Christmas 2014

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.

Our activities this year have been quite peaceful.  Our Church choir presented the Duruflé Requiem in May.  In January Werner returned to singing in the BelPres Chancel Choir and also with Seattle Pro Musica.  For SPM’s May concert Carol also joined to sing the Brahms Requiem at St James Cathedral.  We both joined SPM in September, signing up for the full year.  Werner is also singing in their Men’s group, Orpheon and their Chamber Group, Vox. It has been a challenge this year, singing French music for our Christmas concerts (4), as well as other appearances in Western Washington.  Werner has finally succumbed to the aches and pains and has retired from soccer after 40 years.

We both continue to enjoy attending the Issaquah Village Theater, one of the top regional theaters.  We just saw an outstanding presentation of Mary Poppins.

In July we joined the rest of Carol’s Frandsen Family for four days of fun in Breckenridge, Colorado.  Mark and Brian’s family joined us from Arizona and Georgia.  It is always enjoyable to become reacquainted and catch up with each families events.  We also had a nice visit with Chuck and Elly Tyler, friends from our time in Germany.  Although we missed Zachary at the reunion, we will see him next May to celebrate the first of our six grandchildren to graduate from High School.

In September, we returned to Heidelberg for the funeral of Werner’s Uncle and Otto’s Brother, Ernst Henn.  It was a sad time but an excellent time to experience the closure of another part of our life.  It was a great opportunity to also meet his friends and reminisce a little.

We then traveled and visited familiar and new places.  Three years ago we became acquainted, through Facebook, with cousins on Werner’s mother’s side of the family that we had never met.  They were originally from Altenburg, near Leipzig.  On the way we stopped and toured The Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther translated the New Testament. We also spent a day revisiting Dresden, specifically the restored Frauenkirche which was totally destroyed during WW II.  The highlights of this six days was meeting and becoming acquainted with four of Werner’s cousins, Sylvia, Silke, Uta and Edita and their families.  It was also an opportunity to fill in a lot of blanks in the Henn/Werner family tree.  Edita was our excellent tour guide through Altenburg, another Bach/Luther town with much ancient history.  Silke and her family showed us around Nürnburg.  We also experienced a very worshipful service at Lorenzkirche and a wonderful Postlude on the largest pipe organ in a German Protestant Church.  On our last day we revisited the ancient town of Rothenburg on the Tauber, walking the cobble stone streets and the old wall.  We can’t forget to mention all of the wonderful meals we had in every town. For a blog and pictures, see: FamilyHenn.com.

Otto is doing as well as can be expected for a man that will be 102 in May.  His memory and health is slowly descending.  He is anxious to be with Mom. He has been on Hospice care since March and yet continues to amaze everyone.

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