Happy New Year 2011 from the Hicks Family...

We hope your Christmas and New Year’s season were filled with joy and wonder.

GARY & CONNIE – Last August we celebrated our 33^rd wedding anniversary. Thank God for the refreshing love and affection in our marriage as we sail through these years of our mid-50s. In July and August we visited Gary’s parents (his mom has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s) and enjoyed spending time together at Campobello Island and on the northern coast of Maine. Our 2010 bedtime reading included the Bible and the conclusion of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. We loved the documentary film Babies, which gave us glimpses of four children from birth to their first birthdays: Ponijao from Namibia, Bayar from Mongolia, Mari from Japan, and Hattie from San Francisco.

GARY – This is my fourth year as a staff pastor at Brook Hill Church near Frederick, MD. I especially enjoy men’s ministry there. I continue to sing with folk band That Raucous Crew (Concert for Haiti, Frederick Celtic Festival, etc.). In February I went on a mission trip to a school in the mountains of Guatemala. This year I was busy with my blogs HicksPosts and New Hymns (http://shelburnehavelock.blogspot.com and http://wattswesley.blogspot.com). In November I completed the hymnbook In This Fair Morning with about 40 of my hymns, songs and poems.

CONNIE still directs and teaches at Damascus Community Preschool (25 years now). Her preschool ladies provide great support and friendship. This past year she was heavily involved as a caregiver for her dad. He has several health issues but (because of her attention) is able to live in his own house about 12 miles from us. She enjoys Saturday yard sales and shopping with Shannon. She finds great joy in her good man and grandsons. The rest of us thank God for her wisdom, goodness and common sense.

SHANNON is in her 5^th year teaching kindergarten at Spring Ridge Elementary School near Frederick. She lives near us and we usually share dinner together. She has taken several classes to further her interest in creative writing, and is planning to adopt a child in 2011 (yay!). In April she goes to Haiti on a short-term mission.

ALEEN and JOSIAH celebrated their 5^th anniversary in April. Josiah works for CoStar Group in Washington DC, and Aleen works part-time at Damascus Community Preschool. We’re blessed to have them living nearby. CALEB is almost 4 and a precocious preschooler. He loves to sing and play with his guitar. SAMUEL (“Schmol”) is 2, and full of fun, with a Murphy sparkle in his eyes.

God bless you with health and joy in 2011!