We're finally getting some Christmas-ish weather here in California. We're writing this in the middle of a huge storm, which we just heard spawned a tornado west of here and is dumping probably ten feet of snow in the Sierra. (Yay!) Life has been mostly work, with a few bright spots here and there. Tim's job with Bechtel continues to be tenuous, but he has had some short term assignments (a few weeks at a time) in San Diego and Las Vegas. Sharon continues to work as a medical assistant with a pediatric mobile clinic. Oh, the stories she could tell! Terry has been working very diligently since June at a local Italian-Swiss deli, ("Do you want provolone on that?") and will be taking a full load again in the spring semester at Santa Rosa Junior College. Jocelyn is in her senior year at Casa Grande High School, and taking some additional courses through an independent study school. Amanda, in eighth grade, is maintaining her GPA and involved in several activities.

Well, Tim must have hit his midlife crisis. He has resumed beermaking - a hobby he started when we were in college - bottling one batch in our tiny kitchen on Thanksgiving morning! Most of the outcomes so far have been pretty good. He also has been making bread; we can't say we mind having fresh bread for dinner or Sunday morning. He is even talking about taking up the bassoon or bagpipes, and has been doing more rock climbing this year (is there a connection here?). Work led him to air-commuting to San Diego for a few weeks last spring - which gave Terry and his girlfriend an opportunity to check out UC San Diego and environs - and to Las Vegas for a few weeks this fall.

One of Sharon's big accomplishments this year was attaining a trucker's license! The hospital bought a new mobile clinic, a GMC Diesel with twenty-five feet of clinic behind it. So she and a co-worker were assigned to complete a training course in July and pass the DMV exam, with no time to spare, as their supervisor - the only other driver - was going on vacation. Currently, she drives the truck approximately once a week, along with other mundane (ha! - nothing about this job is mundane) tasks such as assessing mysterious rashes, translating (English-Spanish) for the doctors and nurse practitioners, and learning phlebotomy. She is minimally involved with Girl Scouts and Hands On Science, but spends more time playing music. Two community bands have sprouted up in Petaluma, one for beginners, one for more experienced players. She tries to get to rehearsals when possible, and plays regular clarinet in one and bass clarinet in the other.

Amanda is in her second year of junior high and is quite talented in her photography class. She just recently went on a fieldtrip with her teacher and five other girls to San Francisco. They went to an Ansel Adams gallery, but the trip was mostly shopping! She is also very dedicated in her yearbook work - she's in the "academics" section of it - and has stayed many late nights (once she stayed 'til seven o'clock after getting out of school at 2:35) just to get deadlines finished on time! In her other classes, she is doing pretty well, but this last grading period a couple of her grades slipped. She plans to be a fighter pilot, then apply to NASA to be an astronaut, but first she would like to be an editor for a newspaper. Last spring, she played her fourth year of girls' softball and really loves the sport. Amanda hopes to continue with it in high school. This summer she went to a Girl Scout camp and, with six other girls and a female building contractor, built a sleeping deck for the camp. She is busy these days, but she's managing it well.

Jocelyn has a heavy load for senior year, but so far she's holding her own. She is still singing with the school choir, volunteering her time as director's assistant and alto section leader. Last spring her high school choir toured Ottawa and Toronto, performing with local high school groups and even in the rotunda of the capitol. Mom went along as one of the chaperones, and heard some beautiful performances. She is enrolled in stagecraft, a class of five that operates sound and lighting for school performances. This year's list includes Charlotte's Web, Diary of Anne Frank, and the big spring musical of The Wizard of Oz. Another interesting class at her high school is wildlife biology. The same instructor, along with many students, has established a fish hatchery on campus. Jocelyn's best friend, Katherine lived with us for a few months last summer, and in August the two of them backpacked 20 miles in the nearby Pt. Reyes National Seashore. They met one man there with three llamas, who were seeing the ocean for the first time. They seemed confused, (the llamas) not understanding why the ground was undulating. Oh, and how could we forget! In October Jocelyn got her license. You may see her driving around. She's the one with the black hair...or is it blond with blue-green streaks... or is it orange? Oh well, we can't keep up! At least for senior pictures it was her own soft brunette.

Terry has had a busy year. He continues to go to Santa Rosa Junior College to finish up his general education requirements before transferring (he hopes) to UC San Diego. When his friends are in town on their breaks from school he tries to do some backpacking or skiing. Most of his days, he spends slicing deli meats and making espressos, but since getting his job, Terry has learned what a bank account can do - he bought himself a new car, complete with five years of car payments! He is really happy with his new Honda Civic. Most of his free time he spends with Jaime, his girl friend of three years. His next step is to move out of the house.

We hope you have been enjoying this holiday season and that your Christmas and New Year are bright and joyful.

Tim, Sharon, Terry, Jocelyn, and Amanda Morgan