Christmas 2018

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Greetings to our family and friends,

As we get closer to the day that we celebrate our Savior’s birth we hope that you join us in the preparations for this time and pause to consider its meaning for us all. We hope that these greetings reach you in good health.  Our activities this year have again been varied and spent enjoying visits with family and friends.

Life here at Timber Ridge is pleasant, at times exhausting, very active, with much variety, and the food is too good.  We have made new friends from varied backgrounds.  Carol and I sang in the Rusty Chords (yup) choir.  Last season, Carol accompanied Werner in a solo (Shenandoah) and then this fall Carol played a Scott Joplin piece and accompanied Werner on “Cheek to Cheek”, an old Fred Astaire piece, with the Timbres, a resident Swing group.  From time to time, Werner convinces Carol to play a few pieces in the Timber Ridge Lounge.  Werner continues to support the Washington State Referee Committee’s website and Instruction program.

Werner has become the resident videographer for various events. Many of the videos have been posted on the FamilyHenn.com website under the Timber Ridge menu dropdown. He was asked to video a series of lectures here at Timber Ridge on Empowered Aging and as a result he was asked to join the committee which he has really enjoyed.  For the second fall in a row he has run a local 5K. coming in 2nd and 3rd for his age group. Carol walked with fellow Timber Ridgers both years. We make regular use of our great fitness facilities.

We have enjoyed visits from family this past year.  Last Thanksgiving (2017), Brian and family visited and enjoyed a tour of Seattle and helped us put up the first artificial tree of our lives.  In February we enjoyed a visit from cousin George and his wife, Li. In August, Carol’s sister, Mary and husband, Duane came down for a visit from Alaska.  We then drove together to Carol’s hometown in Montana to visit her brother David and family and attend the wedding of David’s granddaughter, Kristen.  What a great occasion!

Our sons and families are all very successful.  Mark received a major management promotion with Raytheon.  Zachary will be graduating this Spring from University of Arizona.  Lauren is a sophomore playing soccer at Trinity International Univ. in Illinois, and Aidan is a Junior in High School, playing golf and soccer.  Last Spring we traveled to Georgia, visited Charleston SC for the first time. We then went to Marietta to celebrate Grant’s HS graduation.  Brian and Werner took in an Atlanta United game. Grant is now in college.  Tyler is a Junior at Kennesaw State and Alyssa is a Senior in High School, playing Lacrosse, and close to making a college decision.

We continue to sing in the BelPres Sanctuary Chorus. Werner also sings in the smaller chamber Ensemble. We got disappointing news, but expected, that our choir director is retiring next summer.  I think we are still in the “grief” stage. We continue to split season tickets to the Sounders FC soccer team with a friend of ours.  Although they made a miraculous recovery into the playoffs, they lost to our arch-rivals, the Portland Timbers, in the play-offs. Brian is a charter subscriber to the Atlanta United team who won the MLS Championship against, yes, the Portland Timbers. 😊

We are relatively healthy, although Carol gave us a scare last December when she contracted an infection in both ears and lost her hearing for over two months. She has regained most of it, but experiences problems in crowded situations.

We just completed our BelPres Christmas musical presentation, “Light Dawns”, at church last Sunday and should be viewable on Vimeo.com/BelPresMusic (<- click here) by the time you get this letter. We are now looking forward to having Carol’s cousin, Lois, join us for Christmas Dinner here at Timber Ridge.

We wish you all a Christmas of Joy as we celebrate Christ’s birth and a New Year filled with Happiness and Blessings.

Our Best Wishes,

Werner & Carol