What's up with the Rogers/Hillard Household?

Due to popular demand from friends and family, I have finally added updates to our family page. I have added a copy of our recent Christmas letter and two pictures of Kimm.

Since then, Jean has returned home, and is expecting a son. Our new grandchild will be named Aidan Gray Hillard. Pictures may follow in July.

Destiny is now working at Family Christian Books, as well as volunteering at Edward Hospital.

I am still working hard, and hope to be working for a while.

Kimm is REALLY growing and is at the 90% for weight. She is talking up a storm, and she knows she is cute.

Teresa is still working for Farmers Insurance and is deciding what to do when the new baby arrives.

Being the talkative one of the family, that is all I can think of.

B.W. Rogers

Kimm watched in wide-eyed wonder as I carefully unwrapped each figurine and placed it in its spot in the stable, and as I did so I explained each character's part in the Nativity story. She exclaimed "Sheep!" excitedly as I placed the little white figures on the artificial green turf. "Ba-a-ah!" she bleated, sounding as much like a sheep as any twenty month old could. Then after all the kings, angels, animals and other figures were in place, I handed her "Baby Jesus" and the manger. She lovingly placed the baby in the manger, then took him right back out again and cradled the little figurine in her hand. "Baby!" she repeated softly as she ran a finger across his features. I explained how God became a baby and grew into the man Jesus, carefully choosing words to convey the timeless story in a simple fashion so that she could understand. As I did so, the story that had grown stale from sheer familiarity grew fresh and new again, and I felt a lump form in my throat. May the familiar story be fresh and new to you and yours this season, and fill you with the same joy and wonder as it did my granddaughter.

So much has happened since I composed last year's Christmas letter to you. 2001 has been a year of sorrow and turmoil, not only for our country but also for our friends and family. One of my friends was in the hospital last Christmas to have a malignant tumor removed, and in January I began the weekly ritual of driving her to radiation, then to chemotherapy. We had great fun deciding where we wanted to eat lunch each week, and swapped stories of the antics of her three-year-old son and my toddler granddaughter. Despite the snow that remained on the ground from December through the end of February, we laughed and made plans of going swimming, picnicking, and taking the kids to the zoo together once she was better and the weather grew warmer. Then in March the doctor announced that MRI's showed her body was riddled with tumors and he gave her eight weeks to live. On St. Patrick's Day I sat in her hospital room with her for four hours while we tried to process and understand this news, and she outlined her plans for her funeral, with the theme of victory in Christ. She said Twila Paris's song "The Warrior is a Child", was her life's story and she wanted it sang at her funeral. Thirteen weeks later, my daughter Destiny sang the song at the most beautiful and upbeat funeral I have ever attended.

Less than four hours before my friend died, Kimm's godmother's husband, the jock of the church, was playing baseball with his team from work. Between innings this young man who was the picture of health complained of tightness in the chest our pastor thinks he was dead before he hit the ground. Our church reeled from the shock, and from the pain of two funerals back to back. Several other friends and acquaintances also died this year. It's really been rather overwhelming

Meanwhile this year the economy struggled and Lucent laid off hundreds of employees. Brian, being in International Wireless, one division of the company that is still going strong, feels confident that his department is immune in fact his group only released one person in the many rounds of forced lay-offs which still continue. Many people we know are not so fortunate.

We ache for those who have lost jobs and security at a time when the high-tech corporations around here are not hiring, and hence replacement jobs are difficult to find and we pray and are thankful that we continue to be spared

In July Brian and I received legal custody of Kimm and I now only work three days a week at the insurance agency to allow time to meet the demands of keeping house and caring for a toddler. I'm so thankful to be working for an understanding boss (and his wife) who gives me the flexibility I need. I haven't accomplished much worth telling about this year. This past spring we hired all the bushes across the front and right side of the house removed. I purchased plants and bulbs with grand plans to create the landscape of my dreams needless to say, with a toddler on my hip I didn't get much done. Many plants died waiting in their pots to be transplanted, and the bulbs are shriveling in a bucket on our porch. (Two of my neighbors organized a "planting bee" in June (the day before my two friends died) and planted the dogwood, burning bushes, and coral-bells out front.) Earlier this month we had a huge shed built in back but haven't had time to move our tools and stored items into it!

Jean has been unemployed and a drifter since May. Please keep her in your prayers, as I have no idea what is going to become of her. She turned 21 in July but is still not very mature or responsible. I am praying that God will get her attention somehow and that she will get her life in order

After a year off from school, Destiny took three weeks of summer school to complete the history credit she needed to graduate and finished a few days after our two friends died I don't know how she had the presence of mind to get through her final exams but somehow she did with a strong "B". She wants to enroll in college this coming semester and seems to have decided on music therapy as a career. In October just days after her 20th birthday she got fed up with McDonald's and quit. I'm glad in some respects she spent four years almost to the day in what I consider a dead-end job, but at the same time I wish she had another job lined up before she quit. With her abilities, though, I am confident the Lord will provide something good soon, and perhaps in a field that will give experience she can apply toward a real career and that will help her determine her course of studies. Oh, speaking of Destiny, she has lost over 90 pounds this past year and looks like a whole new person. People who remember her as a size 26 are open-mouthed when they see her at a very attractive size 18-20.

Kimm meanwhile will be 21 months old on Christmas day and is growing like a weed. Seems like overalls she wore just a week or so ago now won't stay snapped together, and her ankles shine in many of her pants she's all legs right now! Her hair is past her collar in back and wavy she's lost the baby look and is now quite a pretty little girl. She is in a Christian daycare program three days a week while I work, and is learning so much!!! She is getting to be quite a talker there is not room enough in this letter to tell all the remarkable things she says (and I don't want to bore you with my bragging). She's had quite a struggle with upper respiratory troubles and ear infections since just before last Christmas and is scheduled to get tubes in her ears on January 3, 2002. I was worried that it would keep her out of the water next summer but the doctor says that with earplugs, swimming should not be a problem. I was so relieved to hear that. This past summer Kimm and I went to the neighborhood pool at least three times a week and by the end of the summer she was dropping off the side of the pool into the water and would resurface grinning from ear to ear; then I would push her under the surface to the side from three feet or so away where she would pull herself up for a breath of air before doing it again.

Brian is doing fair. He stays busy at work, then helps as much as possible at home with Kimm so that I can cook, do laundry, etc. He still enjoys playing his guitars and is transcribing some arrangements for the youth band at church to use in their worship services as well. Additionally, Brian and I co-lead a new Bible Study group with another couple from our church, so we're so busy that we don't have much time to get in to mischief. We did, however, take time out for a Wisconsin vacation to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary this past August. Brian, Kimm and I spent four wonderful days making memories to last a lifetime in the area surrounding Dodgeville, WI (House on the Rock, Cave of the Mounds, Little Norway, Land's End Corporate Headquarters, Mt. Horeb, and New Glarus). It's a shame we had to come home and resume the rat race!

Brian recently was very ill with a respiratory or flu virus. I knew it was bad when he broke down and called a doctor for an appointment. While examining Brian, the doctor felt a mass on his thyroid and ordered blood work and an ultrasound. The blood work came back normal but the ultrasound resulted in a referral to an endocrinologist. I'm relieved that it doesn't seem to be anything serious, but still am concerned that this is something that could require long-term medication or monitoring. We'll know more once Brian sees the specialist in February.

On a lighter note, we both turned 41 this fall and Brian bought his "midlife crisis" car. It looks like a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan EX, but with the optional 3.8 L engine, Brian feels it is a sport utility in disguise. Meanwhile, having a third car means that the 1990 Caravan is available for Des to drive. I don't know who's happier not to hassle with sharing a car!

I need to close and hustle to get these cards in the mail on time. There's only nine days left but it doesn't feel like Christmas who'd expect the 60-degree weather we enjoyed until a week ago? Last December we had 30" of snow on the ground that didn't melt until February, and it stayed cool through June Wonder if/when we'll get winter weather this year?

Hope this Christmas letter finds you and yours well and looking forward to the holidays. For those of you who have loved ones in the military, are in the service yourselves, or in some way affected by the events of September 11th, please know you are in our thoughts and prayers during these troubled times.

Blessed Christmas and praying that 2002 is a better year for all of us and for our country,

Teresa, Brian, and family

P.S. Yes, Wilbur is still with alive and well, will be 7 years old in February. He is Kimm's best play buddy (and favorite "chair").

P.P.S. Even though I explained the Nativity story to Kimm, I kinda get the feeling she doesn't have a handle on the part about the three kings. She told her Aunt Destiny that they were "more daddies"!