Tag: christmas letter

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Blessed 2022 New Year

Wishing one and all a most blessed, healthy and peaceful 2022!

As we start a new year, I do what I have done most years; looking back on the year that has passed. Here’s our 2021 Christmas Letter:

HIHI

We hope you and your loved ones are well and healthy.

Another year of life in a pandemic. We were all hopeful that with the development of vaccines that we might be out of it by now. Unfortunately, for various reasons, we are not.

But let’s not dwell on such things as it is, in part, out of our control. What we have some control over is our response to our circumstances and how best we manage in these unpredictable times.

What we have held onto is our faith that God is with us; Jesus, Immaunel, God with us, chose to come as a baby that first Christmas day to show the world God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us; this is the reason for celebrating Christmas.

At the beginning of the year, Tobias still had a couple of weeks of online lessons, which he found slightly disruptive as it was on and off. Online wasn’t just for school; Sandra got to attend the SCBWI Winter Conference online, which usually is too costly to attend in person as it would have been held in New York. So that’s a plus.

Although church services had remained in person (limited in number and with registration), the AGM was conducted via an online platform which was quite a new experience for many. Walter officially stepped down from the eldership this year.

While Walter has continued working as normal, there has been no business travel and most things are conducted via online means. However, him not travelling meant that we got to celebrate his birthday, on the actual day, with homemade curry and cake.

In the spring months, Tobias went back to in person lessons at school. Sandra continued her role as volunteer with SCBWI as blog editor, attending more online meetings. She also entered her first poetry competition and while she didn’t win, it was great fun getting back in touch with that aspect of literature. As Walter continues in his role as worship leader at church, he is very grateful for more help which we have been blessed with. With spring came pollen and this year not just Tobias and Walter were affected, even Sandra had to go searching for allergy remedies.

May saw us celebrating Tobias’ 17th birthday at home. He invited some friends over and cooked lasagne for them. Sandra spent time trying to help her parents with some paperwork, remotely. Walter coordinated an Asian-themed service at church which was an opportunity for us to dress up (see picture at the end of this letter). We also got our first Covid jabs in May/June, suffering only mild side effects. Thank God.

It was the summer holidays in July and August but we stayed here because we felt that the quarantine requirement, which at one point was 21 days, was too much. We spent time with friends here; Tobias had a class gathering to watch the football, and friends over as well as attended a birthday party. We had a few days away as a family to the French part of Switzerland. We really enjoyed the archery hunt we did and the lovely atmosphere at the lakeside town of Vevey.

Tobias started his 3rd year at Gymnasium (or pre-university for Singapore reference) mid-August. Sandra continues her role as missions coordinator at church, now with help from a lovely mission-hearted and experienced lady.

We made a snap decision to fly to Singapore during the October autumn holidays, even with quarantine requirements because it had been more than 2 years since our last family visit, and what a good decision it was, considering what has happened now with the new variant of Covid.

We spent 10 days in quarantine (shorten for the original 14 days as new regulations which came in the day we arrived) and learnt very quickly how to order almost everything via shopping apps. Sandra was, at last, able to sort out the medical paperwork for her parents. During our short time in Singapore, we spent most of our time in quarantine and at home because of the Covid restrictions, seeing almost no one except for immediate family and a couple of friends.

Our major health concern came in early November when Tobias complaint of shoulder pains which quickly became neck pains and headaches, along with nausea. Lots of time was spent at doctors and the ER. He’s finally better after several weeks of physio.

We must mention our sweet little Lexi, who keeps us entertained and fit with all the walks we go on.

Even though the Swiss government has recently implemented new restrictions and brought back the “work-from-home” rule, Walter still goes to the office some days as he needs to work with the equipment there. At least, this year we can have some friends over for Christmas lunch, which we really look forward to.

What are you looking forward to? Do share with us, we love to hear from you.

We hope and pray that your 2021 has had more positives than negatives and that you have and will continue to experience God’s warm love and assuring presence as we move into 2022.

There’s more, much more to Christmas than bright lights and cheer;
It’s the spirit of sweet friendship that brightens all the year,
It’s thoughtfulness and kindness, it’s hope reborn again,
For peace, for understanding, for goodwill to men!

With love,

Walter, Sandra, Tobias and Lexi

Us, all dressed up for Asian-themed service
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Happy 2021

I will start this year I have started some years… With our Christmas letter from the year which just closed behind us.

HIHI

What a year we have had! I’m sure you’re tired of hearing that expression. Yes, we have had an unprecedented year where the world was held captive by something which can only be seen under a microscope, and we found our lives dictated by the rise and fall of the number of people infected by this virus called Covid-19.

But that’s not all that happened, the year is not all about the pandemic. Under these strange and difficult circumstances, lives were still lived. We hope and pray that your year has been filled with more good moments than bad ones. At this Christmas time, let us think about the small precious gifts of a positive word, a smile shared, a heart warmed, a Saviour come to earth.

In 2020, we have carried on with life as best we could.

Sandra went, on her own, in January, to visit her family in Singapore because her father had been very unwell and in hospital for many months. Walter and Tobias, along with Lexi, managed quite well by themselves for 10 days. It was good for Sandra to have been able to spend this time with her family as she tried to help as best she could in that short time. The good news is that Sandra’s father was discharged shortly after she returned to Switzerland. While he did spend more time at the hospital in August, he is now better and at home. We would like to especially thank family and friends who have so helpful and supportive through this tough time.

At the end of February, our church welcomed our new pastor and his wife, but 2 weeks after that, lockdown happened. Everyone had to find new ways of doing things. It really makes you realise the things we take for granted, such as the ability to meet whoever we want whenever we want. It makes you miss simple things like walking into a store without worrying about the limit on the number of persons allowed inside.

Being shut-in gave us the opportunity to learn and polish skills such as mask-making and baking. Walter worked from home and Tobias attended classes online. For Sandra, home was always where she worked at, so being home is the norm for her. However, we did have to find a new rhythm of working and playing as there were now 3 persons in the house all the time; each with a need to have their own space and time to do what needed to be done. One family member did absolutely love having all at home – Lexi! She could run from person to person all day along to get the attention she wanted. She is a happy girl and fills our days with joy, barks, cuddles and laughs.

Tobias spent his 16th birthday at home as everything was closed but we made birthday cupcakes and delivered them to his friends. Then at the end of July, when restrictions were eased, we were able to celebrate with a paintball afternoon with some of his friends. A rather painful but fun experience.

Walter went from travelling a lot for work to working from home, to working short-time; where the office was officially closed for a couple of days a week, pay was pro-rated to save the company money. Then in September, he went back to the office 100%. But that was short-lived and now he is working from home a couple of days a week. It’s worth noting that this is the first time in all the years Sandra and Walter have been together where Walter is NOT constantly flying off for work.

We thank God that almost everyone we know has remained healthy, although a few did test positive in Tobias’ class and he had to quarantine for 14 days at the start of November.

Tobias is now in the second year of Gymnasium (junior college in Singapore) and seems to be enjoying his classes and time with his friends. Unfortunately, he has not been able to play squash for several months now. His squash teacher is in the at-risk group so he has stopped teaching. Tobias is thankful that his violin lessons have carried on as that’s done through his school.

Church went from being online in March to being in-person again from the beginning of summer but with limited numbers in the sanctuary and online streaming. The work to rewrite the church constitution, which Sandra was involved in, was paused during lockdown but restarted in June and we are glad that it has been successfully concluded with the church adopting the new constitution in November. Sunday School classes are also functioning again; Tobias attends the teen class. The Sunday School even managed a fundraiser for missions in the last couple of months. Walter continues his work with the worship team and eldership, as well as helping our new pastor to settle into his role in these unusual times.

Another church member and Sandra had arranged for a speaker to come and give a seminar about Revelations 2-3 but it had to be moved online due to Covid restrictions which prevented the speaker from flying in. It was slightly stressful and quite educational to have to make adjustments and coordinate such an event.

Speaking of flying, we could not go to Singapore for our annual visit in summer this year because while there were flights, we would have had to quarantine for 14 days on arrival and in a specific quarantine facility, which would then leave only a week to see family and friends. So we stayed here and did a couple of overnight trips to nearby cities in Germany.

So much upheaval in 2020 and maybe life will not go back to exactly what it was pre-pandemic, but the one constant in our lives is God; Jesus has been, is, and will be with us through all our ups and downs and we are so thankful for that. We pray that you have been able to and will continue to see His Love manifest in your life always.

Faith makes all things possible,
Hope makes all things work,
Love makes all things beautiful.
May you have all three this Christmas and always.

Do keep in touch and let us know what’s happening for you.

With love,

Walter, Sandra, Tobias and Lexi

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Looking Back at 2018… Forward at 2019…

It’s 5 days into 2019! Wow! It’s not too late to look back at 2018 and share some thoughts and memories, right?

Here’s our annual Christmas letter from 2018:

HiHi

How are you? Hope this finds you and your family well and enjoying the festive season together, remembering that the reason for Christmas is CHRIST.

2018 has been a fairly emotionally intense year for us. We said a number of sad farewells to family and friends who are now with our Lord in Heaven.

At the end of March, on Good Friday, we received news that Walter’s mother passed away in the early hours of the morning. While we knew that she had been ill, in and out of hospital and this was not unexpected, it was the suddenness of the news which shook us. Walter was up in the air, in a plane, on the way back from a work trip when Sandra got the call in the middle of the night. We made hasty arrangements; got permission from Tobias’ school and, thank God, managed to get flights for the next day. It was a sad time but also a good time of closure and seeing the family pull together. We thank everyone who send their condolences and gave their support. It meant a lot.

In July, we said farewell to a church friend who suffered a second stroke. We were unable to say goodbye in person. Another friend, with whom we had lost touch, also passed away from cancer. We were grateful to have been able to visit with her and be there for her a little bit before she went to be with the Lord in August.

Our final farewell was to our beloved gerbil, Jules, who lived to a ripe old age of 3 years and 3 months; she joined her sisters in gerbil heaven in November.

But the year has not been all sad, there have been happy and great times too.

We welcomed a new family member in September, our little (now not so little) Schnauzer puppy, Lexi! It has been a time of adjustment, having a puppy is a whole new ballgame for all of us. Sandra has had dogs before but never a puppy; a puppy calls for patience which, at times, we didn’t think we had. Then she had a really bad ear infection and then an eye infection. But she is now well and settled in and we are learning to enjoy each other.

Tobias loves having Lexi and works to manage his time between his school work, his gaming time and time for Lexi. He is now in 8th class (Secondary 2 in Singapore) and is very self-motivated to do well at school. He cut back on his outside activities to be able to have time for dog school so he has dropped HipHop and now only plays the violin in an ensemble and he plays squash. He continues to enjoy being part of the teen class at church.

Walter had so many work trips to South Africa this year we have lost count. He traveled almost every week from the end of February to the end of November. It was hard work and difficult to have him away so much. But we managed and are very grateful that he has some respite now. Walter continues to serve on the worship team and as an elder in church.

Sandra scaled back her activities this year; she no longer teaches Chinese class and does not have an English Playgroup this school year. While the latter was not planned, it has been good to have that extra time to adjust to life with a puppy. She continues to teach Sunday School and serves as missions coordinator at church. She has also been working on her writing and hopes to find an agent to represent her in the new year.

In a bid to get more and better writing done, Sandra went to a weekend Spring Retreat organised by the SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) in April in the lovely Interlaken region. It was very inspiring and productive.

In May, we also enjoyed a wonderful time with our church family, when for the first time in many years, the church organised a church-wide retreat. It was great to get to know more people in an informal and beautiful setting (the Swiss mountains are always amazing to behold). We got to celebrate Tobias’ birthday while at the retreat.

Of course, we enjoyed our annual trip to Singapore in July/August. It is always great to catch up with family and friends and eat all the yummy foods we missed.

So all in all, it has been a pretty full year, once again. And it has been a year which we would not have gotten through without our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ and our beloved family and friends who have been so supportive and wonderful. Thank you all.

Wishing you a most blessed Christmas and a fulfilling 2019!

Do stay in touch and let us know what has been happening for you.

With love,

walter, sandra and tobias, and lexi

And here’s our little Christmas/New Year Greeting (i had meant to post this at Christmas but never got round to it):

christmas_greeting2018.png

Wishing everyone a blessed and fulfilling 2019! Let’s go out there and make the world (or at least our little part of it) a better place!

syc