When we took this family photo back in March, we had no idea two days later, California would go into lockdown. Fortunately, all the boys got haircuts for Oma’s birthday picture, so closed barbershops weren’t our biggest concern. As a substitute teacher when we’re not farming, Scott was immediately out of a job. It took the boys about a week to eat everything in the house. Soon we were living on wild turkey with the boys hunting all spring, and later venison after Joey shot his first buck. John traveled to Alaska to work on a salmon boat for the summer, and the rest of us, along with Oma, hit the orchard hard, bringing in the best fruit harvest we’ve ever had. Thank the Lord!

We invested in a swimming pool, really a water trough, but Scott and the boys love their new tub. I wish we’d gotten one of these years ago. We’ve always used our local pool, but thanks to Covid closing everything, we finally have our own swimming hole in the backyard. In the summer, we usually start football too, but here we are still holding our breath for a high school football season. The boys are set to play their first game on January 2nd, but with Covid spiking, who knows what will happen.

This is John’s senior year, and it makes me sad that all the normal high school activities are on hold. The boys are learning online from home and Scott has become their private teacher. The grandkids love jumping into their uncles’ online classes when they come to visit.

The little ones also love the chickens.

I was able to finish another book in quarantine, Leaving Lonesome, my Vietnam era novel. To finally see this story in print is a dream come true. The gorgeous photo of the Sutter Buttes that opens our Christmas letter was taken by our dear friend Pastor Bob Ouzts. This photo became the back cover of my novel. Thank you, Pastor Bob!

Our older kids, Cami, Lacy, and Luke are all doing well. They have beautiful families and our grandchildren delight us. We are walking through a difficult journey with Lacy pregnant with a baby boy, Benjamin. Doctors have told us Benjamin won’t live and while we pray for a miracle, we are preparing for Benjamin to go to heaven soon. Lacy is due January 15th and the doctor says Benjamin will probably pass away peacefully during the birth process or a few minutes or hours after he arrives.

This has been incredibly hard and we are grateful the Lord is sustaining us. We are counting our blessings for all we do have and finding joy in quiet moments. Watching our grown kids parent their own children is one of the most rewarding things Scott and I have ever experienced.

During a small window of California reopening, we were able to celebrate Halloween with all our kids and grandkids, except Luke who is away at military intelligence school until December while Alex holds down the fort at home with Cam. It looks like Luke will attend the military’s language school to learn Russian in 2021, if Covid doesn’t get in the way.

In June, we opened a little farm stand in our orchard during harvest season calling it Fridays on the Farm. A steady stream of cars drove down our dirt driveway and we provided chairs in the shade for those who wanted to stay and visit to escape the loneliness of quarantine. Our orchard farm stand reminds me of my grandparents’ fruit stand when I was a kid. I even did some book signings at the stand since we couldn’t hold any book launch parties this year due to the pandemic.

For Scott’s birthday in October, we took a little trip to Tahoe where we rode horses up a mountain that overlooked the lake. It was so fun and we sorely miss riding our own horses into the wilderness like we used to do twenty years ago before we embarked on growing our family to seven kids.

Even though we’ve had a tough year, and I’m sorry, I know many of you have too, “I am confident we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living,” Psalm 27:13. This is one of my favorite Bible verses that has carried us through before. I hope it encourages you to hang in there as well. Even when life is hard, God is still so good! Merry Christmas and happy new year dear friends! Love and blessings, Scott and Paula