2017
Merry Christmas 2017!
It is hard to believe another year has come and gone and once again we are writing our annual Christmas letter. 2017 has been a whirlwind that began even before the year began. On December 21, 2016, Carl’s mom, Ruth Ann, passed away. It came as a bit of a shock and hence has left 2017 being a year of adjustment. The memorial in February was a good time to see family and friends and to begin a new normal. It’s been an adjustment for all of us.
Brendan is in his Senior year of high school. He ran on the home school track team in the Spring setting a personal best in the 1600m several times and participating in the home school state meet. This fall he ran his final season on the cross country team culminating with an excellent time at the Nike Cross in The Woodlands, Texas. He is taking dual credit classes at the community college. He will graduate in May. He plans to enlist in the Marine Corps in January and has a “plan B” to go to Texas State Technical College to study Precision Machining.
Eric continues to pursue teaching trombone lessons to the middle and high school students in Plano and some other surrounding school districts. He spent the summer developing his own curriculum to use with the students. The new addition to his household was a second cat! He enjoys working out, cooking and leatherworking. He and Carl meet at the rec center twice a week and shoot basketball which has been a nice time for them to connect.
Mande continues to work for the Hurricanes Basketball organization where she has now been working the last two and a half years. She keeps the schedules operating smoothly. She has spent most of the year a taxi driver for Brendan until he got his driver’s license in November. She also continues to do administrative work for Bezeugen Ministries. She and Carl enjoyed a summer trip to Michigan and Canada (Niagara Falls Region) where they spent some nice time sightseeing.
Carl is nearing two years on contract at DTCC. Bezeugen Ministries celebrated its tenth year in ministry this year and has now distributed over 5 million Gospel tracts. His knee is finally feeling better than it has in a few years and he is able to walk, exercise on the elliptical, ride his bike and shoot baskets at the rec center. He has been working on starting a new business which is named Xerno Enterprises with the tag line “maximizing the mind”. If all goes well the first app should be available for beta testing in the new year.
Carl and Mande anticipate being empty nesters in 2018 and hope to do some travel. We hope to see many of you. If you are in North Texas please let us know. We’d love to get together.
I was talking with a guy from Asia a few days ago he objected to Christmas being on December 25th because he said, “no one knows what day Jesus was born.” I told him that he is absolutely right that we don’t know. I then went on to explain that the important thing about Christmas is not the day, but what we remember – the birth of Jesus. I explained to him that each person has sinned against God by things like lying, stealing and hating. He agreed he had done those things. I then explained that the wages of that sin is death – physically and eternal separation from God in Hell. Finally, I shared with him that Jesus was incarnate to live a perfect life, die in our place and rise from the dead to defeat sin and death. I asked if he had heard that before. He said no. I encouraged him to read the Gospel of John to learn more. He said he would look it up on his phone. And that is the true meaning of Christmas!
Merry Christmas from The Kalbfleisch’s
2016
Merry Christmas 2016
Things have been busy here at the Kalbfleisch House this year.
Brendan is a junior in High School. This year he ran Varsity Track and Cross Country for his Home School Team. We traveled to Belton Tx, Fayetteville AR, The Woodlands TX among other places to see him race. This summer he started mowing a few lawns around the neighborhood and plans to make it more of a business next summer. He is very interested in Graphic Design and plans to pursue that in college. Hopefully he will get his drivers license by the summer.
Last December Eric graduated from OSU with a degree in Music. He stayed in Stillwater and worked before moving back to Dallas in August. He is currently teaching private lessons to 40 + Low Brass students and loving it. He and Apollo (the cat) live in an apartment in North Dallas. He purchased a Honda Civic this year and is really enjoying driving it.
This has been a big year for Carl. He turned 50 and survived 2 knee surgeries. He's been busy with rehabbing his knee. Thank goodness for football to keep him busy while resting in his new recliner. Carl started working on contract at DTCC in February and thankfully is able to work from home a few days a week so he can continue to recover from his latest knee surgery. If you are interested in what he had done check out Arthosurface Knee Implants. He has a HemiCap and an UniCap! He and Mande continue to serve The Lord through Bezeugen Ministries and the Bezeugen Tract Club. On December 21, Carl's mom, Ruth Ann, passed away. Carl had the opportunity to take her to several Oklahoma Football games during the fall. See will be missed.
2016 was a trying year for Mande. Turning 40 in August, she also was dealt the blow of her Grandmother "GG" dying, and dealing with some medical issues of her own. Mande is still homeschooling Brendan while working part time for a youth basketball organization here locally. She really enjoys both. They keep her very busy.
Carl and Mande Celebrate 100 years this year as 2016 was also their 10th anniversary. We thank God every day for each other and the gifts that he gives us.
We hope that 2016 was a good year for you! Our prayer is that 2017 will be your best year yet! We would love to connect with you so please reach out to us. If we can assist you in any way please let us know!
Love
Carl, Mande, Eric, and Brendan
2015
Merry Christmas 2015
Eric graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music.
Brendan enjoyed his first season running Cross Country for HSAA. Mande continues to home school him. He is now a sophomore.
Mande started working for Hurricanes Basketball, a youth basketball organization.
Carl has been gainfully employed on a contract at Verizon Wireless.
May the Joy of Christ fill you every day of the year!
2014
Brendan completed 8th grade, his first full year of home schooling. He is now a Freshman at Arbor Creek Christian School (the name we gave our homeschool). He is active in the church youth group. He enjoys having friends spend the night and "hanging out". In the spring he participated on the Home School Athletic Association track team. He enjoyed that and plans to run track again in the spring.
Eric now a senior at Oklahoma State. He plans to graduate in December 2015. He has worked his way to Assistant Manager at Qdoba and is gaining many life skills there as well. He has enjoyed playing disc golf at several parks in Stillwater. During the summer he drove to New York to attend the International Trombone Festival and serve as a student worker. He got to march with the Cowboy Marching Band at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, not once, but twice, when Oklahoma State ended last season in the Cotton Bowl and began this season against Florida State.
Mande has enjoyed home schooling Brendan. The extra time with him has been rewarding for her. She has enjoyed gardening in our yard and visiting farmers markets. She has continued to do some baking for Kupwich and been able to help many people enjoy gluten free desserts. This fall she took up making ribbon bookmarks which she is marketing under the name "Marks of Grace". She is having fun making them and selling them on Etsy and at craft shows. She has taken a part-time job distributing a Christian Business Phone Book and also spends a lot of time working for Bezeugen Ministries.
Carl was out of full-time work from January to October due to a reduction in force at Bank of America. Thankfully the door was opened to several business opportunities and jobs during the year which God used to provide for our family. In October he started a twelve month contract doing network management development for Verizon Wireless.
During the summer, Carl, Mande and Brendan, made a mission trip to Ohio. Carl had three speaking engagements and an outreach with Bezeugen Ministries. The Lord used the time away from home to allow us to set some future vision for Bezeugen. We were also able to spend some time with Carl's brother, George, and wife, Andrea. A highlight of the trip was meeting some other Kalbfleisch's (no known relation) in person!
We wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Carl, Mande, Eric and Brendan
2013
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! In all the hustle and bustle of life we did not manage to get our Christmas letter out before Christmas this year. However, we still thought it was good to pause for a few moments to capture 2013 in writing and share some updates and pictures with you.
Brendan is now in eighth grade. This year we decided to homeschool and so far so good! He likes the new routine and is excelling in all of his classes. He decided to stop photoplaying Lacrosse and has instead taken up running. In January he will begin working out and competing with the Home School Athletic Association (HSAA) track team. In January he got really sick and developed a very severe pain in his left arm. After many trips to the doctor he was diagnosed with RND(Reflex Neruovascular Dystrophy). The pain was so severe all the time that even to touch him he would wince. Eventually we were able to line up an intensive outpatient therapy program for him which was supposed to last most of the summer. A few nights before the therapy was to start God miraculously healed him! He has been free of pain since the end of June!
Eric is a Junior at Oklahoma State University. This year he had the opportunity to travel to 2013-09-28 20.18.14Ohio with the OSU orchestra, to Washington D.C. with the OSU trombone ensemble and to Japan with the OSU Wind Ensemble. He made his annual trip to the International Trombone Festival which was held in Georgia and served as a student worker. In September, Carl was able to visit him for the weekend to celebrate his 21st birthday! OSU has enjoyed another great football season. Eric will be performing at the Cotton Bowl on January 3rd. He is working at Qdoba and loving life in Stillwater! This year in addition to the Wind Ensemble and Orchestra he is also in the Jazz Band which he truly loves!
Mande has continued to work on building her Gluten Free Bakery business, Kupwich. She has been able to bring a lot of joy to people through her baking. In the spring she 2013-11-23 13.15.30spent much of her time caring for Brendan due to his RND pain. Her time is spent these days being Brendan's teacher, working on many different ministry tasks for Bezeugen including bookkeeping and working through the process of getting the 501(c)3 status for the ministry. On top of all those things she started a new business with a friend of ours selling and marketing a very fun wind up butterfly. Butterflyers are great in greeting cards, books, cds, etc. and bring a smile to the recipients face! If you know of a school or church group that is trying to raise money let her know!
Carl changed jobs again; returning to Bank of America. The work is going well and brings many new challenges. His true passion remains sharing the Gospel and equipping others to do the same. The ministry is growing and doing many new things. The tract club is over 1,000 members. He and a friend have a huge vision to have 100 people going door to door on the same day in the same city. Carl continues his part-time endeavors to educate people on the risks of household toxins. He was able to attend a convention in Salt Lake City with his brother. He lost nearly 20 pounds though diet and exercise this year and plans to continue the weight loss in 2014.
We had the opportunity to do some travel this year. Carl and Mande escaped the heat of July in Texas and spent a long weekend in the cooler weather of the mountains at Angel Fire, NM. We also spent Carl's birthday weekend in Austin, seeing Eric perform with the band while the football team beat Texas! We made a number of quick trips to Stillwater to see Eric march and perform with the many ensembles. We were able to spend Thanksgiving in Oklahoma with Carl's mom, brother and sister-in-law.
We hope our paths will cross in 2014. If you find your travels bring you to North Texas please give us a call!
Carl, Mande, Eric and Brendan
2012
It's hard to believe that it is December again. Seems like just yesterday we were writing the annual Christmas letter. Here we are writing another one.
2012 started off with a bang for Eric. As a member of the Cowboy Marching Band at Oklahoma State, he got to travel to the Fiesta Bowl to cheer on the team tan overtime win over Stanford. He spent a month this summer in North Carolina at the Eastern Music Festival. This gave him a taste of what a career in orchestral music will be like. This fall he moved to an apartment that is off campus (by about 100 yards) and started working at the Qdoba in Stillwater. During auditions for the 2012-2013 school year he was selected to the Orchestra and the Wind Ensemble, which will be performing in Japan next May.
This year Brendan will hit a milestone birthday! 13! We no longer have any "kids" at home. He is still at Arbor Creek Middle School in the 7th grade and excelling in school. He was honored to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society this year as a 6th grader. It is truly an honor! He plays the saxophone in the band and enjoys playing Lacrosse. His skills have really improved during his second year of playing on the team. He enjoys playing the attack position. He is an avid reader, going through amazon credits on his Kindle Fire like crazy. Brendan is taking a very cool class in school that teaches them outdoor skills. This allowed him to learn many new skills and venture on some cool trips. He and his grandfather "Pappy" took several hunting trips including a trip to the lease with Pappy's friends and a couple of hunting trips with his class.
Mande keeps a busy schedule. She does a lot of volunteer work with our ministry, substitute teaches at the elementary school and runs her bakery, Kupwich, Etc.. The bakery has come a long way this year. She has developed a lot of new gluten free and allergen friendly recipes which is helping to develop a loyal customer base. She has developed a number of recurring customers and even got her first wedding cake order this year. She plans to do some consulting on gluten free menu planning next year.
Carl completed five years at HP, and then was impacted by Work Force Reduction in July, After being out of work for about six weeks, he landed another position at HP in the Global Cyber Security group. He is learning a lot. He continues to look at other income options in order to be able to ultimately spend more time in ministry.
We got to enjoy a number of trips this year. Our most popular destination was to visit Eric in Stillwater. We got to see Eric perform in several concerts and march in the band at several football games. We made a number of stops in Norman to see Carl's mom. Mande and Carl traveled to Salt Lake City for a conference in May. That was very educational. In July we took a trip to Missouri and Illinois. This was a combined ministry trip and vacation. Carl presented the Basic Evangelism Training Seminar twice. We got to spend several days with Carl's brother and sister-in-law. In December, Carl and Mande joined the rest of his family in Roanoke, Virginia to see his nieces perform in the Nutcracker.
We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May God Bless you 2013.
The Kalbfleisch's
2011
It has been an exciting year of change in our household. Change can be hard to get used to. It can also be good. Eric moved off to college in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Brendan moved on to middle school. Mande started two businesses. We changed churches. We have one less cat and two less gerbils! Snowball, our pet with the most health problems over the years, is our last remaining pet!
Eric had a busy senior year at Hebron High School. He enjoyed participating in the Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony and performing a number of venues around the metroplex including the Meyerson in Dallas. He graduated from High School in June. He had the opportunity to be a student worker at the International Trombone Festival in Nashville over the summer. He got to spend a week at the Quartz Mountain Musical Festival as well. He decided to attend Oklahoma State University to study Trombone performance. His first semester has been exciting. He is in the Cowboy Marching Band. He was on TV with the band at the Texas game. He is in the Symphony Orchestra, and several smaller ensembles. He has played in a couple of the concerts that the music department does at the library. We are looking forward to seeing him for a few days at the end of the semester before he heads to the Fiesta Bowl with the band to cheer on the Pokes!
Brendan had a speaking part in a school performance before moving from elementary school to middle school. Speaking of change, Brendan got a new look over the summer - he is now wearing contacts! He is now in sixth grade at Arbor Creek Middle School. He is excelling in the classroom. He is in pre-AP science. He has has become very busy. After not having any extracurricular activities in the past, he is now busy almost every day of the week. He has taken up the Saxophone and is doing great in band. Mande drives him to the local community college weekly for private lessons. He was asked to perform a solo concert before Thanksgiving at a friends mom's retirement community. He started playing lacrosse on a team affiliated with the High School and has really enjoyed it. He is also busy two nights a week with various activities with the church youth group. One morning a week he is at school early to participate in the FCA group. He still enjoys building things with legos, reading and working on the Kindle Fire that he won. He had his first church missions experience this summer when he, Carl and Mande spent a day with the church youth group on mission trip in South Dallas. Probably he will get to attend the whole trip next year.
Mande continued to experiment with gluten free cooking for her and Brendan and made great strides in creating meals that taste like the "normal". She keeps her schedule full of many activities including volunteer work for the ministry, substitute teaching, helping out the middle school band, and taking care of her niece. She took several cake decorating classes and really enjoyed doing that. If that were not enough to keep her busy, she decided to start not one, but two new business. Taking her interest in cooking and combining it with her passion to help people she started a home bakery called Kupwiches and More by Mande K. A kupwich is an invention of hers that can best be described as an inside out cupcake. The second business, Cake Parties 2 Go, brings cake decorating to the party.
Carl continues to work for HP. He is responsible for the network tools architecture for the Bank of America account. He is also fully engaged in Bezeugen Ministries. He helped put on evangelism events at the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and the World Series. He also organized a nationwide outreach that took place at every Major League Baseball stadium. In 2012, he expects to focus the ministry more on teaching people to share the Gospel "as you go". He also continues to enjoy biking.
In 2011, Carl started a referral business connected with a solid company that produces natural products that are better for you, your home and the environment and sell for less than the competing products in the store. He would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this with you.
We had a number of opportunities to get together with family this year. Mande's family lives nearby and we enjoy getting together whether it is for a dinner in or out, or celebrating a family birthday or holiday. We are thankful to have them close by. Carl's family is distributed around the country. We had most of the family in town for Eric's graduation and then saw the whole family in Oklahoma over Thanksgiving weekend. Carl and Eric had the pleasure of Carl's brother George accompanying them on Eric's audition trip to Oklahoma State early in the year. We also had the chance to spend family weekend at OSU with George and his wife Andrea. We made several other trips to Stillwater to see an Orchestra concert, another football game and of course to move Eric to college. Mande and Carl celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary. To commemorate the special occasion, we spent the weekend at a cabin in East Texas. That was very nice to have the time to get away together.
Christmas is a time of gathering with family, exchanging gifts, singing songs and celebrating many traditions. For some that is all Christmas is about. However, the true meaning of Christmas is a remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ. Why was Jesus born? John 1:29 gives the answer:
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John tells us in his subsequent letter that sin is lawlessness. Every person has broken God's Law in one way or another. Whether it is by lying, stealing, or blaspheming God's name, we are all guilty. Jesus was born so that He could die on the cross to pay for the sin of the world. Three days after He died on the cross, He rose from the grave defeating sin and death. Eternal life is available, for free, to all who will repent and believe the Gospel.
We pray that this Christmas, Christ will be at the center of your celebration and life! If you travels in 2012 bring you to North Texas please look us up. We'd love to catch up!
2010
The commercialism of Christmas seems to become more and more prevalent every year. A new song, Where's the Line to See Jesus, reminds me that Santa and gifts are not the "Reason for the Season". No, instead, I like to remember the true reason of Christmas that Linus shares in Charlie Brown Christmas:
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Luke 2:8-14
As you celebrate Christmas we pray that this message will be at the forefront of your minds.
So what's new with the Kalbfleisch family this year?
Eric is a senior at Hebron High School. He is busy with band and church. He was section leader in the marching band. His marching band had great success finishing sixth at the Texas State Marching contest, the schools best ever finish. His concert band was selected to perform at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago and was also named the Texas 5A State Honor Band that will perform in San Antonio. Eric was selected to the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony. He is planning to major in music performance in college. Eric and Carl have visited several schools. He has auditions for music schools in January and February. Eric is also busy with church activities. He has had the opportunity to lead small group Bible studies several times this year.
Brendan is 10 and in the fifth grade. This is his last year in Elementary School. He seems to enjoy school this year. He is growing up so fast. This year he started walking home from school with another friend from the neighborhood. He enjoys reading and legos. He and one of his friends started a contest last year to see who could get through the Warriors series first. I think he is currently in the lead. Brendan and Mande trained and ran in a 5K run in July. He beat Mande by only a few minutes. This fall, he joined the jogging club at school. He and Mande plan to run a 5K in April with the kids in the jogging club. The highlight of fifth grade so far was going to Outdoor School and dissecting an owl pellet. Carl was able to take a couple of days off of work and go to the Outdoor School with Brendan. That was a lot of fun for them. Brendan enjoys spending the night at his grandparents house. This year Pappy(Mande's Father) bought Brendan a BB gun. He enjoys setting up the targets and shooting in the backyard of G and Pappy's house. Brendan also has some musical talents. He has taken up playing drums. He is taking lessons to prepare him for next year as his goal is to play quads on the Hebon Drumline.
Mande is balancing the demands of mom, wife, executive director of the ministry, marching band trombone section parent, volunteer coordinator, copy person for fifth grade and numerous other tasks. In September of this year Mande was diagnoised with Celiac disease(www.celiac.org). She has done a lot of experimenting in the kitchen coming up with a number of new and wonderful recipes. She is working on compiling the recipes and publishing a cookbook. Her specialty has been to make recipes that are vegan and gluten free! Mande has also started playing her clarinet again. Maybe we will put together a Kalbfleisch band sometime.
Carl's job at Bank of America got outsourced to HP. He is working from home which has been nice. He enjoys working on Bezeugen Ministries, putting on evangelism training seminars and developing the Gospel tract club. In June he decided to set a goal to run a marathon. After six months of training, he met his goal by running the Dallas White Rock Marathon and completing the event in 4:49!
As a family we took a couple of trips this year. Our main family trip was to Southern California where we spent a day at Brendan's favorite place - Lego Land! While in California the boys had a great time boogie boarding the body surfing. Brendan found that he could not out muscle the waves. We also traveled to San Antonio to watch Eric perform in the Texas Marching Contest. Mande had the opportunity to visit friends in Arizona while Brendan got to spend time with his Dad in San Antonio. Carl and Eric spent a week in Austin while Eric attended the International Trombone Festival. We also made several trips to Oklahoma to visit Carl's mom. Carl and Mande had the opportunity to attend the Living Waters Ambassadors Academy together in March in Los Angeles.
We hope and pray that you have a blessed Christmas. If your travels bring you to North Texas please look us up.
2009
Merry Christmas from the Kalbfleisch Family
If you have a copy of our 2009 Christmas letter would you please contact me!
2008
Merry Christmas! With so many politically correct "Happy Holiday's" messages out there, I wanted to go ahead and start out by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. As I have been in stores recently I like to ask people (like the cashier) why we celebrate Christmas. Most say to get presents or point to a picture of Santa. This allows me to share the true meaning of Christmas, which is about the birth of Jesus. So I ask, Why was Jesus born? Well, man has sinned by violating the Ten Commandments by doing things like lying, stealing, using God's name in vain and that kind of stuff. Because of that all men rightly deserve to go to hell when they die. Since God does not want men to go to hell, he made one provision for men to be saved - his name is Jesus. Jesus was born, lived a perfect life and then died on the cross. The Bible says that if we repent of our sins and put out faith and trust in Jesus then we will have eternal life. I then tell them, "This is why we celebrate Christmas!"
Where has the year gone? In February we gathered in Norman, OK with Carl's family to celebrate his Mom's 75th birthday. In March we met Carl's brother and sister-in-law in Arkansas for a nice vacation. The following week, Carl's grandfather, Norman Adams (97) passed away. Carl and Mande were able to go to San Francisco for the funeral and then accompany his mom to Ventura for the funeral of her good friend's husband. In May we took back-to-back weekends to go to Kentucky. The first weekend was to celebrate the high school graduation of Mande's cousin, Amanda Bates. The second weekend was to attend the wedding of Carl's niece, Jennifer Kalbfleisch. We made a couple of other trips to Norman to visit Carl's mom. In September, Carl, Eric and Brendan all had the pleasure of taking their first hot air balloon rides when Mande's Dad gave them each rides in a balloon at the Plano Balloon festival. This fall we have been busy with high school marching band.
Brendan is now in third grade at Indian Creek. He enjoys playing Legos, playing Nintendo DS games and dreaming about Pokemon. He has become quiet an avid reader as well. He has joined the Little Dribblers program at school and is enjoying that. This fall he did a research paper on Neil Armstrong, the astronaut. He recently was in the Christmas Program at our church. Over the summer Brendan got to spend a couple of weeks in San Antonio visiting his dad. He really enjoyed the Under the Sea vacation Bible school at our church.
Eric has had a big year. He is now a sophomore at Hebron High School. In the spring he participated in a trombone octet at school. In the summer he attended drivers education, spent a week with his Aunt Andrea and Uncle George in Kentucky, went on a mission trip and then attended marching band camp for the month of August. In September we celebrated his 16th birthday! His high school marching band enjoyed their best success in the history of the school making finals in the state marching contest and placing in the top 10! The show was called Watched! Eric has continued his success in band by making the all-region band on the bass trombone! When he is not participating in band or youth group activities, he enjoys playing World of Warcraft and leather working. Earlier this month he got his drivers license!
Mande continues to be a mostly stay at home mom taking care of the house. She is heavily involved in PTA where she heads up the membership committee. She is working part time as a substitute teacher at Brendan's school. This affords her the flexibility to take him to school and still make some extra income. She is also heavily involved in our home based business and our Evangelism ministry. She gets great joy from baking meals for people that are sick and providing her Famous Brownies for church and youth group functions. She enjoyed helping with the pit-crew during marching band. In December, Mande became an Aunt when we welcomed Willa Mae Crane, born to her sister Melissa and husband Walter.
Carl is now working for Bank of America, which acquired Countrywide in July. He enjoys the work and continues to learn a lot. This fall he enjoyed working with the pit crew for the Hebron High School band. He is also busy with our home-based business. Bezeugen Ministries has enjoyed an exciting a year. He enjoys spending time working in ministry to share the Gospel.
We would love to see an NCAA Football Playoff. In it's absence, we are looking forward to watching Oklahoma play in the BCS Championship game. Boomer Sooner!
We wish you a Merry Christmas. We pray that God will bless you in the New Year. If your travels bring you to Dallas, please look us up!
2007
This year has been a year of change, adjustment, new beginnings and celebrations. We thank God for all of these experiences. We hope this letter finds you and your family blessed.
Eric is 15 and a freshman at Hebron High School in Carrollton, TX. He plays trombone in the marching band and really enjoys it. The band has done very well this year receiving a division 1 rating @ UIL and advancing to finals in the BOA Super Regionals in San Antonio. You can see the show on YouTube. He is involved in our church youth group and went on his second mission trip this past summer. Eric enjoys computer/video games, hanging out with friends, and leather working.
Brendan is 7(almost 8) and in second grade. He is doing well in school especially after getting his new blue glasses. He had his first experience with organized sports playing soccer this fall. His team did well. He enjoys playing video games, drawing, building with legos, and playing with Hot Wheels. Brendan enjoyed a summer visit to his Dad's house in San Antonio!
Mande is staying busy as always. She just recently started a part time tutoring job at Brendan's school working with kids who need additional help in math. She is also on the PTA board at Brendan's school where she is in charge of volunteers and the band booster club board at Eric's school where she is in charge of feeding the band directors during summer rehearsals and late evening rehearsals. Mande is currently enrolled in a Certificate program for Non-Profit Management and Grant Writing. She will complete this in January. She is also the Executive Director of Bezeugen Ministries so she spends quite a bit of time doing the administrative tasks associated with a growing ministry. In her spare time(HAHAHA!), Mande enjoys scrapbooking and crafty projects.
Carl changed jobs and is now working for Countrywide Financial.He continues to enjoy biking. He and a couple of friends rode the Tour Dallas over Easter weekend; it actually snowed during the ride! In the spring he will be training to ride the MS-150 bike tour. Carl has enjoyed being involved with Eric's band serving in the Pit Crew!
Carl and Mande celebrated their first anniversary with a romantic weekend away in East Texas. Carl also had the opportunity to visit his grandfather (96) one weekend while his grandfather was recovering from hip surgery and a stroke. We were blessed to be with Carl's sister Julie when she received her PhD from the University of Oklahoma in May. This marked the first gathering of Carl's family since his father passed away in September 2006. We enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with Mande's family and had the opportunity to see Carl's family the next day!
This year the Lord blessed Carl with a vision for an evangelism ministry. Bezeugen Ministries was born and is ramping up for a GREAT 2008. The ministry is set up under Mountain Movers International to be able to take donations. If you would like more information please check out the website. Wehave set up several small businesses to help fund the ministry.
We pray that 2008 will bring many blessing to you and your family. May Christ be the center of your Christmas!
2006
2006 has been an eventful year. On June 3rd, Mande and Carl were married in a celebration of God's grace. We were fortunate that so many of our family and friends were able to attend. As it turned out this celebration was also the last complete family reunion for Carl's family as his Dad passed away three months later on September 12. The loss of Carl's Dad has been hard on all of us. We were blessed to be able to have a memorial service for his Dad in Norman in September. The family also gathered again for Thanksgiving at the family home in Norman.
Eric is in 8th grade at Arbor Creek Middle School. He enjoys playing trombone in the Honor's band. This fall he tried out for district and region bands and qualified for both bands. In January, Eric decided he wanted to go out for the middle school tennis team. He took some group and private lessons and applied himself to practice. In August his hard work paid off when he made the tennis team. He played doubles in several tournaments this fall with his school. Eric enjoys his classes especially science and history. Eric went on his first mission trip this year - providing hurricane relief in Port Arthur, Texas with our church. He really enjoyed the trip and grew a lot from the experience. He is already saving money to go again in 2007! He also enjoyed several trips to see his grandparents in Oklahoma and to visit his Uncle and Aunt. He and Carl have enjoyed building an N scale train layout together.
Brendan is in 1st grade at Indian Creek Elementary School. He enjoys his teacher and is learning a lot. He is a very inquisitive young man asking lots of questions and continually learning. He enjoys reading, playing with Hot Wheels and playing games. In October we lead Brendan to Christ using a gospel tract. In November he was baptized at our church (the video is on this web site). Brendan enjoyed singing in the choir in our churches production of A Charlie Brown Christmas. He had fun at several summer camps learning to play various sports and how to swim. He and Mande enjoyed a mother-son time picking out pumpkins and riding the hay ride at the pumpkin patch.
As a family, we have enjoyed our season tickets to the Oklahoma football games in Norman. Eric and Carl had a nice father-son get away to College Station to watch the Sooners beat Texas A&M. Mande and Carl also had a nice weekend get-away to Waco to watch the Sooners play Baylor. We are looking forward to watching the Sooners play Boise State in the (Tostidos) Fiesta Bowl!! Brendan and Eric get along well and enjoy each other.
Mande has enjoyed being a stay at home Mom. She enjoys volunteering at the boys' schools and at our church. She has enjoyed being in the women's Bible study at church. This fall she has been leading one of the women's Bible study groups.
Carl continues to work for Netrake as a Software Architect for their VOIP (Voice Over IP) products. This year Netrake was acquired by AudioCodes which has been a very positive thing for him and the company. He has continued to enjoy mountain biking. He is enjoying a study of Biblical Evangelism with a friend of his. This fall Carl started a business venture of his own.
Carl and Mande enjoyed a relaxing honeymoon cruise from Los Angeles to San Diego, Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. They also spent a night in San Francisco visiting Carl's grandfather. That was very special. Carl and Mande each celebrated milestone birthdays - 40 and 30 respectively!
We hope you will check out the rest of this web site to see pictures from our wedding and a memorial of Carl's Dad. We close with a favorite scripture:
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." - Luke 1:26-33
We pray that you have a Christ-centered Christmas. We hope to see you in the New Year. If you happen to be coming to Dallas please let us know.