"Do
not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. Today in the town of
2006 Christmas
Letter
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Dear Friends
and Family: 2006 was another wild and crazy year for the Texas Moores. We moved, in May, from our rental to our
property in Iola. Since then it seems like we've been busy ever since, setting
up shop, building fences and sheds, etc. It's been much more work and
sweat than moving away from Spring last year. But somehow it seems
different because we're making a home again. It was strange renting;
it's an untethered feeling that I didn't enjoy
much, except when the heating unit went south for the winter and I didn't
have to pay the repairman. Home-schooling, another of last year's experiments, proved to
be a dreadful failure in that everyone except me thought it was for the
birds! The most obvious result of experience is that the boys are once
again attending public schools, this time at Iola ISD. During the
spring they played Little League baseball with the Iola teams and made a few
friends before starting school with them in August. So far they are
very happy there and literally quake in their boots at the very suggestion of
being brought home again for their education. Frightening as that may be to them, it's also become a very
unlikely possibility as there is no longer a teacher at home looking for
students! Monica was just offered and accepted a position teaching 2nd
grade at Iola Elementary last week, taking over for a retiring teacher.
She'd been subbing there since August and impressed everyone in a short time.
I know she's going to do great - she's been waiting a long time for this year
and her kids are going to reap some real benefits by having her as their
teacher. Go, Monica! During the fall Mitch and Jake played in the Jr. High band,
which at Iola means they get to play with the high schoolers
and go to all of the varsity football games. As far as I know (!?) they
handled their first few tastes of freedom well. I guess I'm getting
old. The truth is that I'd forgotten that 7th grade is when boys and
girls start pairing up. The twins both surprised me by asking girls to
the first dance of the year. And so it began... The twins participated in some UIL academic competitions
earlier in the year with Mitch winning 1st place in the Impromptu Speaking
contest and Jake getting 2nd in Listening Skills. They're also playing
basketball now that football is over (thankfully they didn't go out for that
team - I've invested way too much in them for that game to ruin their little
bodies now). Unfortunately they're not getting much court time yet as
it's a combined 7th and 8th grade team. David is playing basketball as well and is practicing for his
leagues now. He'll be playing for two different teams at the same
time. Hopefully the schedules won't conflict too much. Even if
they do, the extra practices will be good for him. He's been doing well
at school and seemingly has mastered, after some struggling, the idea that
working hard at school means little or no homework. He also requested
that I mention his special need to receive a dirt bike under the Christmas
tree this year... As for me, I continue to work at the Texas A&M University
System. It is a very good job that I *usually* appreciate having.
The payroll program whose development I lead is used by 5000 people week in and
week out. That's a start but we hope to triple that this year - pretty
exciting. In my spare time I've been spending a bit of time on this web
site, both as a hobby and as a learning tool. I'm also about to return
to the never-ending project of Recognition, my
unfinished-but-not-for-much-longer novel. Needless to say there are
also a lot of projects around the Moore Dynasty ranchito
keep me busy. So, in summary, 2006 was a very good year for all of us, one
that made real changes in all of us. Although I never really lived in Monica and I are counting our blessings (almost) every
day. There are so many of them that sometimes it doesn't seem fair for
us to be so happy. I hope your own families and loved ones have done as
well this year and that the year ahead will be just as prosperous and kind to
you as this year has been to us. |
With Love,
Marc, Monica, Mitch, Jake, and
David Moore