Thanksgiving Letter

We hope this note finds you doing well.  With so many things to be thankful for, it seemed most appropriate to share our family photo. This will hopefully prompt you to remember us as we continue to serve in the Navy.

Speaking of the navy, there is another transfer coming up on our calendar.  Yes, Kent will be getting his 19th address in 21 years.  Karen edges in with a close second of 16 addresses in 19 years. We are both thankful for having the opportunity to have happily shared 12 of these addresses in the last 14 years.  This current tour of duty at the Supervisor of Shipbuilding in Groton, Connecticut brought a lot of stability to our lives as we rented in the same home for all three years.  One of Kent's men whose been in the same home for 26 years teased him, "Ya know, Commandah, ya wootena haddah moved, if yuddah paid ya rent."  (Note the northeastern accent.)

            In 1978 Kent's recruiter gave him a pamphlet entitled "Join the Navy, See the World".  We finally get to do just that in February as we trade our eight snow shovels for snorkels to use in Hawaii.  We are also thankful for this opportunity to use the suntan lotion that we bought 14 years ago in Orlando. Seriously, we see this as a unique blessing for our children to experience another culture.  While all the details of Kent's new assignment to the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard are not yet defined, it has become quite evident that the leaders at that activity really want us to arrive soon.  Some families with more than four children are not sent overseas, so this truly is a great opportunity for us.

            We plan to leave Connecticut in early February and travel to Hawaii by plane from Los Angeles.  The cross-country trip will include many historic sites and National Parks along the way.  Since we participated in the "Do It Yourself" move program on our previous transfers, our trips were more focused on the most straightforward route to the next home.  This trip will be different as we plan to stop at many landmarks and national parks along the way.  This will be an awesome field trip.  The children have helped in choosing places to visit based on people and places discussed in their schoolbooks.  In order to keep up with us, we have established this web site on which we will post news of our travels.

We are thankful for our freedom and the many blessings we have as citizens of these United States.  The godly character, wisdom, courage and sacrifices of our forefathers in establishing this Republic is often overlooked as we enjoy our liberties today. We have a responsibility to understand why America's founding fathers wrote the Constitution the way they did and then play an active role in keeping those freedoms. As parents we look forward to this next year when we can teach more of these ideals to our children.

Thankfully,
Kent, Karen, Kent Wm., Grace, Austin, Grant, Spencer, and Victoria