Lance Creek, Wyoming 82222 The GREER FAMILY Times December 11, 2008
Another year has come & gone and we now believe the saying: “time goes by faster the older you get.” For the Greer household, 2008 was a year of status quo marked with a couple of major life changes. Our girls have officially “left-the-nest” and are writing their own life stories. Sarah changed her last name and we added a son to our family (welcome Bryan!). And Vanessa is living on the other side of the world. It’s not the letting go that hurts, it’s the holding on. (But letting go isn’t painless either!) For most of you reading this, you’re already aware of our milestones. Just incase we haven’t kept you informed; we will try to summarize the major events.
Our spring flew by but it was a whirlwind for Sarah. She graduated with a doctorate of Pharmacy degree from UW on May 10th, and then married Bryan Opitz the next Saturday! Following a quick honeymoon, she began a new job as a clinical pharmacist for the VA hospital in Hot Springs, SD. Bryan worked the summer in the pharmacy at Pamida in Hot Springs before returning to Laramie to continue his studies at UW. Needless to say, even the high gas prices didn’t curtail their driving miles! The newlyweds are enjoying a “full dose” of the real world.
For Vanessa, her year was one of “hurry-up-and-wait.” She spent the majority of the year living & working in Casper, in preparation for her missionary call to Siberia. She finally left for Russia in September. She is a student with another couple from the US (the Orner’s) at Novosibirsk State University in Achedemgorodok. For now, her major concern is learning the Russian language. God has provided a sweet little “babushka” (grandmother) for Vanessa to live with. The babushka (Tamara) is very hospitable to her and we are thankful Vanessa has someone to “look after” her. If you have internet access, Vanessa tells her experiences much better than we can on her blog (vanessagreer.blogspot.com). As for us, we’re just thankful for the internet now more than ever as we can communicate with her on a daily basis. (Amazing – half way around the world and we can still be in touch!)
And now back to the status quo part. We still love the isolated spot God has put us on and ranch life. Yes, we still drive school bus. (Andy enjoys tormenting all our neighbor kids!) Brenda gets to substitute teach at the country school once in a while and fill in at the post office not so often. This year, for the first time in 23 years, we put our Christmas tree up without any help from the girls! We enjoy the occasional dog-sitting of the grandpuppies (Sarah & Bryan’s pups; Polly & Payton.) We did have an exciting 30th anniversary thanks to our kids. They surprised us with a trip to Seattle and Vancouver, Canada via air/rail. It was a fun time and beautiful scenery. Quite the “eye opening” experience for us country folk. We found out we live a very sheltered life in our little spot on the map!
Andy’s folks are doing well. Glenis is intrigued with her new toy – Vanessa’s old laptop. She is enjoying having email and has figured out how to surf. Look out QVC you have eBay for competition now! Bill can tell her what he wants her to look for and away she goes!
This letter was truly a joint effort this year. (Andy helped a lot, really he did!) Spending time together is what we like and do the most. We sure do hate to admit it, but we are definitely on the downhill side of life! No more climbing to the top of the hill, now we are sliding to the finish line. We pray that whatever your life has been this year, you’ve had God to be your guide. It sure helps us to remember that this old world is not our home; we’re just passing through on our way to eternity. At this Christmas time, we hope you remember the real reason we celebrate. The greatest gift of all: God’s Son sent to earth to save mankind from the mess we’re in. Something we’ve been learning is how our faith is also a gift. We have to choose to trust God everyday. Our Bible commentary has a good comment on faith: The attitude of trust and confidence is a gift from God. No matter how much faith we have, we never reach the point of being self-sufficient. You can’t store it away like money in the bank. Growing faith is a daily process of trusting in Jesus about everything. (Taken from the life application study Bible comment for Mark 9:24.) So, what we’re finding out is: life is learning to trust Jesus everyday in everyway. We pray you are placing your trust in the Lord.
Have a Blessed Christmas and Hope filled New Year!
Another year has come & gone and we now believe the saying: “time goes by faster the older you get.” For the Greer household, 2008 was a year of status quo marked with a couple of major life changes. Our girls have officially “left-the-nest” and are writing their own life stories. Sarah changed her last name and we added a son to our family (welcome Bryan!). And Vanessa is living on the other side of the world. It’s not the letting go that hurts, it’s the holding on. (But letting go isn’t painless either!) For most of you reading this, you’re already aware of our milestones. Just incase we haven’t kept you informed; we will try to summarize the major events.
Our spring flew by but it was a whirlwind for Sarah. She graduated with a doctorate of Pharmacy degree from UW on May 10th, and then married Bryan Opitz the next Saturday! Following a quick honeymoon, she began a new job as a clinical pharmacist for the VA hospital in Hot Springs, SD. Bryan worked the summer in the pharmacy at Pamida in Hot Springs before returning to Laramie to continue his studies at UW. Needless to say, even the high gas prices didn’t curtail their driving miles! The newlyweds are enjoying a “full dose” of the real world.
For Vanessa, her year was one of “hurry-up-and-wait.” She spent the majority of the year living & working in Casper, in preparation for her missionary call to Siberia. She finally left for Russia in September. She is a student with another couple from the US (the Orner’s) at Novosibirsk State University in Achedemgorodok. For now, her major concern is learning the Russian language. God has provided a sweet little “babushka” (grandmother) for Vanessa to live with. The babushka (Tamara) is very hospitable to her and we are thankful Vanessa has someone to “look after” her. If you have internet access, Vanessa tells her experiences much better than we can on her blog (vanessagreer.blogspot.com). As for us, we’re just thankful for the internet now more than ever as we can communicate with her on a daily basis. (Amazing – half way around the world and we can still be in touch!)
And now back to the status quo part. We still love the isolated spot God has put us on and ranch life. Yes, we still drive school bus. (Andy enjoys tormenting all our neighbor kids!) Brenda gets to substitute teach at the country school once in a while and fill in at the post office not so often. This year, for the first time in 23 years, we put our Christmas tree up without any help from the girls! We enjoy the occasional dog-sitting of the grandpuppies (Sarah & Bryan’s pups; Polly & Payton.) We did have an exciting 30th anniversary thanks to our kids. They surprised us with a trip to Seattle and Vancouver, Canada via air/rail. It was a fun time and beautiful scenery. Quite the “eye opening” experience for us country folk. We found out we live a very sheltered life in our little spot on the map!
Andy’s folks are doing well. Glenis is intrigued with her new toy – Vanessa’s old laptop. She is enjoying having email and has figured out how to surf. Look out QVC you have eBay for competition now! Bill can tell her what he wants her to look for and away she goes!
This letter was truly a joint effort this year. (Andy helped a lot, really he did!) Spending time together is what we like and do the most. We sure do hate to admit it, but we are definitely on the downhill side of life! No more climbing to the top of the hill, now we are sliding to the finish line. We pray that whatever your life has been this year, you’ve had God to be your guide. It sure helps us to remember that this old world is not our home; we’re just passing through on our way to eternity. At this Christmas time, we hope you remember the real reason we celebrate. The greatest gift of all: God’s Son sent to earth to save mankind from the mess we’re in. Something we’ve been learning is how our faith is also a gift. We have to choose to trust God everyday. Our Bible commentary has a good comment on faith: The attitude of trust and confidence is a gift from God. No matter how much faith we have, we never reach the point of being self-sufficient. You can’t store it away like money in the bank. Growing faith is a daily process of trusting in Jesus about everything. (Taken from the life application study Bible comment for Mark 9:24.) So, what we’re finding out is: life is learning to trust Jesus everyday in everyway. We pray you are placing your trust in the Lord.
Have a Blessed Christmas and Hope filled New Year!
