Merry Christmas!  Here is our Christmas card for the year that we sent out - many of you will have gotten it personally by email.  But for those of you who I don't have in email - here it is.  If you are a regular blog reader of mine, it will mostly be repeat information.  So bear with me...

To our Dear Friends and Family,
This year's letter is going to be a bit different.  As many of you know, Merlin has been very sick since July.  So, out of necessity, we will not be sending out our annual letter with pictures.  I will write this, hopefully brief letter, and send via email to all who have it - and via snail mail for those who don't.  But we have not taken a family pic this year at all, sorry.

We have many things to be thankful for!  Number one, to God for his faithfulness, and provision!  How God has used his children to provide support for us, is truly amazing!

And another major blessing is the arrival of our first Grandchild!  Holli and Daniel had a baby girl, Kylie Jo, on the 15th of Dec., weighing 6#13oz, and 21 in. long!  Precious, precious little miracle!!!  It is so wonderful to have a new life to focus on right now!

So, for those of you who do not know, Merlin was diagnosed with Rectal Cancer on his birthday in July, stage 4, metastasized to his liver. He has not been able to work since the first of Aug.  The pain was tremendous and building by the day... By the end of Aug, he started chemo infusion 24 hrs a day, for 5 days a week, and daily radiation treatments to shrink the tumor--for 6 1/2 grueling weeks!  5 awful, pain-filled weeks later- on Nov 11th, he had surgery to remove the tumor and surrounding colon, resulting in a colostomy.  After 9 days in the hospital, and 4 terrible days home, he was back in the hospital for 2 weeks with complications, and an abscess. He became very malnourished.  He is now home, healing, very weak, but pain FREE!!!  Praise the Lord!!!  We see the liver specialists in Hershey next month to find out our next step.

But the grace of our Loving Lord has sustained us in the midst of this valley.  Merlin has not been able to work since the first of Aug. The people of God have provided and embraced our family in ways I can't even describe!  Praise Him!!!

As our family gets older, so life has changed in ways we never dreamed.  The children seem to be doing OK.  Some ask a lot of questions, others, I need to draw out.  Our children were again part of the Mennonite Children's Choir of Lancaster this semester, after a hard struggle to make that decision.  Thanks to Philip who took the responsibility of driving the children to practices, and then concerts (as I was in the hospital with Merlin the entire time), it was a great blessing to the children!

I'll briefly tell about each child.  Cindi, 25, and husband Duane still live in Delaware. Holli, 24, and Daniel were blessed with little Kylie Jo!  Heidi, 22, spent the fall semester at God's Bible School in Cincinnati, OH, and is 'dating' Richard Sawyers, an airplane mechanic/pilot still earning his Commercial license, and who has been a big help and tremendous blessing over the hospitalizations.  Philip, 19, is at home, between a summer landscaping job, and part time roofing job.  Patti, 17, has her permit, in 11th grade, and  Abbi, 15, 10th grade have been doing a tremendous job running the house in our absence!  Peter, 13, 9th grade faithfully runs the barn-yard, and had a huge garden.  John, 12, 6th gr. is Peter's helper. Naomi, 9, 4th gr.,and our baby, Grace, 8, is in 3rd grade are learning to help out a lot with the household chores.  We are still homeschooling - with the help of friends right now.

Financially, Merlin was able to get unemployment.  We finally qualified for Medical Assistance, and received Medicaid!  PTL!!!!  Our church has been so wonderful to pick up the slack, and help all they could!  We don't take any of those blessings lightly - they are all gracious blessings to us right now!
You know, we never expected to be on the receiving end of 'charity'.  It is hard.  Merlin has been so 'moved'.  We are definitely humbled, and so very grateful for all that everyone has done for us.

We ask for your continued prayers for Merlin's healing!  Strength for the rest of us.
We have enjoyed the cards and letters, and now Christmas cards and letters!  Thank-you so much!
We are looking forward to having all the children home on Christmas Day, along with new baby Kylie Jo!!!  :)
If any of you want to follow our journey/Merlin's health, and have Internet access, you are free to view my blogg on www.xanga.com/soapspecialty.  Or give me your email address, and I will add you to my update list.
God Bless you all! 
Have a wonderful New Year!