Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! It seems like I just wrote last year’s letter and now I’m doing it again. Where does the time go?

McKinley is in 7th grade and continues to grow into a beautiful almost teenager. Is that possible? She keeps us hopping with many commitments. She’s in her 9th year of piano and has started hearing music somewhere and coming home and playing it. Often she doesn’t like a song so she just makes up a part that she does like. In her 4th year of voice she was accepted into Children’s All-State for the third year and also made a Junior High Honor Choir. To audition she had to memorize three songs, one in Latin and another in Portuguese! She also tried out for and was chosen for the yearbook committee and show choir at school. Her calendar is more filled than mine.

Kennedy is in 4th grade and flourishing. She joined orchestra this year and is playing the viola. She couldn’t wait until they were able to use the bow! Since she’s in her 6th year of piano she knew notes well and started playing viola songs to go along with McKinley on the piano. We have enjoyed quite a few concerts. She asked to start dance this year and is now learning jazz. Her school music teacher feels 4th graders are too immature to be in Children’s All-State but her private voice teacher (Aunt Janis) entered her and she was chosen! She’s excited to follow in her big sisters footsteps. She was asked again this year to sing in Prayer Meeting at church and until recently though she’d be the only Conrad sister to do that.

Reagan is a 1st grader. Hang on while I grab a Kleenex. She’s happy to be in school all day and loves her teacher. She is in her 3rd year of voice and was recently asked to sing in Prayer Meeting. Several older people couldn’t hear her well so they invited her to sing in their Sunday School class. She was so excited. She’s on her 3rd year of piano and just decided she wanted to be a ballerina and so has started ballet. She finished her third season as the only girl member of 'The Crew' and held her own at every game. She was also one of the top scorers! She turned 7 on Thanksgiving and is such a joy.

Shawn has had quite a year. He was offered an exciting sales job in April and spent the next six months working in different OKC hospitals selling a closure device for cath labs. When the economy took its first downward turn his company panicked and let go of several employees, including him. His old boss welcomed him back until he finds another job so he hasn’t been here making me crazy! He just received a call today from the VA with an offer to come back and will start in 2 weeks. He was asked by a friend to run a half marathon in November and used his three indoor soccer teams as his training. He finished in great time. He continues to computer tutor many clients. His newest endeavor is slide scanning. A friend asked him if he could do it and of course he said yes. A slide scanner and feeder have been purchased and we now have 100 carousels of their slides on our back porch.

I am still a domestic goddess and love almost every minute of it:) I am making the elementary yearbook for the 4th year and still serve on the Bethany Foundation Board. Giving back to the school that meant so much to me growing up (and now for my girls) means the world to me. I was asked by my friend Tracy to run a half marathon in January to help raise money for Leukemia research. She lost her 10 year old son to the disease last September. Her goal was to have 40 friends join her for her 40th birthday to raise $140,000. Our group, Mitchell’s Angels, is now 50 women and we’ve raised $180,000! Each of the Angels had to raise $3,600. I’m so grateful to many of you who helped me reach my goal! We run four days a week; three on our own and one as a team. So far we’re up to 11 miles in our training! I never thought I could accomplish something like this but for such a wonderful cause, who could say no? I’ll be in Phoenix on January 18th to cross that finish line.

This summer saw us headed to Florida for a trip to Disney World. My uncle and aunt asked us to join them for a 12 day vacation. Since they are seasoned DW people we couldn’t say no! Shawn was new enough at his sales job that he didn’t have any time off but told us to go ahead. He knew we couldn’t pass up this opportunity! We spent 8 days doing all things Disney which some days meant being in 3 different parks! We are so grateful to Kevin and Carrie for such an amazing time.

We have had ups and downs this year but through it all God has been so faithful. We hope this letter finds you and your family healthy and happy. Have a blessed holiday season!
Shawn, Stephanie, McKinley, Kennedy, and Reagan