From Our Family To Yours...

Merry Christmas and God's Blessings for a Blessed and Beautiful New Year!

Our Christmas Letter:

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  We have had a very blessed year including both of us remaining at the same jobs, and in our same house – that hasn’t happened since we met.

        Chris is enjoying his second year teaching 5^th and 6^th grade Literacy in Rifle and has acquired additional responsibilities in his school.  He is the student government adviser, school technology consultant, and co-6^th grade team leader.  In addition, he will be leading the 2^nd annual Ski and Snowboard Outreach for his school – a program he initiated last year. This opportunity enables middle schoolers who have never skied before to receive 5 ski or snowboard lessons in the Vail/Beaver Creek area. He really loves his work.

        I continue my work as a teacher for students with visual impairments and had my first completely blind, Braille-reading student this year.  My Braille skills are at an all-time high as I transcribe all of her general education materials into Braille and all of her assignments back into print.

        Chris and I were able to do quite a bit of travel this year as we continued our baseball park adventures seeing games in Toronto, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Detroit.  Chris only has two more parks to go before he’s visited all 30 Major League Ballparks.  In addition to seeing baseball games, we were able to visit many of friends this summer as we drove through Niagara Falls, Buffalo, NY, Virginia (Northern, Lexington, Hampton and Virginia Beach), Lookout Mountain, GA, and Nashville, TN.

        Other travel this year included Lake Chelan, WA for my Dad’s 80^th Birthday celebration, Ann Arbor, MI where Sandens v. Millers squared off at the 50-yard line in THE BIG HOUSE at University of Michigan, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for some fun in the sun.

        Our black lab, Lloyd competed in his first “Dock Dog” competitions this year, with his longest “Big Air” jump measuring 22’.  I fear Chris has become a full-blown “pageant dad” determined to unleash Lloyd’s full jumping potential.  Our cat, Lexie, remains Queen of the World – no competition necessary to prove her value.

        This fall Chris enjoyed our mountain surroundings by hunting elk, deer, bear, and grouse.  I became active in a PEO Chapter in Glenwood Springs, followed my Michigan Wolverine football team, and tried my hand at canning.  We were very blessed to have both of our families (my parents, Chris’ parents and Chris’ siblings) come out to Rifle and Vail again this year for Thanksgiving.

        Our outlook for 2013 includes more graduate school, more teaching, a little more travel, and hopefully more snow in our beloved mountains!

Our love and prayers are with you this Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. We hope the love of God is renewed in your daily life through the power of the Holy Spirit as you prepare for the blessings of another year.

       You are welcomed to visit our blog: http://themtnmillers.blogspot.com/