Glory Revealed: Holiday Greetings 2025

Here’s our family’s yearend update that we sent our family and friends.

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A*(daughter) has entered her 3rd year as a librarian at Nova Southeastern University, spending time cataloging books and assigning them with the combination of number and letters that goes in the spine of the book. She can get “opinionated” as she also writes book reviews. You would think that the “eternal summer” will make her happy but she’s actually getting stressed with Florida’s heat that she dream of moving back to the Midwest and its four seasons.

A*(son) completed his Major in Biochemistry last May, and graduated “summa cum laude.” He did not have to beg or perform a song and a dance to enter medical school, for Loma Linda University accepted him with open arms; thus he now breathes California air. For his current curriculum block, he is learning the GI system which can be as convoluted as the intestines, and also dissecting the difficult structures in the head and neck in their Anatomy lab.

E*(wife) added to her resume: master cook in preparing and cooking sumptuous whole-food plant-based recipes as we have adopted this healthy lifestyle. We have more energy and are “gas” powered for we eat beans for breakfast. E* read more books than when she was in college though she was not preparing for any exam. She enjoys home decorating and got enamored with miniature villages and filled our home with them for our Christmas ornament.

As for me, I’m still tinkering with sputtering lungs (Pulmonary), and dealing with patients who are asleep (ICU) and those who cannot sleep (Sleep Medicine). I have already informed my practice group that my on-call days in the hospital will not be for long. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and I hope it is not an incoming train.

Both my kids will be home in Iowa for Christmas and what do you think they wish to see? Snow!

Last summer my family went to Alaska, but not to see snow. We crossed path with a mother bear and her 2 cubs who run in front of our bus. We also saw a mother orca and her calf who swam along our boat. We saw glaciers and got close to them and got “chilled.” We slept under the midnight sun, as it did not to set until 12:45 AM only to rise again at 3 AM.

What we did not see, at least not in it’s entirety, is Mt. McKinley (also known as Mt. Denali). We either saw its top, when we were in Denali National Park, or just its base, when we were in Talkeetna. It was always obscured by clouds. So near, and yet so far.

It is said that only about 30% of the time does the entire Denali mountain seen, making it an elusive sight. The mountain’s immense size creates its own weather, causing clouds to frequently shroud the peak or parts of it. Yet, even we were unable to see it, we knew it was near.

God is near and we can feel His presence even though we can’t see Him. Because of man’s fallen condition we cannot see Him face to face. But when Jesus came to this earth, man saw God without veil. This is what the Christmas season celebrates.

John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

May you have a meaningful Christmas and a purposeful New Year.

(*photos taken with an iPhone)