Holt Christmas Letters

Christmas 2006

Dear family and friends,

Sorry that I didn’t get a letter out last year. I was waiting for Caleb to come home (Jan.) and thought I would get someone to take a family picture of all of us together to send out and that just didn’t happen, so I never did get out a Christmas letter. I have included a copy of last year’s letter.

I am still a little overwhelmed with disorganization. Even though we all moved home from the hotel over a year ago (June 10, 2005), I still have not sorted through everything and put it in its proper places. So much stuff accumulated while we lived at the hotel for a year… mail (bills, insurance summaries, other correspondence, etc.), spinal cord injury information, school papers, etc. that I normally kept sorted as it came in. Once we did move home we had to keep things boxed up because the house was not completed. The builders were still dry-walling, painting, and carpet was not in. Two weeks after we moved home I went into the hospital for a scheduled surgery (female stuff). What was supposed to be a two-day hospital stay turned into two hospital stays and a full summer of recuperation. I ended up with a bacterial infection that couldn’t be reached with antibiotics and had to have a drain put in my abdomen to get it out. So, my second stay lasted 8 days. I finally had some strength back just in time to go back to work at the end of summer vacation. I have no excuse as to why I didn’t get things organized this past summer. I just didn’t know where to start, I guess! It gets frustrating at times when I want to find something and don’t know where to even start looking for it. One of these days we will get it together. But in the meantime, we are just taking it one day at a time and that is how we manage to keep going. We concentrate on the progress and try to keep focused on what is really important in life.

Caleb is 22 years old and in the Navy. He joined in June 2004. He is on the USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41). It has a landing strip big enough to hold two military helicopters. It also carries amphibious landing crafts in the bottom of the ship. They also transport Marines and were a part of the US security in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf from June to December of this year. His ship was also a part of the evacuation efforts in Lebanon this summer. We are so proud of him. He is a cook and has to slave over a hot stove for hundreds of Marines and Navy crewmembers daily (around 800 mouths to feed). He now has the certification to cook for civilians too. That may come in handy when he eventually leaves the military. He will get to spend Christmas with us this year. His ship should be back in the States in the beginning of December and he will be home December 16^th and stay until the 27^th. Did I mention that we are so very proud of Caleb? Well, we are so very proud!!!

Grace is 20 years old and trying to “find” herself. She took some time off from college to earn some money for her education. She started working at a day care center within walking distance of our house, but shortly after being hired the center changed owners and she was let go. Grace then moved to Muskegon to live with friends and tried to get a job there. She is still not employed and not going to college. She has some decisions to make and I hope she makes them soon. We love her, give her gentle advice, and PRAY that she will make wise choices. By the way, she is home now and looking for a job in this area.

Josh turned 18 in May. He is struggling with life’s decisions too. He needs to finish high school, but has put that on the back burner and puts all his efforts into his physical therapy and doctor appointments. I think it just got too overwhelming to do it all. He even gave up wheelchair basketball this year. Even though I am an educator, I have to say that with Josh’s circumstances, he needs to have that success in therapy and gain confidence in the work place before he tries to drudge through academics. I know that sounds a little backwards because the norm is to get your education so that you can get a job. Josh has never been the academic sort and the thought of trying to do school, therapy, and keep the never-ending doctor appointments has just been too much. We have already lived in the trenches of that battlefield and don’t want to pass that way again. I won’t go into details, but it was a nightmare and I thought we might lose our boy for good. So, as I said before, we will take it one day at a time and do what is necessary at that moment. That’s all we can do for now. He is doing better right now and life is a lot more pleasant.

Kristi is 16 years old and in the 11^th grade. She struggles with school and could do better if she tried a little harder. She is still very stubborn and has had her troubles because of it. I remember how stubborn she was about picking her own clothes out and dressing herself at a very young age. She didn’t need anyone helping her. Many years ago when I was at a homeschooling support group meeting we had to say something positive about each one of our kids. At that time Kristi was a bundle of stubbornness and I was wondering what I could say about her. Before they got to me another mom described her stubborn child and said that if her son ever became a prisoner behind enemy lines they would never be able to get any military secrets out of him. I now knew what an asset stubbornness could be, even though right then it seemed like a flaw. Now, along with those teenage hormones, the stubbornness is still coming across as a flaw but maybe someday it will shine through as a wonderful trait to be proud of.

Isaiah will soon be 14 years old. He is taller than both Eric and I. Actually all our kids are taller than us except for Grace. She is still just under five feet tall. Isaiah is struggling with many areas in his life. You would think he was starved for attention with all the ways he draws attention to himself. The last couple of years has been eventful for him, but I won’t go into detail here either. I just pray that God will grab a hold of his heart and help him to see what is really important in life so that he will make better choices.

Eric is working at Wynalda Litho in Rockford, which is about 30 minutes north of Grand Rapids. He does exactly what he used to do at Custom Printers for 18 ½ years. He works the night shift though (6pm – 4am) four nights a week. Once in awhile he may work 5 or 6 nights if they get busy, but has worked only 2-3 nights a week when it gets really slow. He is used to those hours now, but it still throws him off on the nights he doesn’t have to work.

I am still working at Cross Creek Charter Academy. My drive each day is 30 minutes as well, but in the opposite direction. I am a paraprofessional (which is the politically correct name for teacher’s aide) and this year I mainly work with an autistic boy in the 5^th grade. I also work with kindergarteners and 3^rd graders a couple times in the day. Those teeny tiny chairs and all the sitting on the floor has my old tired knees crying out in pain. I must look a sight when I try to get up off the floor or out of those itty-bitty chairs.

We still attend the same church but have cut back on our responsibilities there. Eric isn’t a deacon this year and I even took a break from choir and teaching Sunday school for a few months. Right now I am back to both of those, but don’t attend or teach in our Wednesday night children’s program. I do feel like I am out of the loop on a lot of things going on there, but we just have to do what we can with where we are at.

If you would like to keep updated on Josh’s progress or other family information, we have two websites for you to visit. www.joshwholt.blogspot.com Josh’s progress site

www.angelfire.com/hi5/holtpage Holt family updates

Email address: holthome2000@sbcglobal.net