Rick and Nancy Windemuller

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Dear family & friends,

As another year is soon to turn over and become 2011, Rick & I want to wish you a very Merry & Blessed Christmas. We have had another year with health issues as recently as Thanksgiving week when a bone scan Rick had because a sudden onset of severe back pain gave us a report of cancer in his bone. That was Nov 29th. Quickly an MRI was done and after a very stressful and prayerful two weeks, Rick’s oncologist told us on December 14th that Rick does NOT have cancer in his bones. The report of the bone scan was a mis-diagnosis. What a huge relief! Of course, we were so thankful it was not bone cancer! Yes, he does have prostate cancer, however the Lupron shot he gets every 3 months has been working at suppressing the cancer cells and he is still considered in remission. Wow, that news was all we needed to hear to make for a wonderful Christmas gift! We want to thank God for seeing us through another difficult trial and to everyone who was praying for us and thanks for the all cards and calls. We sure felt the loving support friends and family extended to us.

On to what’s been going on with family. Jeremy & Anita are looking forward (as is grandma & grandpa) to a new baby the end of March. Our grand-daughter, Claira is such a joy and we love the special times we can spend with her. Now she will soon have either a baby brother or sister and her life will change a lot. Claira recently got a new big girl bed so I guess she isn’t a baby anymore. We are looking forward to watching her tear into Christmas gifts this year. Jeremy is busy working at Walters Gardens and recently took on a new position. Anita is busy being a stay-at-home mom. They built a home near us in 2009 and Jeremy put in a beautifully landscaped yard this summer and fall.

Paul & Brittany will have just celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary on December 19. Last year we completely enjoyed their wonderful winter wedding. What a great day that was! They live about 5 miles from us at this time and Paul has been working for an Ag chemical company. Brittany graduated from Hope College this May and she has been working part time for a landscaping business. She keeps busy with her sister, nieces and nephews and college friends. Britt has a real talent with photos and making photo books. This summer she took photos of me with my beloved 28 year quarter horse, Jake. I treasure those photos and then for my birthday she made me a lovely photo book of those pictures. It means so much to me!

After almost 11 months of unemployment, I found a full time position as a customer service rep. for Walters Gardens, North America’s leading wholesale grower of perennials. I work specifically for the Canadian customers which make up a large amount of WG sales. I produce the documents for the USDA for inspection before shipments and the customs documents of the plants that we are shipping across the border to Canada. I also enjoy taking phone orders and customer’s questions for our US customers. I really appreciate this position and have always liked plants plus now I am learning a lot about perennials. The people I work with are great and it is a family owned business. Did I mention the 3-1/2 mile drive to work? That’s nice too. Yes, this is also the company that Jeremy works for.

I made a decision for a life change for healthy eating and exercise and as a result I lost 55 lbs. since 12/1/09. I feel great and have much more energy. It will take more effort now that I am back in an office desk job but I am determined to maintain.

Rick stays busy as service manager at Holland Bus Co. He always has repair projects going on at home. We also still do the haying in the summertime. This past January, Rick retired from the Zeeland Fire/Rescue Squad after 24 years of service. The city of Zeeland gave him a very nice retirement open house. So no more monitors going off at 3am. Do we miss that? No.

We love going up to the Wolf Lake cottage north of Baldwin. For us, that is where we can really re-charge our batteries and relax from life’s hectic pace. It is pretty and peaceful and a wonderful place to enjoy with friends and family.

God Bless **** Nancy & Rick Windemuller****