Merry Christmas

We hope this finds you and your family healthy and happy, with plenty of peace, joy and love, as well!

We are still in Siloam Springs, AR - going on our 8th year. Still wondering what in the world we are doing here? ; ) We are still enjoying our new house....even though Rick slipped on the damp grass last spring, while mowing our steep yard and sliced his arm open on the electrical box! He was pretty proud when he had to have 35 stitches!

The big news of the year, as most of you know, is that we are going to be grandparents in March! Ashley and Ricky decided to go ahead and get married before he left for a year long deployment to Kuwait (he is in the Army National Guard) and as luck (or a greater, more divine plan?) would have it, she got pregnant soon after. This "grandparent" thing was especially hard on Rick, as the news came the very month he turned '40'! He was already feverishly working out at the gym (lost 30 lbs), buying new "hip" clothes and going tanning. We even sold the camper and traded in our SUV for a "semi" sports car! To top it all off, he entered himself into the new game show "Deal, or No Deal"! Yes, it is safe to say that mid-life crisis had found it's way into the Gering household! The highlight of his year was being chosen "Shocker of the Day" in the Wichita Eagle newspaper! Besides fighting old age, he is still associate pastor and enjoys his new hobby of shooting the squirrels in the valley behind our house with a BB gun! Guess that's what happens when you move to Arkansas!

I am still part-time HR assistant at Ozark Electronics, but have taken on an extra 10 hours a week to help the front desk out with those duties after our receptionist went part-time. I'm on the praise team and ladies committee at church, I head up our hospitality room and lead the Girls Ensemble. I'm also involved in all the extra curricular activities my dear husband "volunteers" me for! ; ) My plate is as full as I want it to be.

Ashley is doing well....even with her new hubby halfway across the world. She is full-time at the bank, with the plan to be a stay-at-home mom after the baby makes his arrival into this world. She is due on March 2nd, but Ricky won't be able take his leave and be here until the 5th, so they've conveniently "changed" her due date. We just hope that the baby cooperates! The doctor will then induce her and Peyton Lee Haeberle will enter the world, God willing! In the meantime, she is trying to remodel and furnish their house, so she can welcome Ricky home next October! Please pray for our soldiers as they sacrifice so much for us.

Amber is sixteen!!! Need we say more? Maybe sixteen and loving it! She is a junior in school and is a total social bug and lives for what's next on her busy calendar. She is in between jobs, right now....but will eventually have to submit to the fact that her summer job funds can't carry her all the way through the school year. She went on a mission trip last summer to inner-city Chicago and had a great time there, ministering to the homeless and less fortunate. She has such a big heart for missions! She is looking at possibly going to Africa this next summer and after graduating, spending a year with YWAM (Youth With A Mission).

That pretty much wraps up our past year and our lives. We pray that you will enjoy the CHRISTmas season and celebrate it for it's true meaning. We love each one of you and pray God's blessings on the upcoming year!