January 07 Greenleaf Post

For those of you who didn't take my advice last time and missed the Fiesta Bowl... you really missed out! It was a game for the ages. My voice is still in recovery. We had a great party at our house with family and friends and we were whooping and hollaring like crazy people at the end of what may be one of the most thrilling football games ever.

Christmas was great!! The best part was time together as a family. As most of you know we have spent the last year helping with Lareen's brother's family due to the untimely death of his wife Gina. Bryan and his kids have lived with us, or at least eaten with us for a large part of 2006. We love them, and are grateful for the help we could provide in the stabilization process over the past year. But, it was really great to take a couple of weeks off and just have some independent family dinners, and time. Bryan lost his job in December so during the Christmas break we had him take over his fatherly duties full-time to give our family some time.

We have plans for 07 being a year that includes some adjustments so that we can help them become more self sufficient - without sacrificing their children's stability. This is going to be a real trick and we appreciate all of the prayers in our behalf and their behalf that we have felt over the past year and hope that you won't stop.

Last week our family went to Idaho Falls to visit my folks and we sure enjoyed it. My parents now live in an assisted living facility - and it really has been a blessing. They have a great situation with lots of friends, independence, cooked meals and regular cleaning services. All this and a number of other perks and they have a great thing. Well, our kids had a great time eating with them in their "restaurant" style dinner room, playing games with them, the kids loved driving Grandpa's motorized chair and playing pool on the pool table that the facility has. Another highlight was spending time with some of our kids cousins in IF - the Walls. We didn't get much sleep Friday night but we all had a great time and a nice visit. Finally, to cap it off, we were able to attend a fun Birthday party at the IF roller skating rink (Starlight) on Saturday with the whole Bradshaw clan (my oldest sister and her kids). What a great and fun time. Our family decided we need to get back to IF more often because we didn't have enough time to see many other friends and other family in the area.

I look forward to great things in 07 and hope and pray that all of you have a wonderful year as well.

Brian & Lareen Packer Family