Christmas 2024
We'll begin this section with a copy of our 2024 Christmas Letter followed by a few pictures of the week.
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR to our Family and Friends,
With Ann’s stroke in 2023, this year has been a continuation of recovery for her. Meaning – it has been a quiet year. Traveling has been severely limited, which means this year has not been the most enjoyable for us. The only trip we took was to Colorado Springs to attend the funeral service of our sister-in-law, Carol Nagel. We were all saddened and surprised to learn about her condition. This was Ann’s first experience of traveling since her stroke so we all wondered how she would do. I thought she did fine, but she was exhausted by the time we arrived at home. Ann’s rehab officially ended in March of this year, but she is continuing exercises on her own at home.
One surprise this year is that we took on the responsibility of having another dog. His name is Bear and he was born in a cave on the Crow Reservation here in Montana. Bear is a problem child to say the least and was being passed around, so we decided to rescue him, even though at times, we feel like we need to be rescued from him. He is great to us, but he is quite defensive and at times aggressive toward other dogs and even some people. He is a 6-year-old Dutch Shepherd with a brindle color and yes, he can be quite funny at times, but he does have a lot of quirks and anxiety issues. We keep telling him that he is lucky to have us.
As for me, I’m doing okay, although this past October/November I was suffering from a condition known as sacroiliitis – a nerve pain that originated at my right hip down my right leg. At times it was so painful I couldn’t even walk in the morning for hours at a time. But between massage therapy and physical therapy, I’m getting much better. Other than that, I’m still President of the Gallatin Wildlife Association (GWA). If you want to follow me, I urge you to view me on https://www.gallatinwildlife.org/ . I’m the one who maintains that website as well as many other duties of GWA. That brings joy to my life even though, in our political climate, it is the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime. The joy comes from speaking for those who can’t speak for themselves. That is about all from me. It has not been the most enjoyable year either, but I’m thankful that Ann is still with me – for that I’m eternally grateful.
Shane has acknowledged several things in his life that he has changed. After hiding his addictions for years, through rediscovering his faith he has come clean and is in the process of changing his life around. He is now between 1 to 2 yrs completely sober from alcohol and all legal and illegal drugs. He graduated his first 12‑step program through his church (Central, a congregation of 20,000+ local members) last Dec. and co-led a 12-step program leading 16 men who graduated this past Sept. He’s co‑leading a 2nd group of men starting Jan 7th. He has also taken on leading a group of men in a separate men’s group and is volunteering at his church for 6th to 12th graders. Dominic also started to volunteer for the Kindergartners at church. Shane and his sons were blessed by their church a few weeks ago with 4 new tires for his car, 2 months of rent, Nintendo switches for both boys along with some clothes and other toys. They were also showcased on Central’s big screen to tell their abbreviated story. In June another huge change was that Shane was awarded legal Primary Custody of both Dom and Brian. The boys’ mom, however, moved to Tacoma, WA in July so Shane basically has them full time now. Dom and Brian are also both excelling in school with straight A’s last year and mostly A’s and a few B’s the first semester of this year. Last year both boys finished in the top 15 in their entire school out of over 800 students for reading. This yr they both were voted to be their President of each of their classes. And Brian got every single vote from his class except for his own vote since they weren’t allowed to vote for themselves. HAHA! We’re all feeling very blessed and excited for what other new changes our Lord has in store for us in this upcoming year.
Love to you all,
Clint, Ann, Shane (age 42), Dominic (age 10) and Brian (age 8)
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