Family and Friends.  Merry Christmas and have a happy new year.  For those that we rarely get to speak with, I'd like to catch you up on our news.  It's been another great year with lots of changes. We moved into a new home, took several vacations, Caren started a side business, I started a couple more hobbies, Morgan grew sweeter and Ethan grew taller.

At the beginning of this year we moved into a new home. We are so grateful for a nice large house. It has plenty of room for the kids to play, an office for me and plenty of space for Caren to decorate.  We spent most of this past spring landscaping the back yard. I supplied most of the grunt labor, hauling pavers, sod, block and other materials to Caren who took care of the skilled labor. My Schwatsneger like physique (joke) finally paid off. The kids now have plenty of running room both inside and outside our home. We're very thankful that we were able to buy such a nice home.

We had another great year of vacations. We were able to participate in the annual Wilbanks Spring vacation in Escondido, CA. Dad won the Fourth Annual Dog Eat Dog Golf Tournament this year. He used his Super Annoyer technique to clean out the competition. In early December Lisa and Mom (Deanna) gave me and Caren the most wonderful gift there is, a break. We swapped houses with Mom for a week and she and Lisa watched Morgan and Ethan at our house. That was probably one of the best vacations I've had in a long time. I slept, relaxed and visited with Grandpa Doyle and Grandma Alice most of the week while Caren spent her time shopping and reading.  We were also able to spend some rare time with Mike and Jenny. Being away from the kids was difficult but very refreshing. And now, as I write, we're on vacation with the Wibbers and Worricks at a cabin in North Lake Tahoe - an annual vacation organized by Lisa. Morgan is having a blast riding sleds down "the biggest slope in the world". We are lucky to be able to have so many vacations to spend time with family and friends.

I am in my fourth year working for Hewlett Packard supporting customers using OpenView software. The job got even better in February when I started working from home. Can you believe it? My commute is about 30 seconds so I have to wake up at 6:59 to start work at 7:00. After we finished the landscape job in the summer I had more time to try out new hobbies. Caren accuses me of being obsessive compulsive with hobbies. I started cooking in Fall after being inspired by Jose Borrego. During a visit to his house he made some killer tri-tip and vegetables. I was then hooked. If Jose, a mere mortal male like me, could cook so could I. So I started watching the Food channel like Jose and soon mastered a few simple recipes. I've gotten some tips from master chefs Jose, Grandma Alice and Mom. It's a relaxing and very rewarding hobby. And more recently I've started to dabble in woodworking. The choice to try woodworking may be my pride wanting to prove Caren wrong. It still stings to recall Caren's advise to me when I wanted to build our entertainment center, "Rob, you are more of a rough carpentry kind of craftsman". Ouch. hehe

Caren had another busy year. She did most of the work on our landscape project. She has enjoyed decorating our house, taking care of our kiddies and her daily duties. She started a new side business selling children's and winter clothing on Ebay. It cracks me up that you can make money selling 'stuff' on the internet. But now Caren has turned all her extra time and attention to Ethan. He was diagnosed in November as having Autism. While this is devastating to us we've learned of many local groups specializing in helping autistic children and willing to treat Ethan. Caren has already done a great deal of research and contacted many agencies requesting support. And so he is now getting 20+ hours a week of speech and developmental therapy. We're lucky Kaiser (go figure) caught it early as the earlier treatment is started the greater the potential for improvement or recovery. So we are praying that he will recover and we're planning to do anything possible to help him do so.

Morgan is almost 4 and is a firecracker. She has way too much energy for two parents to contain. She's a fun kid to be with though as she seems pretty smart, loves arts and crafts, and likes to play games. Her favorite activity is anything with her cousins Blake and Ashley. Caren has enrolled Morgan in preschool to give Morgan some time with other kids and also to give Caren some more time to dedicate to Ethan. I love being around Morgan because she loves to try everything and appreciates anything.

We've had another great year. We're blessed in almost every area of our lives and appreciate it. The Christmas season is already fun and we anticipate more fun and adventures next year. I hope God blesses each of you at least as much as he has blessed us.

With Warm Regards,
Rob (Caren, Morgan and Ethan)

December 2002