DAVIS FAMILY CHRISTMAS NEWS

The question we are most often asked is: “Why in the world did you MOVE from Colorado to Texas in July?” In case you have not heard, we did indeed move to Texarkana. Alice still doesn’t know why we moved. John says we moved here for the culture. When asked “what culture?” He replies, “That’s what I mean”.

We went to our son James’ graduation in May from University of Houston (Summa Cum Laude from their Honors College), then drove to Texarkana for a Mother’s Day visit with Vivian Davis. We decided to look for a potential retirement home, and found just the place we had been looking for. It is a brick rancher on 2 acres about six miles south of Texarkana.

We didn’t know at the time, but it is an area with lots of friendly retirement age neighbors. Some came by as we moved in and brought food or came to help. Several urged us to visit their little country Methodist Church, where we have been attending. Our Sunday School teacher lives in the woods next door, at the back corner of a large hay meadow. On our first week in the new house, she drove up on her bush hog, climbed the barbed wire fence between our properties and came to meet us. She is definitely our type of lady!

John wanted a warmer place to live with a lower cost of living. Alice wanted a place for a garden that was no more than a day’s travel from Colorado. Our son Mike proved you could drive from Ft. Collins in a day when he came for Thanksgiving. In early November John had a business trip to Colorado Springs, which we combined with a visit to our family in Colorado.

Our garden site is being tilled this week, so we should have home grown veggies next spring. It IS DEFINITELY WARMER here (John says “Thank the Lord”)! Housing is also much more affordable here than it is in Colorado Springs.

It is good to be so close to Vivian, John’s sister Grace, and her family. We visit and share a meal at least once or twice a week.

Our daughter Betsy and her family continue to live in Colorado Springs where her husband Mel Waters is a pastor and mentor. Their sons, Matt, (13) and Mark (11) are a pleasure to visit with in person and to talk with on the phone. Both are honor students and good athletes.

Our son John Garland, his wife Kelly, and their sons Joel (7) and Nick (4) are coming for a visit December 14th. Their presence will be a great Christmas present for us. These wonderful boys are also a pleasure to be with. Joel is so smart and Nick entertains us all with his cleverness. G’ma Alice needs to get Christmas cookies baked for those boys!

Our daughter Diana and her family live near Baltimore. We got to see her and the children in Colorado Springs in July before leaving, including the newest child, Ibrahim, who was born in January. His big sisters Amina (2) and Hannah (7) seem to enjoy their new brother.

Our daughter Pamela married a friend of Diana’s husband in March. Their wedding was at a scenic YMCA lodge in Estes Park, Colorado where Pam’s husband had worked while attending college at Colorado State University. They live in Denver where Pam works at the Children’s Hospital.

Our son Mike is living and working in Ft. Collins, Colorado. James is tutoring in Houston and writing for the Princeton Review. He’s applying for graduate school, and hopes to start a Masters program soon. He and Mike visited us for Thanksgiving, and it was sure nice to find that our children will come to visit our Texas home.

A special event for our family was a Newbern Family Reunion in Colorado Springs in July. In September we were again with Newbern Family in Marianna Arkansas, which we combined with a trip to Memphis to visit Alice’s sister Jan. The Marianna occasion was a Memorial for Cousin Emerson Newbern.

We encourage you to receive along with us the Christmas gift of love from Jesus, the Son of God and the Christ of Christmas. We can do so by faith, believing in Him, acknowledging His sacrifice on the cross for our forgiveness, eternal life, peace, and joy!

Dear Ones, God Bless You this Christmas Season and in the coming New Year of 2008!

With Love, John & Alice Davis