The Snyders’ Christmas letter, 2006
If you know us, the Snyder family, welcome to our Christmas letter of sorts, and a catching-up on our lives in 2006. (If you don’t know us, you’ll be sorely bored and might as well come back another day when I’m posting comments of more general interest!)
Actually, since I’m beyond (or below?) sporadic in sending out Christmas greetings, many of you are due an update beyond one year, but I’ll try to be brief….
The proud parent bit:
Ian is now in his sophomore year in the pre-IB (International Baccalaureate) program at East High. On the side, he plays guitar in the youth worship team at church, and occasionally writes music (last year he recorded a self-produced CD), but his big passion the last year or so has been learning to create computer animation. He’s written a number of video games, prompting mom and dad to frequently say, “Get off the computer and do something productive!” But we were forced to eat some crow a couple weeks ago when, after entering one of his games in a British game-writers’ contest, he won third place—and 500 British Pounds!*
Annica is currently in eighth grade and her last semester at Central Christian Academy. She’s been there since preschool, so next year will bring some very big changes, no matter where she goes to high school! She’s considering IB, too, as well as a couple other schools. She continues to be an avid artist and cook—and good at both! She’s also a natural-born spelling champ: last year she placed third in the ACSI district bee and went to regionals; this year she was first in district and will return to regionals in February. (For those of you who’ve seen Spellbound, rest assured: she gets no pressure on this from us! It’s just her thing.)
Work notes:
I continue to be self-employed as a designer, but over the past few years have added web development* to my print work. I do the design (and research and planning, where necessary), but Eric does the code. That’s his evening job: he continues as director of R & D at Sharpline. He’s been there 23 years plus: almost as long as we’ve been married!
Our folks:
Eric’s mom is “foster mom” to dogs from the “PALS” animal-rescue organization. In addition to three of her own, she usually has one or two foster dogs underfoot. She continues to be very active and always on the go: taking yoga, doing the “red hat thing,” and taking part in Bible studies and other activities at her church.
My folks are still living on Mission: my dad is in pretty good health overall, and gets out to the farm whenever he can. My mom is in fairly good physical health, but her memory is not so good, and seems to have deteriorated more quickly this year.
Gratitude:
We continue to be amazed by God’s grace toward us, giving us blessings abundant and undeserved. Most of all among our earthly blessings we count you, our family and friends. Thanks for your patience with this unpredictable correspondent; we love hearing from you!
(Well, so much for brevity!)
Blessings to you and yours!
Jana, Eric, Ian and Annica
*Find us on the web:
You can see and play Ian’s winning game here.
You can sample some of his music and his other video games at his site.
If you or someone you know needs a website, you can check out my work here.
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