Its hard to believe that 1997 is nearly over. Each year takes up an increasingly smaller percentage of our lives, but we hadn’t expected such an acceleration as ’97 has been.  On the other hand, so much has happened in the last year that it must have taken a whole year to hold it all.

First and foremost, we moved in late February.  Note our new address and use something more substantial than a Post-it note to affix it in your address book, because we bought this one and should stay awhile.  We like the house a lot and have put many weekend and evenings (and some number of paychecks) into it.  We swing from cursing the previous owners’ lack of maintenance and wanting to re-do everything, to hoping to finish just a couple of projects before relaxing and enjoying the place.  We’ve cleaned, wired, plumbed, and pruned, torn down fences and replaced all the windows.  We’ve made space for a garden, cleaned gutters, transplanted rhododendrons, and are in the midst of painting our house.  Its pretty splotchy right now, but it will have to keep until better weather arrives.  We’re very thankful for all the help from families and friends and hope that if you haven’t seen our new house yet that you pick a particularly rainy day or we might put you to work too.

Or, you can play with the puppy.  That’s right, we got a dog in September and named him Pepper.  He’s a 30-pound Australia shepherd mix approximately 7-8 months old (we’re not sure of his age or ancestry as he was abandoned).  He’s got big, fuzzy, expressive ears and is mainly merle with white legs spotted brown and a white stripe over his head and at the tip of his tail.  He’s a wonderful dog after he’s gotten over his initial urges to jump up and lick your face.  He learns his manners quickly when we are consistent teachers and enjoys playing Frisbee.  His favorite toys, though, are old gallon milk jugs, which he pushes noisily across the floor and shakes.  He’s fully housebroken now and we’re feeling less guilty about going to work all day without him.  Although a good friend said our getting a dog was the first step towards pregnancy, we figure we still have a couple of years yet.

Just as No was getting dangerously bored with her job, an opportunity arose for a change.  The office manager position opened and she decided it was a perfect way to increase the challenge and interest level in her job.  She had some ideas she wanted to try, changes she wanted to make in the office, and she felt she could really do some good.  She’s working full time now and though she’s still figuring out how best to get all the things done she needs to do, she's getting much better at it.  She’s much happier now than she was and enjoying what she’s doing much more.

C is still working for T____ designing printers.  Its not as interesting a product as it could be and he sometimes yearns for more glamour (especially when others are putting their designs on Mars), but life is a series of tradeoffs.  The job is low stress and he hardly every works over 40 hours a week.  The work is interesting, and he really likes his coworkers.  All in all, its a good place for him to be.

We’re spending this Christmas in Michigan with C’s family.  It will be No’s first Christmas away from home, but it was about time we spent the holiday with the C___s.  We’ll be there for 10 days and we’re really looking forward to it.  Pepper will spend his first Christmas with good friends M & B and their dog Chelsea.  We’re nervously hoping he’s nice rather than naughty.

As you might expect, with all the changes in our lives this past year, we haven’t had a lot of opportunity for other activities.  C is still playing soccer once a week, but he’s been debating giving that up for more time on other projects.  No has been taking a few writing classes, but the next class in the series isn’t until spring.  The rest of our time seems to be filled with house projects and dog duties.  Still, we do manage to find some time for friends and for each other.

As long and short as it was, 1997 has been a very good year and we’re thankful for our blessings.  We hope you and yours had an equally wonderful year and we wish you the best for the Holidays and into the New Year.