Zach: 9th grade at Leon High School in Tallahassee. Zach plays percussion in Leon's marching band.

Ben: 9th grade at Leon High School in Tallahassee. Ben sings with the pop a capella group at Leon, known as the Mane Event.

Abigail: 11th grade at Leon High School in Tallahassee. Abby's in three singing groups: Madrigal Singers, Capital Singers and the Mane Event.

Sally: In her 4th year as Pastor for Nurturing Ministries at Saint Paul's United Methodist and minister of visitation at Faith Presbyterian Church.

Clarke: In his 5th year as Senior Pastor at Saint Paul's United Methodist Church in Tallahassee.

Preparing tortillas during our visit to a family of weavers near San Francisco, Guatemala.
June 2008

Lake Atítlan from the balcony of Casa del Mundo, Guatemala.
June 2008

A Mayan weaver in Antigua, Guatemala.
June 2008

Carolina selling her mother's weavings in the Central Park of Xela, Guatemala.
June 2008

Zach, Sally, Abby, Ben and Clarke getting ready to zip across the valley, 450 feet above the tree canopy. Zippidee do da!
June 2008

Abby's favorite songs:

• Coffeshop Soundtrack by All Time Low
• Save by the Rocket Summer
• I'm not Gonna Teach your Boyfriend How to Dance with You by the Black Kids

• Dane Cook
• Jeff Dunham
• Demetri Martin

• The Rocket Summer
• Hawthorne Heights
• Judy Hill

Christmas 2008

A year ago on Christmas morning, we ended the time of sharing presents with Sally putting a challenge before our family. The challenge was for us to explore what it would mean for us to make a difference for the world in 2008. She suggested calling it Ten Hands to represent the number we bring to this project. That first discussion has led to our family figuring how we could have a greater impact. We broke up into research groups and explored how we could learn more about the world, have less of an environmental impact and engage in places of need. This Ten Hands adventure has given us a wonderful year, feeding in soup kitchens, researching the best projects for water purification, joining work teams, greening up our home, traveling to other countries to learn about life there; essentially putting feet to the faith we profess. We would all say without a doubt that this has been a wonderful part of this year.

Sally continues to enjoy her ministry with both the Presbyterians and the United Methodists, but clearly the highlight of the year for her was the organzing and living the long-hoped for dream of going with her entire family to a third world country and learning of some of the realities there. We went to Guatemala for two weeks. The first week we lived with local families and learned a lot about Mayan culture. After a week of one-on-one language training for five hours a day, we had a second week of playing as a family. We stayed at Lake Atítlan in a small hotel built into a rock outcropping called Casa del Mundo, which really was a house of the world. We met folks from all over the world and had a chance to rich times over meals. The highlight was the zip lines where we zipped across the tree canopy, 450 feet above with a waterfall on one side and a volcanic lake on the other.

Right after returning from Guatemala, Abby and Clarke joined Saint Paul's senior high mission trip to Bombita, Reúublica Dominicana. We worked in a village of Haitian immigrants, working to rebuild a wall for a school, painting classrooms and helping to spruce up the place. It was a very powerful trip for Abby who loved using her Spanish. Clarke took Abby to the town where he had lived. It was so much fun to walk through town and see people Clarke hadn't seen in 25 years.

I think we could honestly say that for Abby, Zach and Ben, this has been a great year. At the beginning of this school year, Abby tried out for Leon High School's pop acapella group, the Mane Event. She had tried out before and was a little nervous, but hopeful that this year she might make it. The day arrived for the results of the audition to be shared. After reading the results, Abby called her mom. When Sally picked up the phone, Abby was in tears. Abby couldn't talk so she handed the phone to Ben. Abby was crying so hard in the background that Sally recommended Ben hang up and call 911. Finally the news got through, Abby had made the choir! Those were tears of joy afterall. Ben had also tried out on a lark and was delighted to join the ranks of the choir as well. He was the only freshman to make the group. Our house has been alit with harmonies ever since. To hear one of their songs on YouTube from an October concert, go to to this video.

There must be a drumming gene. Clarke's mom played drums, Clarke played drums and now, Zach's hands are never still and any surface is fair game for practice. Ba dum bum bum, badabadabadabada boom. The tapping never stops. Zach tried out for Leon's drumline at the end of last school year and successfully made the cut. He's been in the marching band for this past football season, learning all of the percussion instruments from marimba to cymbals to chimes to bass drum. He has hopes of playing one of the marching snares next year.

Clarke loves his work. The church suffered some unexpected events this year: we had a theft of the computer server. The youth who stole it wiped out the hard drive and a few months of data was lost in the process. The rain that came from Tropical Storm Fay ended up soaking the flooring in the parlor and chapel which led to many months of repair and remodelling using up some of our reserves that had been saved for a "rainy day." While we have had some difficult moments, it has given the church a chance to go deeper. Clarke was a delegate to the United Methodist General Conference in Ft. Worth this past April. It was his 2nd time to attend and with a bit of experience behind him, he enjoyed jumping in on some key issues before the Church. Clarke is participating in this year's Leadership Tallahassee class which has given him a chance to know a wide variety of fascinating people throughout the city.

Our parents have both had better years. Sally's parents, Mary and Jim, have stabalized health-wise and continue to live at home with round the clock care. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with her family. Clarke's mom, Jackie, had hip surgery, but has gained much of her strength back. We celebrated her 8-0 birthday (which she loved telling everybody came on 08-08-08) at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.

Clarke and Sally's generation have been able to watch the journey from the March on Washington in 1968 to the election of Barak Obama as our next president in 2008. What an amazing time to be alive. It gives testimony to the great ideals on which our country was founded but which we sometimes struggle to honor. All three of our children were very much into the politics of this particular election. Sally's Spanish is pretty good but she continues to misprounouce the word that means, "Let's go!" All year long she has, for some reason, kept saying "Obamanos!"

With love,

Clarke, Sally, Abigail, Zachary and Benjamin