First Post - getting you caught up

I was hoping to get this set up prior to Christmas and use this as a Christmas newsletter of sorts. I'll do a short summary and then add to it as time goes on. We had a number of "events" this last year to keep us hopping. I'll list some in no particular order other than them coming to my mind.

We went to Italy in June to the 2009 International Church Music Festival .  We spent 1 day in Venice, 1 day in Florence, 6 days in Rome, and 12  hours in the Madrid airport.  Other than the Madrid airport, it was a fabulous time with members of our Memorial Baptist Church choir and others from all over the world. 

We had a job upheaval as an agreement between the University of Missouri and the Cerner Corporation created the "Tiger Institute" as a collaborative effort between the University Healthcare and Cerner.  A part of that is the "migration" of our department to be a part of Cerner.  So, both Naomi & I will be Cerner associates.  Because of my 30 years of employment, I was able to retire from the University, but will still work for Cerner. 

We were able to have Christmas with all of my children.  Erika lives in Columbia, but Jill lives in Portland, OR, and Michael in Hollywood, CA.  Jill had spent most of the summer in India with an internship.  She now works with Mercy Corps International while finishing up her degree at Portland State University.  Michael graduated from Columbia College of Chicago in film editing and now works for a media company in Hollywood.