Christmas 2007
Dear family and friends,                                                                                           

Merry Christmas    We hope you are enjoying another year that God has provided for you.  God is good.

Things have had a more positive spin to it this year.  Our family has grown, in number and in maturity.  It has brought some joy into our lives after struggling through the last few years.

First, the growth in numbers.  No, I didn’t have another baby.  Sorry, that is impossible now.  I better be careful what I say because nothing is impossible with God! Anyway, we have a new son-in-law to enjoy.  Grace got married this past August.  Since we couldn’t really afford to put on a wedding this year, they got married at the courthouse. Meet Mr. & Mrs. Victor Luce.  We are hoping to have a wedding and reception this coming August.  We are shooting for Saturday, August 16^th.   That would fall exactly on their first anniversary (and my sister Barb’s birthday).  Get on your knees and pray with us that the funds will fall from heaven like manna. We are very pleased with Grace’s choice and he fits right in very nicely.  He is a very respectful and kind young man.  Not too many of those around these days, but Grace found one.  YES!

They are living with us for now until they can afford a place on their own.  I’m thinking they will probably stay with us until the wedding this August.  They might move out sooner, but they are welcome to stay as long as they need to.  They have fixed up a bedroom in the house with all their needs: bed, small frig., stereo, TV, etc.  They could stay in there and only come out to go to the bathroom if they wanted.  They are both a delight to have around.  They even make meals for us every now and then.  I could get used to that.  I love coming home to a cooked meal – cooked by someone else.  That’s the life.

Caleb is 23 and still in the Navy.  He is deployed again to the Persian Gulf and surrounding areas.  Get on your knees again and pray for his safety.  So far there hasn’t been anything to worry about, but it doesn’t hurt to do some prevention praying.  He called the other day and said that he is thinking very strongly of re-enlisting for another four years.  His time is up in June.  As long as the Navy remains a safe branch of the military, this will be a good thing for him.  He is maturing nicely.  The Navy has been a very good thing for him.  He is still a cook on the USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41).  We are so very proud of him!

Grace is 21 and working at a day care center.  She is finally getting more hours, but the pay isn’t that great.  She loves working with the kids though.  Enough said for Grace since I already spent two paragraphs above on her.  We are extremely happy with our new son-in-law! (Or did I already say that – It’s worth repeating!)

Josh is 19 and has made great progress this year, in many ways.  Josh has continued to go to physical therapy and is doing well.  He can walk with leg braces and a walker just like he has been doing.  It is mostly just movement from the hips, but he has to keep everything limber and strong for that wonderful day when all those muscles are working at their full potential again.  Several people from physical therapy are going outside the country for stem cell procedures.  They are making great progress.  The progress is slow, but they are gaining strength and getting more use of their paralyzed limbs and their abs.  Here’s another prayer request.  We need those stem cell procedures done here in our country.  These procedures use the patient’s own stem cells, so there shouldn’t be a problem with it in the U.S.  Josh is ready for this next step, but it is financially out of our reach.  Right now our insurance won’t pay for it since it is so new and considered experimental.  One of the other patients from therapy is trying to get her insurance to pay for her stem cell injections she has received in Russia.  She has the same insurance that we have.  If she can get them to pay for her stem cell procedure, then we have a good chance of getting Josh’s paid for.  I would rather have it done here in the states though, so pray that it will come here SOON!

Josh has also gone hunting this year for the first time.   A group called “Outdoors Without Limits” sponsored Josh to go to a ranch this past Labor Day Weekend to hunt deer.  Josh had a great time and got a buck and a doe.  He later went on another hunt for the disabled and got another small buck.  Then he went hunting with the family that sponsored him to go to the ranch, and he got another buck and doe.  Our freezer is jam-packed and Josh is on cloud nine.  His attitude has been great.  Grandpa Stricker would be so proud of him.  Too bad they couldn’t have hunted together.  Josh has even started going to church with us again and tells me that he loves me.  Doesn’t that melt your heart?  We were sooooooo ready for this to happen in our lives.  To read more of Josh’s adventures and progress, visit his website:  www.joshwholt.blogspot.com   (includes pictures & videos too)

If you persevere, you will be able to help someone else that travels down your same road in life.  Josh has been able to help others in wheelchairs and has also inspired others who aren’t wheelchair bound.  Check out Josh’s website for more.  This is getting exciting.  The school that I work for asked Josh and I to speak to the whole school at one of our moral focus assemblies.  Each month we focus on one moral quality and January is on Perseverance.  They asked us to speak before, but we just weren’t ready yet.  It feels so good to be ready to help others rather than being the one who needs help.  I have always felt like my gift was to be a giver and helper, but for so many years I was the one who needed help.  I guess God has been preparing me to share what I have learned.  Everything is not perfect, but it is so much better.  Thank you, Lord!

Kristi is 17 and a senior in high school.  She technically won’t have quite enough credits to graduate and will have to take a couple more classes when school is done this year.  It’s a minor glitch and we will persevere through this as well.  She has made the honor roll for the first time, ever!  We are so very proud of her.  She has finally put her mind on her studies and realizes she does need that diploma and it is worth the effort.  She is even slowly shedding that teenage attitude that has caused such a wall in our parent/child relationship.  It feels so good to have our daughter back.  We are still cautious because that attitude does like to sneak back in from time to time.  We love all our kids dearly and it feels so good to have better relationships with them all. 

Isaiah is 15 on December 15^th.  Our baby is getting so OLD.  This young man is such a delight in our lives.  I can honestly say that this year.  Isaiah has had some major issues in his life that has had some major consequences attached to them.  I thought we would never get to this point (of being a delight, that is).  I won’t go into detail, but you probably remember from Christmas letters past that he was a squirrelly one and his antics seemed kind of cute and funny.  As he grew, it wasn’t so cute and funny anymore and he pushed things too far.  But my baby is maturing too and is making much better choices now.  Again, I have to say that he isn’t making good ones all the time, but the majority of the time he is making excellent choices.  His grades in school are making mom and dad happy too.

So, aren’t you glad that this letter isn’t another gloomy report like the last two years?  I sure hope so, because I am extremely happy about it. 

No room to say much about Eric and I.  We are working hard to make ends meet.  Finances are still an issue since he got laid off in 2003.  With inflation and rising taxes we just can’t get ahead.  Every time I hear on the news that they are thinking of raising taxes, I just want to cry.  How can they squeeze any more out of us?  Sorry, here I go again with the doom and gloom.  I don’t want to do that, so enough said.  I am enjoying my work at school with the kids and Eric likes (but doesn’t love) his work at Wynalda Litho, another print shop.  It’s never been his favorite thing to do, even though he is very good at it.

I do want to thank all those who have helped us out financially and otherwise.  You know who you are.  There aren’t words to describe our gratitude.   This brings tears of joy and thankfulness.   I hope God blesses your socks off because you certainly deserve it.

With all our love and gratitude,

            Eric, Susan, Caleb, Grace (and Vic), Josh, Kristi, and Isaiah  ~  & Candy, Angel, and Zap (meow)  

                             (Holt email:  holthome2000@sbcglobal.net)

P.S.  No pictures right now but I will try to get some on our family website:  www.angelfire.com/hi5/holtpage