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The Five Fischers' Annual Report: Christmas, 1999

We ended 1999 with our annual Christmas Eve gathering at Mom's house in Vista. Thought you might like to see the famous Four Fischers of Phoenix too! In the back are Jeff's brother Terry and his wife Paula. Mom is in front of Terry, and Lori's dad Cliff Gough is seated in front. The other picture shows all the kids: (from the left) Joe, Holly, Hanna, Anna, and Jamie.

And now, on with the report. Jeff has had another great year. Still working for Southern California Edison doing internal web programming and loving it. On the home front he's in his second year of a three-year term on the deacon board at church, and tries to play Mr. Mom as often as possible to give Lori a break. As you can see, with three kids he often has his hands full (ha, ha). Won't be able to do this too much longer--either the back will give out, or the kids will just be too big!

Lori enjoyed singing at the Stonecroft Ministries regional conference in October. She's doing a little singing at church, and getting ready to go to Thailand in February as part of a music team! (You'll be hearing about that soon). Lori and the kids are enjoying their days together; she is continually delighted by their kindness and creativity. Here is Lori sharing a creative meal (well, sorta) with Joe at his Sunday School class Christmas party.

Jamie (9) is taking some time off from ballet to pursue her interest in local theatre. She recently performed in our community's production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and had a great time. She's looking forward to auditioning for Little Women in January. She would love to play soccer, but we're not sure we're ready to become a "soccer family" just yet! She loves to read, and has discovered many of the classics this year, including Heidi and Little Women. Jamie is a very giving person, and whenever Lori's feeling extra tired, Jamie brings her a cup of tea and insists she stay in bed!

Joe (6) stays busy inventing things out of household materials or Tinker Toys or Legos. He is bright and inquisitive and interested in the world God made: outer space, bugs, weather, rocks and other aspects of nature. He loved his week of day camp at Oak Canyon Nature Center this past summer...He also loves maps, and his favorite books are his atlases. Favorite subjects? Science and geography, of course! Joe is a devoted brother, to both his sisters.

Annie (2) has charmed the socks off her Daddy. She loves to run her fingers through his beard. He puts up with it. She is busy and expressive, and loves music! The moment Jeff or Lori starts to play the piano, she drops whatever she's doing and begins walking around and around in a big circle, as in a trance (her version of dancing). In the car, she is usually singing. She tells Lori, "When I'm da mommy, and you're da baby, den I will hold you and rock you and sing you a song."

Each year we try to close our Christmas letter with some subtle reminders of why the holiday is celebrated at all. But with Y2K in seemingly every other news report, perhaps this is not the year for subtlety. The close of a millenium serves as a blunt reminder of an inescapable and undebatable fact of human history: one life serves as the single pivot point on which the history of mankind turns. One life. On January 1, 2000, we as the 5 billion living members of the human race--along with those uncounted who have gone before us--will mark the fact that as many years ago, Jesus of Nazareth was born in an obscure village in a tiny, middle-eastern vassal state of the Roman Empire. His "professional life" consisted of three short years. Yet that one life altered human history more profoundly than any person or event before or since. Why? Could it be the announcements of his coming were right? Was this truly Immanuel--God with us? That, in fact, is the good news of Christmas in a nutshell: God became man and lived among us. No wonder we restarted the clocks!