The Christmas Letter - Our Year in a Nutshell...

“Whatever does not destroy me makes me stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzche

This past year has been a rollercoaster ride of events for our family. None of us could have foreseen what was in store for us this year.

Joe and Becky didn’t get the chance to race the dogs much at all last year. About a week before they had planned to leave for the Wyoming race, Jessica had to be taken in for emergency surgery. She was originally scheduled to have her gall bladder taken out in February. Her body didn’t seem to want to wait that long, so after many trips to the E.R., they decided to just get it out of her a.s.a.p. It took her a few months to get back to normal but she is doing much better now.

Then, in March of this year, Joe hit the big one. That’s right, 50. We had the black balloons, black beads, and black cake to celebrate. We took him out mid-night bowling and he had a great time. Although he had received his present about 9 months before his actual birthday, he was still in good spirits. In case you didn’t hear about his big present, Becky bought him a 2007 Firefighter Special Edition Roadking Harley Davidson. I think it’s the best present he has ever received. He loves it and they take it out every chance they get.

In April, Joe took a trip to the Doctor for a sore throat that would not go away. This led to many tests and the eventual prognosis of tonsillar cancer. He had the tonsil removed and was given 8 weeks of Radiation and Chemotherapy. It was hard on his body and he lost quite a bit of weight. It was a chore to try and eat. Unfortunately, the only thing he could eat with out too much pain was chicken noodle soup. The ordeal was hard on us all. This is the strongest man we know, the one who runs into burning buildings to save lives, so it was quite hard for us to see him in pain. A few months after the treatments he went back to the Dr. for another PET/CAT scan where he found the cancer had gone into remission. He is now on an amazing road to recovery – unfortunately for us, as he has begun to recover we have seen his appetite return in full effect – we can barely afford to feed him.

September was a stressful yet exciting month for us all as well. On September 22, 2007 Leanne and Jeff were married. It was the event of the year. The wedding was beautiful and so was bridezilla. We were all so happy to be part of that magical day. After the wedding they fled to Maui for 10 days. They loved it so much and had such an amazing time; they didn’t want to come home!

All in all the year has been a test for us. It tested our strength as humans and as a family; however, it seemed to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. We had so many people who offered to help us in anyway they could. Thank you everyone for your support through the tough and joyous moments of this past year.

Happy Holidays everyone, and a wonderful New Year to you all.

Everyday stuff

Things around here have been insane. we are suffering from a successful business.
The orders have been coming in steady and strong from months now. Even with the addition of 2 more to the sewing staff we are working 16 hours a day to get thru the holidays.

Joe had his 3 month check up and is still cancer free. He still a long road to go but each day gets easier. He is training the dogs for 3 races this year. Our main focus is going back to do the RACE to the Sky in Montana. It has been 12 years since we last raced there. We are looking forward to that racing format again.

Jessica's boyfriend John is headed to Iraq in JAN 08.( he is in the Air Force)
She is sad but supportive. We pray for his safe return home.

Leanne and Jeff are back from the Hawaii honeymoon, tans faded and both back to work.

We will be heading to Canada after Christmas for a week to run dogs in the snow.
January starts the racing season and our usual sled dog equipment order crunch..

back to the sewing sweat shop for me now.

Happy Holidays

Thanksgivng.

Thanksgiving
We are blessed with the best of both worlds.
For many years now we have been celebrating our holiday in Canada. Since Canadian turkey day is in October we get turkey dinner twice!.

this year was very special since ALL the kids and their significant others were able to join us. We packed up all the dogs, boarded the cat and headed North for the weekend.
cool temps, and a teaser of snow greeted us.

We ran dogs, played board games and a few games of pool. Yes their is a pool table in the cabin..go figure, eh?

We took our annual Christmas card photo at a friends log home down the road.

It was by far the best Turkey day we have had so far.

Enjoy the holidays