and Stacy and Duchess enjoyed it all!

Blair, Garrett, Chase, Elizabeth Sammons Christmas, 2004

Grandma, Grandpa and Duchess, by the Christmas tree, Tucson, AZ 2004

Christmas 2004 in Tucson AZ! The dinner was more than we could eat - ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, fruit plate, apple pie, and on and on.

Felix Update

Monday the 20th the doctors walked Felix around the hospital, up and down 8 steps and declared he was ready to go home.

Melanie and Larry checked him out and took him before noon!

He was tired from all the activity but home and happy!

It is nice to know that all of this was no surprise to our God. We are the ones that take it a day at a time!

Merry Christmas to each and all and thanks for your encouraging emails.

Because He lives,

Ray and Phyllis

Felix Update

Felix went into ER again on Monday the 13^th because he was spitting up bile and didn’t feel good. The day before he went to ER because an intestine had come out through his hernia (that he has had for years) and he couldn’t get it back in like he has done for years. The hernia is just above his navel.

On Monday they kept him and operated on the hernia at 9 pm. There was a blockage and they operated in time so here was no blood loss damage to the intestine.

Today (Wednesday 12/15) he is still in the hospital. He still has the tube in his nose that pumps the bile from his stomach. He is on IV glucose because his stomach and intestines are not ‘working properly’ yet and he can’t eat.

Melanie has been with him 24.7 and says she is still wearing Monday’s clothes. She reports he is breathing very shallow and complains that he can’t get enough air, yet his oxygen level remains high. He is very weak and doesn’t want to talk on the phone. Melanie reports that he feels worse today and is weaker than yesterday.

The therapist comes in and gets him up because they don’t want pneumonia to develop in his lungs.

I’ll pass on more when I have it.

Ray

Felix Hoff in the Hospital

Last evening (12/13/04) the Billings emergency room staff put Felix in the hospital and about 9 pm Larry called saying they were going to operate on him in a few minutes – he had his 90^th birthday in October.

About 11:30 pm Melanie called to report all went well. They found an ‘obstruction’ in an intestine and that was what caused him to spit up the bile.

They operated in time to get the blood flowing through the intestine so no damage was done (they didn’t have to remove anything).

When Melanie called he still had a tube down his throat pumping out the bile, but all was going good.

I’ll pass along more information when I get it.

Ray

Christmas letter from Elizabeth Sammons parents

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

At this Holiday Season our thoughts and prayers turn to those who have made our life so richly blessed. It is a time to reflect on God greatest blessing to each of us.....the gift of His Son.....Jesus Christ. May your Christmas be a time to reflect on the simplicity of His birth and the magnitude of His Purpose.........."Call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people form their sins." Matt 1:21

After being in the great Northwest for 8 months ...we have finally made it back to Newport Beach for a month to be with our family----Beth & her three boys (16-15-10) and Jayson & Jamie and their 4 girls (16-15-10 & 17 months) plus great friends. Life is very busy and we are going to many of the grandchildren's events, seeing friends, and finishing our shopping. Of course, cooking and eating.

We spent a month in Sedona AZ and while there we found a wonderful home to settle in for 6 months of the year and continue to travel in our Motor home the other 6 months. It is the best of both worlds! We close on the house mid Feb and will be doing double time moving...getting some remodeling, painting done plus getting organized in our territory and leave on April 1 for Washington state. We really enjoyed our Woodall 's experience this past year and look forward to seeing our clients and friends that we have made along the way. You can not believe how beautiful Washington is in the Spring & Summer. We are so fortunate and blessed!

It was grand seeing some of you this past year and had to say goodbye to a few dear friends and family ..... so keeping in touch is very important, we hope you put us on your favorite email list and drop us a line along the way. We always hope our paths will cross ....our welcome mat is out for you in Sedona and if not then may our Lord bring you His joy, peace and love.

Chuck & Nancy Hanson
JUST ENJOYING LIFE
cfhanson@msn.com

Kailey and Duchess - 2004

That is one HOT simulator ride! Tucson 12-2004

That is one BIG grill! Saw it in Tucson 12/2004

The Texas Cadillac Ranch - On the same road as the Bug Farm below. Leave it to the Texans!

Prescription Drugs

My insurance doesn’t cover some of the prescription drugs I need and I can buy them cheaper in Mexico than in the USA, but this day I thought the savings was not near enough.

The usual drug run routine is to drive south from Tucson for an hour, walk over the border and get your drugs, 30 minutes, and return to Tucson. Today I followed the routine but there was one disturbing difference.

South of Tucson I-19 goes through the San Xavier Indian Reservation and the tall white double towers of the old San Xavier Mission are visible on the right. Farther south a big brown sign points the way to the Titan Missile Museum. The road next passes through the retirement city of Green Valley. The huge Santa Rita Experimental Range and Wildlife Area goes by on the left completely unnoticed, it looks exactly like all the other cactus and creosote bush desert.

The next big brown sign announces Tubac Presidio State Historical Park which is on the south edge of Tubac City, a small town filled with artisans with dozens of small shops displaying their talents. Tubac is a nice outing and they have several nice restaurants, mostly of the Mexican variety.

Just a few miles farther south is the three old (1671) missions in Tumacacori National Historic Park and from there the road continues south flanked by residential areas and the mountains of the Coronado National Forest.

The road signs on I-19 are marked in kilometers, the first sign says it is 86 km to Nogales and I drive about 120 km/hr so Nogales comes into focus in almost no time at all.

In Nogales I always park my car in the McDonalds parking lot, make a bathroom stop there and then walk down hill to the formidable looking eight foot high turn style (it only turns in one direction) that lets you into Mexico. There is no need to slow up passing their meager check point and from there I pass a dozen shops on my one block walk to the drug store.

The drug store is run by a protestant Mexican family and I enjoy talking to whichever family member that is behind the counter. Today the owner’s wife is there and she has a new hairdo; her hair is bleached and she is almost blonde. Soon I’m back on the street, I have one bag with eight bottles Mexican vanilla and another with my prescriptions.

When I walk up to the USA customs checkpoint, the place where everyone leaves Mexico and crosses into the USA, the door is locked!

Locked? How can the international border checkpoint be locked? Peering through the glass I can see that no one is in the building! It is vacant! Not a soul inside! A line of people is forming expecting to cross the border, but it is locked! Nobody is there!!

Immediately I take mental inventory of what identification I might have to prove to some Mexican official that I am an American citizen and should be allowed to cross the border and go home. The TV images of refugees waiting at closed checkpoints flashed into my mind and the sagging feeling in the pit of my stomach gave me a new sympathy for them.

I was jerked back to the present by honking cars. I looked across the usually busy street to see that all the cars wanting to cross the border are stopped! Drivers were milling around not knowing what to do but honk their horns. Traffic is not moving! I can see the big tall wall extending up over the hill east of the check point that divids the USA and Mexico; it looked ominous and cold!

The line keeps getting longer and the cars continue to honk!

Finally a couple of civilian looking Mexicans with not very official looking tags around their necks came to the head of the line and started waving their arms and giving instructions in Spanish indicating we should all go back into Mexico. A smile on someone’s face would have been reassuring, but no one was happy. Everyone quickly retreated back towards Mexico and not knowing what else to do I followed.

The people that are now in the front of the line walk around the end of the block long steel picket fence that keeps cars and people separate and start across the street between the stalled cars - the cars that should be moving toward the check point but that have now formed a impromptu parking lot in the usually busy street.

The dissipating line of people moves down streets that I’ve never seen before and I follow trying to be sure those people up ahead are still walking with purpose in their stride.

Finally a block ahead and next to that big cold fence I see a small one story pinkish building with a small blue and white sign that says ‘To USA’. Yes! I walk on with a new spring in my step and some confidence in my stomach.

On the US side of the building two Homeland Security Guards checked the credentials of people crossing the border. As I passed through the small movie type turnstile I ask the black guard why the other building is closed, “They have a small problem but everything will be alright.” What he didn’t know was that everything was already alright! I was back in the USA! My only problem was being several blocks away from the McDonalds parking lot and my ride home.

Crossing the streets between me and my Jeep I saw police cars everywhere turning all cars away from the border. It is obvious the border was closed! But I’m home!

As I approached the McDonald counter to buy a Quarter Pounder for lunch I saw some Homeland Security Guards in the next line and I asked a man why the border crossing building was closed. He responded, “There is a bomb threat.” The way he said it he might as well have been giving me the time of day.

I got my sandwich ‘to go’, walked to my Jeep, and left town. The small savings on the drugs was almost too high!

Chicago doesn't feel like Aarizona

Another Simulator

The Texas Bug Farm