January 08 Greenleaf Post

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope that all of you are enjoying the first day of the New Year as much as we are. We are putting away all of the Christmas stuff today. It reminds me of the song "I Cry The Day That We Take The Tree Down" from the Forgoten Carols. Anyway, it is bitter sweet. I am excited for 2008... I always love New Year's Day, football, new goals and a fresh start. I always feel like it is my chance to become a better person - a chance for a new beginning.

In the process of cleaning up we found a poem that Logan wrote last year for Christmas. I thought I'd share it.

I am Christmas

I see Snow falling on a stable there

I watch Him sleeping by his mother fair

I dream of the peace that He will bring

I hear the caroled angels sing

I know the world won't be the same

I am here because he came

I am Christmas

Logan turns 15 in 12 days and is a very gifted writer and artist. Her 8th grade teacher (last year) was very influential, add to that her voracious appetite for reading and she has an incredible gift for painting pictures with words. It has been incredible to watch her grow this year and truly become a young woman. She is tall, beautiful and very secure in herself and her values. Lareen and I are so grateful for her and the excellent leadership she provides for our children, her Hansen cousins and her friends at school. I wish I would have had my head on that straight when I was her age.

Jarom is 13 years old and the President of his Deacon's Quorum at church. He takes his responsibility very seriously and we are so pleased with his desires to do what is right. He has a lot of good friends in his grade, both boys and girls. They have had a lot of fun parties and they all get along really well. It has been funny to watch how he and his friends have started to become interested in the opposite sex much more. The boy/girl dynamic is heating up but so far they have been able to stay friends and it hasn't gotten out of control. Although at times Jarom is on the verge... he's always been a bit girl crazy.

Hannah is 11 and is sooo cute. She has a very close friend (Claire Lugar) that she loves to play with her American Girl dolls with. It is so funny to watch them. They are very organized and create extensive lesson plans for their schooling, job lists for the chores that they are to do at home, they make sure that they coordinate with each other if either are traveling and have the other one babysit for them. They get together and play with their dolls all day without ever having issues with each other. Hannah always keeps her room clean, keeps her things very organized and does incredibly well in school. It is incredible to see what things they are learning in school and how well she grasps concepts in math, science and the language arts that I didn't understand in High School.

Emma will turn 8 this year in June. Each of our children have unique personalities but she and Jarom are a bit alike. They are both very fun loving and have lots of energy. They tend to either play really well together or end up in contention. Emma is more athletic and may be more like her mother - and enjoy sports. We'll see. She sure loves to play them with Jarom but also loves to play dolls with Hannah. She has a nice balance. Her bubbly and funny personality craves attention and always desires to make people laugh. It is so funny, but Hannah's good friend Claire has a younger sister Emma's age - named Emma and those 2 little Emma girls are so funny together. They also get along incredibly well and laugh so hard together that it brings joy to our home.

Lareen and I are grateful this year for a number of things. We had a transition year that began with me walking away from a company that I'd helped start and had spent much time and enrgy building. I left them and contracted myself to 2 small companies as the VP of Sales & Marketing for both of them. It was fun and I feel like I was able to leave both companies better off than when I started - but neither company could offer a long term opportunity for me and I ended up looking for something new in September of this year. I decided that it was time to try to get some security in our financial lives again and so I tried to take the more patient road and worked on getting a job at HP. It took many applications, and interviews but as of the beginning of December I started with HP in their Marketing group working out of the local Boise site. We are grateful we for a savings account, food storage and the thoughtfulness of friends and family to help us through the 3 months with no income. Now we look forward to a new year and hopefully many years with the same job.

As we open a new year we are very excited and hopeful that 2008 will be a great year for all of us.

With all our love,

The Brian Packer Family